Showing posts with label ChildBehavior. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ChildBehavior. Show all posts

Friday, September 25, 2026

Parenting Expert Explains What You Should Do If Your Children Start Whining

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There comes a point in every parent’s life when their sprogs discover the art of whining – and boy, can it grate. While the odd whine is fine (who doesn’t need a good moan now and then?), when whining becomes the default, or children seem to constantly complain, it can be exhausting – especially when you’re trying to work, look after them, juggle endless amounts of life admin (yours and theirs), and everything else in between. Such is the case for one parent of two young girls aged six and nine, who shared that their children’s complaints are “constant” – and it’s starting to really get to them……..Continue reading….

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Source: HuffPost UK Parents

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Critics:

Social class, wealth, culture and income have a very strong impact on what methods of child rearing parents use. Cultural values play a major role in how a parent raises their child. However, parenting is always evolving, as times, cultural practices, social norms, and traditions change. Studies on these factors affecting parenting decisions have shown just that.

In psychology, the parental investment theory suggests that basic differences between males and females in parental investment have great adaptive significance and lead to gender differences in mating propensities and preferences. A family’s social class plays a large role in the opportunities and resources that will be available to a child.

Working-class children often grow up at a disadvantage with the schooling, communities, and level of parental attention available compared to those from the middle-class or upper-class. Also, lower working-class families do not get the kind of networking that the middle and upper classes do through helpful family members, friends, and community individuals or groups as well as various professionals or experts.

A parenting style is indicative of the overall emotional climate in the home.[14] Developmental psychologist Diana Baumrind proposed three main parenting styles in early child development: authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive. These parenting styles were later expanded to four to include an uninvolved style. These four styles involve combinations of acceptance and responsiveness, and also involve demand and control.

Research has found that parenting style is significantly related to a child’s subsequent mental health and well-being. In particular, authoritative parenting is positively related to mental health and satisfaction with life, and authoritarian parenting is negatively related to these variables. With authoritarian and permissive parenting on opposite sides of the spectrum, most conventional modern models of parenting fall somewhere in between.

Although it is influential, Baumrind’s typology has received significant criticism for containing overly broad categorizations and an imprecise and overly idealized description of authoritative parenting. Parenting skills and behaviors assist parents in leading children into healthy adulthood and development of the child’s social skills.

The cognitive potential, social skills, and behavioral functioning a child acquires during the early years are positively correlated with the quality of their interactions with their parents. According to the Canadian Council on Learning, children benefit (or avoid poor developmental outcomes) when their parents:

Communicate truthfully about events: Authenticity from parents who explain can help their children understand what happened and how they are involved; Maintain consistency: Parents that regularly institute routines can see benefits in their children’s behavioral patterns; Utilize resources available to them, reaching out into the community and building a supportive social network;

Take an interest in their child’s educational and early developmental needs (e.g., Play that enhances socialization, autonomy, cohesion, calmness, and trust.); and Keep open communication lines about what their child is seeing, learning, and doing, and how those things are affecting them.

Parenting skills are widely thought to be naturally present in parents; however, there is substantial evidence to the contrary. Those who come from a negative or vulnerable childhood environment frequently (and often unintentionally) mimic their parents’ behavior during interactions with their own children. Parents with an inadequate understanding of developmental milestones may also demonstrate problematic parenting.

Parenting practices are of particular importance during marital transitions like separation, divorce, and remarriage; if children fail to adequately adjust to these changes, they are at risk of negative outcomes (e.g. increased rule-breaking behavior, problems with peer relationships, and increased emotional difficulties).

Family planning is the decision-making process surrounding whether to become parents or not, and when the right time would be, including planning, preparing, and gathering resources. Prospective parents may assess (among other matters) whether they have access to sufficient financial resources, whether their family situation is stable, and whether they want to undertake the responsibility of raising a child.

Worldwide, about 40% of all pregnancies are not planned, and more than 30 million babies are born each year as a result of unplanned pregnancies. Reproductive health and preconception care affect pregnancy, reproductive success, and the physical and mental health of both mother and child. A woman who is underweight, whether due to poverty, eating disorders, or illness, is less likely to have a healthy pregnancy and give birth to a healthy baby than a woman who is healthy.

Similarly, a woman who is obese has a higher risk of difficulties, including gestational diabetes. Other health problems, such as infections and iron-deficiency anemia, can be detected and corrected before conception. Younger children start to become more independent and begin to build friendships. They are able to reason and can make their own decisions in many hypothetical situations.

Young children demand constant attention but gradually learn how to deal with boredom and begin to be able to play independently. They enjoy helping and also feeling useful and capable. Parents can assist their children by encouraging social interactions and modeling proper social behaviors. A large part of learning in the early years comes from being involved in activities and household duties.

Parents who observe their children in play or join with them in child-driven play have the opportunity to glimpse into their children’s world, learn to communicate more effectively with their children, and are given another setting to offer gentle, nurturing guidance. Parents also teach their children health, hygiene, and eating habits through instruction and by example. Parents are expected to make decisions about their child’s education.

