Parenting Concerns

Is It Safe to Use Stimulants to Treat ADHD?

It’s not unusual for parents to bring their kid with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to a child psychiatrist and say:

“We really want you to help, but do not want any medications.

Adult Children Moving Back Home: The Boomerang Generation and the New Normal

Intro music written and performed by Dr. Gene Beresin.
Outro music performed by Dr. Gene Beresin.

In the past when children went off to college or left home, parents needed to adjust to living as “empty nesters.”  The expectation was that this was the way life would continue.

Tips For Parents Sending Kids To College

College is quite a milestone in family life. For parents and college-bound youth, it represents the real beginning of adulthood. Prospects of autonomy, independence and REALLY leaving home come to mind. It’s an incredibly exciting and long-awaited achievement.

“Molly” Is Not Your Friend

All too often there is a new or modified drug that makes headlines not because of its therapeutic benefits, but because of its propensity to kill teens and young adults.

My Child Is Being Bullied Because Of Religion

There is a saying with regard to prejudice and human behavior.  It’s a shrinky phrase (by that, I mean that it’s loaded with jargon), so I’m going to tell it first, and then we’ll translate it through, sadly, an increasingly common example.

Here’s the phrase:

“The narcissism of small differences.

My 2-Year-Old Resists Being Held

2-year-olds look like they were made to be held.

We’ve all seen the dad in the park picking up his toddler, playfully spinning her around in circles while she throws her head back in delight and laughter.

Giving a 2-Year-Old a 15-Minute Time-Out

Much to what I imagine is the intense chagrin of my eighth grade English teacher, the word “consequence” has become a verb.

As in:

“If you take another cookie without my saying it’s OK, I’m going to consequence you.”

English teachers everywhere grimace when they hear a sentence like that.

What’s the Effect of Violent or Graphic Television?

Before we get into the details of this post, I gotta come clean.

I love TV.

I love movies, and TV, and all sorts of visual media.  It is universally accepted that the writing on the screen has gotten better, more nuanced, more sophisticated, and more engrossing.

Grounding Your Teen For a Month for Missing Curfew

Chloe just got her driver’s license.  With this, her father tells her, comes great responsibility.  She will be expected to run errands. She will be expected to take her little brother to karate class.

What Is Resilience?

Although resilience is not a new subject, it has recently enjoyed renewed attention as clinicians work to understand how children and adolescents remain whole in the face of difficult times.