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Strategies to Support Your Child to Develop Grit: Part 2

Grit is the passion and perseverance to strive for long-term goals, despite discomfort. This includes working hard, enduring struggles, and trying again in the face of failure. Grit is not only a better predictor of future earnings than intelligence and talent, it is also a better predictor of future happiness. The parenting stance most supportive […]

Strategies to Support Your Child to Develop Grit: Part 1

Grit is the passion and perseverance to strive for long-term goals despite discomfort. This includes working hard, enduring struggles, and trying again in the face of failure. Grit is not only a better predictor of future earnings than intelligence and talent, it is also a better predictor of future happiness.  The most supportive parenting stance […]

Forgetful, Disorganized, Overwhelmed, and Late? Bolster Your Child’s Executive Functions

Executive functioning skills are those that help us get tasks done. When faced with a decision, problem, or task it is necessary to plan, organize, problem-solve, make decisions, and then initiate action. We must do each of these steps all the while focusing on multiple pieces of information, monitoring new information or errors, self-correcting direction […]

Strategies For Tackling Procrastination

Procrastination is the tendency to delay or hesitate to act on something. All of us procrastinate from time to time, but some of us do so more than others. If you want to reduce your tendency to procrastinate, start by reflecting on why you procrastinate. Your motivation to complete any task is dependent on four […]

Teaching Your Child How To Resolve Conflict

Especially between loved ones, conflict can be emotionally distressing. It is not uncommon for adults to find it difficult to manage conflict when emotions are high, and as a parent you may find the task of teaching your child conflict management daunting. As a parent, one of your first goals for teaching conflict resolution will […]

Reducing the Risk of Postpartum Depression

It is common for women to experience a period of distress as they adjust physically, emotionally, and practically in the aftermath of labor and delivery, while also caring for their newborn child. This period of distress often includes significant mood swings of frustration, irritability, sadness, weepiness, exhaustion, anxiety, preoccupation with the health of the infant, […]

Your Weaknesses Do Not Define You

We all have areas of weakness – parts of ourselves that we want to improve, or aspects we wish were different. This is part of being human. By nature, we are all imperfect. Even when we are working hard to improve ourselves, we will inevitably make mistakes. When you are unhappy with something about yourself, […]

How to Talk to Your Child about Death and Dying

Coming to terms with our own mortality is a difficult task for adults, and a terrifying one for children. Developmentally, children begin to understand the impermanence of life and the finality of death between the ages of 4 and 8. Initially, children will be curious, ask questions, and play out death scenes from video games […]

Social Media and Your Mental Health

In addition to the obvious risks of social media, such as providing a medium for public bullying and shaming, there is a more insidious risk. Use of social media can be damaging to your general well-being, and even your mental health. There is now a growing body of research showing that social media use is […]

Improve Your Relationship by Turning Towards Rather than Away From One Another

Maintaining the romance and securing the longevity of your relationship does not require expensive dinners out or romantic trips away. In fact, one of the strongest predictors of connection and relationship stability is the very mundane day-to-day moments where couples turn towards, rather than away from each other. This includes moments where your partner asks […]

How to Encourage Your Child to Participate in Therapy

It is not uncommon for adults to consider seeking therapy long before they schedule their first therapy session due to a variety of anxieties and concerns. Common concerns include embarrassment and shame in regards to needing help, anxieties about being judged, fear of not finding a good match in a therapist, and uncertainty as to […]

Encouraging a Healthy Lifestyle Without Causing Shame

What’s Wrong with Talking to My Child about their Weight? Focusing on weight, rather than general health behaviors, reinforces the “thin ideal”. It has the potential to shame your child, and may lead to body dissatisfaction. Body dissatisfaction may cause your child to avoid social opportunities and physical activity due to shame about their body and fitness level. Research has found […]

Helping Your Child Through an Eating Disorder

Anorexia Nervosa is the refusal to eat sufficient food to maintain health, and a fear of weight gain. Bulimia Nervosa is also characterized by a fear of weight gain and an overemphasis on the importance of weight and shape, but is also associated with periods of perceived loss of control with eating and engagement in […]

Reducing Your Child’s Suffering With Validation

In every close relationship, there is potential for differing perspectives and high emotions from time to time. This includes the parent-child relationship. You and your child are bound to disagree from time to time, and your child is bound to have moments of intense negative emotion. How you handle both of these situations has a […]

Free Workshops (next workshop February 10th at MPL)

Free Workshop on Managing Stress and Improving Your Relationships Hosted by New Leaf Psychology Centre February 10, 2015 6:15pm – 8:30pm Milton Public Library 1010 Main Street East Milton, Ontario 6:15  –    Welcome and Refreshments 6:30  –    Stress Management Presented by Dr. Alena Strauss You will learn what stress is and how if […]

Caregiver Burnout

Caring for a Family Member with Physical or Mental Health Difficulties 20% of Canadians are struggling with mental health difficulties, for a total of 1.5 million children and 4.5 million adults. 13% of Canadian’s (3.8 million) are struggling with physical disabilities, and among those over the age of 75 the rate is 43%. The role […]

Nutritional Needs While Breastfeeding

After giving birth, experts say that a well-balanced diet and proper nutrition is even more important than during your pregnancy. The food choices you make will greatly influence the quality of your breast milk, and how quickly your body will rebound from the pregnancy. You will want to include a high amount of complex carbohydrates, […]

The Helicopter Parent

What is a helicopter parent? This pop culture term refers to the ‘hovering’ or over-involved parent (Gabriel, 2010). Helicopter parents are anxious about their child’s well-being and/or success, and attempt to protect their child from hardship and disappointment. Helicopter parents provide their children with more guidance and direction than other parents, and are more involved […]

Why Children Push Parents Away

What can you do when your teen pushes you away? During the teenage years children tend to try to separate themselves from their parents’ influence in an attempt to assert their autonomy. In doing so you may feel your teen is pushing you away or withholding information about their lives (e.g. friends, what they are […]