QANDAKIDS QUESTION : “My quite aggro alpha male four-year-old is obsessed with the Minions, but I worry that they aren’t a good role model for him? QANDAKIDS REPLY: I totally get your concern. For those who don’t have young children, the photograph above is of a Minion; a popular children’s movie character. Minions are essentially impulsive pranksters. Like over-tired kids at a chaotic birthday party, their behaviour is often aggressive, rowdy, giggly, annoying and – sometimes endearing. So, they’re probably…
Children’s temper tantrums: time-in or time-out? A response to Dr. Siegel QANDAKIDS QUESTION: “My 7-year-old, Zoe, is an absolute angel at school. We know she’s smart but our jaws drop when her teacher tells us she’s an ‘absolute pleasure’ We tell her we love her all the time and we give her hugs and kisses whenever we can. We’re honestly very loving parents. But, seriously, every day, over literally nothing, she can go from zero to a hundred in a…
Is it normal that younger kids are progressing at swimming faster than my four-year-old son? Should I stop the lessons? QANDAKIDS ANSWER The good news is that your son’s probably doing just fine. And, it’s often not a good idea to compare pre-schoolers. While children follow a similar developmental path in general, they also learn different things at different rates. It’s a case of different strokes for different folks. You’re on the right track with your timing, though. One good…
QANDAKIDS Question: My son is seven and still wets the bed. It is so severe that he has to wear a night time nappy each night and in the morning it is saturated. He’s getting big though and almost doesn’t fit into them. The next size up are hard to come by and are super expensive. I have tried stopping him from drinking water after dinner but that feels cruel. I also tried getting up every two hours and forcing…
Politically correct policemen are quick to lip-cuff
August 1, 2014Lip-cuffing I use the term lip-cuff to describe the lip equivalent of handcuff. Lip-cuffing is used by the Political Correctness Police Force (PCPF) to silence people when the crime is a statement that the PCPF deem to be politically incorrect. The newish cool term that the PCPF use to describe politically incorrect behaviour is microaggression. Microaggressive speakers are shamed into lip-cuffed silence, even when the speakers have no intention of insulting anyone. For example, a member of the PCPF recently…