 Robert Myers, PhD Psychologist |
 Pamela Myers, BSEd Educator |
 Gail Fernandez, MD Psychiatrist |
 David Paltin, PhD Psychologist |
 Desmond Lew, MD Pediatrician |
 George Tucker, PhD Psychologist |
| Learn more about our panel | |
Is my child’s behavior a side effect of medication?
“Dust mite allergy,” the allergist told John and Tamara, consulting with them about their constantly scratching 10 year old who now had constant red marks on his arms and the backs of his hands, “You’ll have to wash everything, buy hypoallergenic covers, it’ll take a lot of housecleaning.” This sounded like a perfectly reasonable explanation to the couple, and so they cleaned. “I actually clogged my dryer vent with lint because of the number of loads of bed linens I washed.”
But there was another culprit that the couple had never thought of; a medication side effect.
Take a Hike – Family-Friendly Walking Tips
A lot of emphasis is being placed on family fitness these days, and getting together for a walk or hike is a popular way to get everybody out and moving. Get on board with your family! Here are some tips… Continue reading
Positive Praise for your Child’s Pride
Praising a child correctly is important to the development of positive behaviors. It’s a great way to encourage constructive future behavior. When you give praise you are giving your child a feeling of positive feedback, which increases their sense of confidence, self esteem and abilities. When you praise your child, you are pointing out the way they’ve acted, an action they’ve taken, or simply who they are. When your child looks good, tell him so. When your child does anything that pleases you, let him know. You should also praise a child’s effort to do well, even if it doesn’t come out so good in the end. You should find something each day about your child to praise.
Listening to Your Child’s Inner Voice
You walk softly past your child’s room at night, lower the light in the hallway, and then you hear it; a quiet song, a joke from TV, or maybe a soft voice repeating something heard at school that day. Listen to the tone, and most of the time you’ll hear a soothing timbre or quiet reasoning, like the tone of a good friend or supporter. Your child’s personal narrative, his or her self talk, serves several crucial purposes in maintaining his or her emotional and psychological health. Let me repeat that, because it is so important – a healthy internal tone is the basis for psychological and emotional wholeness and well-being. Self talk is the voice of social problem solving, helping to work through an emotional exchange or relationship conflict. It serves as a criticizer, a supporter, or a worrier when its role is to interpret something that has happened in the past or to plan a way of coping with the future. Since we are all destined to have this internal companion whispering in our ears for our entire lives, or what psychologists sometimes call the dialogical self, the importance of helping our children develop healthy “inner voices” is apparent and clear.
Risky Teen Driving Habits Predicts Future Crashes
Teen drivers are typically involved in more accidents than more experienced drivers. A recent study seems to point out the causes of these teen driver accidents. A study of new drivers showed that as the number of sharp turns and… Continue reading
Vaccines Myths and Facts
Vaccines are one of the main reasons why we enjoy a relatively disease-free and extended life span. The others are the creation of antiseptics and antibiotics. Before the invention of vaccines, people died of diseases such as Pertussis, Tetanus, Measles, and were crippled by Polio. Widespread epidemics would kill millions of people and wipe out entire towns or villages. Fears about vaccines come from mistrust of authority figures (physicians), governmental agencies (CDC), and “big business” (pharmaceutical industry). This mistrust comes from the belief that an individual’s interest is overlooked for governmental or monetary interests. This mistrust is magnified when there is a lack of understanding of diseases, our immune systems, how vaccines are produced and tested, and vaccine side effects.
It’s All About Family Fun
Food? Shelter? A vegetable with every meal? Health insurance? Maybe you think of these as the basics, the essential ingredients of a healthy childhood in a nurturing family. But if you look closely at the list, one of the essentials is missing; family fun. Why does fun deserve to be on the same list as food and shelter? Research by psychologist Peter Gray published in the American Journal of Play suggests that play is an important adaptive survival activity in groups, and has been since the days of early humankind. “Free play,” he says is particularly important to children, and there are indications that this type of play has dwindled in most children’s lives.
Video Game Addiction, Obsession, or Habit: How Much is Too Much?
I am often asked some variant of this question, and a few of my recent cases have stimulated me to explore more evidence-based answers to improve the quality of my response. As it turns out, many have written fairly extensively on the subject of how much video gaming is too much. It has been proposed that two to three hours per day of playing the games is now an average amount of time for the average adolescent to play video games or spend time on the computer (APA Task Force, 2008).
There are many reasons for parents to be concerned about their child’s seeming obsession with video games, and the amount of time that their children are playing them. Initial concerns were that the games, which were largely played by adolescent males, stimulated aggressive instincts and increased the likelihood of violence in the, again, largely, male population who played the games. These concerns were fueled and heightened by the massacre at Columbine, Colorado, on April 20, 1999, in which two high school students went on a killing rampage. These two students had reported that they spent a great deal of time playing “Doom,” a gory video game with a great deal of violent and aggressive themes. It was also inferred that the boys had spent a great deal of time watching violent movies–which may inspire another article at a later date.
Teens: Smart Ways of Organizing your Study Time for Maximum Efforts
Many teens, like many adults, don’t understand about time management. They struggle to meet their daily obligations – time with family and friends, homework, extracurricular activities and possibly after-school jobs. They’re looking for smart ways of organizing their study time to get maximum results.
If you’re like most teens who struggle with studying effectively, chances are you have poor study skills. You may waste time instead of use it wisely. You’re also likely to have low or failing grades and are frustrated because you want to do better. Don’t lose hope; you can learn how to organize and maximize the time you study.
How to Prevent a Fire at Home
The very concept of a house fire is scary, and there’s no disputing the fact that devastating house fires do occur. To help prevent this tragedy in your family home, here are some tips.
Outlets In this day and age of electronics, outlets are often used to the utmost. Don’t overload an outlet; if you need to plug in multiple plugs, use a surge-protected power strip, not extension cords. Make sure all cords are in good repair, with no fraying or tears. Remove and replace any cords that are hot.
Candles The romantic glow of a candle adds ambience to a home, but make sure they are not fire hazards. Keep them well away from curtains and furniture, and out of the reach of children and pets. (Cats are especially prone to igniting their fur as they tend to jump on tabletops and into bay windows.) Never light candles and leave the room; you might forget about them and go to bed without snuffing them out.