Parenting styles in this area diverge greatly at this stage, with some parents they choose to become heavily involved in arranging organized activities and early learning programs. Other parents choose to let the child develop with few organized activities. Children begin to learn responsibility and consequences for their actions with parental assistance. Some parents provide a small allowance that increases with age to help teach children the value of money and how to be responsible.

Parents who are consistent and fair with their discipline, who openly communicate and offer explanations to their children, and who do not neglect the needs of their children in any way often find they have fewer problems with their children as they mature. When child conduct problems are encountered, behavioral and cognitive-behavioral group-based parenting interventions have been found to be effective at improving child conduct, parenting skills, and parental mental health.

Sunday, December 7, 2025

Hyposensitivity Can Look a Lot Like Misbehavior 

Pressmaster/Shutterstock

When my son was two years old, he slipped and hit his lip on the bathtub. I initially thought he was fine, as he didn’t cry very much, and there wasn’t a lot of blood. However, in the next few days, as his lip started swelling up and he developed two black eyes, I realized he was hurt much more seriously than I initially thought. As it turned out, this high pain tolerance, combined with his hyperactivity, were some of the early signs that my son is hyposensitive.…..Story continues….

By: Rachel Fairbank

Source:  Lifehacker

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Critics 

Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) is a temperamental or personality trait involving “an increased sensitivity of the central nervous system and a deeper cognitive processing of physical, social, and emotional stimuli”. The trait is characterized by “a tendency to ‘pause to check’ in novel situations, greater sensitivity to subtle stimuli, and the engagement of deeper cognitive processing strategies for employing coping actions, all of which is driven by heightened emotional reactivity, both positive and negative”.

A human with a particularly high measure of SPS is considered to have “hypersensitivity”, or be a highly sensitive person (HSP). The terms SPS and HSP were coined in the mid-1990s by psychologists Elaine Aron and her husband Arthur Aron, who developed the Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS) questionnaire by which SPS is measured. Other researchers have applied various other terms to denote this responsiveness to stimuli that is seen in humans and other species.

Most components have been associated with traditionally accepted negative psychological outcomes including high stress levels, being easily overwhelmed, increased rates of depression, anxiety, and sleep problems, as well as autistic traits; the diathesis–stress model focused on increased vulnerability to negative influences.

However, the differential susceptibility theory (DST) and biological sensitivity to context theory (BSCT) and sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) suggest increased plasticity in terms of responsiveness to both positive and negative influences; and the vantage sensitivity (VS) concept emphasizes increased responsiveness to positive experiences.

Researchers such as Smolewska et al. (2006) said positive outcomes were more common in individuals with high aesthetic sensitivity, who tend to experience heightened positive emotions in response to rewarding stimuli and more likely to score high on “openness” on the Big Five factors model. Research in evolutionary biology provides evidence that the trait of SPS can be observed, under various terms, in over 100 nonhuman species, Aron writing that the SPS trait is meant to encompass what personality psychologists have described under various other names.

Conversely, Aron has distinguished SPS from what she considers it is not, explicitly distinguishing high SPS from possibly similar-appearing traits or disorders (such as shyness, sensation-seeking, sensory processing disorder,and autism), and further, that SPS may be a basic variable that may underlie multiple other trait differences (such as introversion versus extraversion). Contrary to common misconception, according to Aron HSPs include both introverts and extroverts, and may be simultaneously high-sensation seeking and cautious.

In humans and other species, responsive and unresponsive individuals coexist and consistently display different levels of responsiveness to environmental stimuli, the different levels of responsiveness having corresponding evolutionary costs and benefits. This observation parallels Aron’s assertion that high SPS is not a disorder, but rather a personality trait with attendant advantages and disadvantages.

Accordingly, Aron cautions medical professionals against prescribing psychoactive medications to “cure” the trait, which may or may not coexist with an actual disorder. By 2015 the trait had been documented at various levels of study, including temperament and behavior psychology, brain function and neuronal sensitization, and genetics.

For example, genetic studies provide evidence that higher levels of SPS are linked to the serotonin transporter 5-HTTLPR short/short genotype,olymorphisms in dopamine neurotransmitter genes, and the ADRA2b norepinephrine-related gene variant. 

A 2015 longitudinal study based on army medical records of Swedish men showed a correlation between low resting heart rate and violence and criminality, with the authors theorising that lower sensitivity to stimulation resulted in increased likelihood of risk-taking and sensation-seeking behaviour – effectively a low sensitivity counterpart to SPS.

HSP Scale score patterns in adults were thought to be distributed as a dichotomous categorical variable with a break point between 10% and 35%, with Aron choosing a cut-off of the highest-scoring 20% of individuals to define the HSP category. A 2019 review article stated that findings suggest people fall into three sensitivity groups along a normal distribution sensitivity continuum.

High genetic risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder suggests possible health consequences Medical Xpress 21:31 Fri, 19 Apr 

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