Developmental Psychology

Keeping a balance between mind and body while focusing on the goal leads to success:

Courtesy to Google images

Today was the Fun Sports Day in St Mary’s Primary School, Bathgate. My son was also participating and having fun with his friends. It was a sunny day with light wind. I was not sure what I was going to observe and learn about that specific event. I thought I would just pass time and then come back with blank mind. After all the sports level was quite basic. There could hardly be anything to learn from.

Then I started watching little kids running and trying to win enthusiastically and with great passion. I can see real fun on their faces and more fun on the parents of those kids. It was not as boring as I thought I would be.

The main thing was that they all were of the same age in one group and belonged to almost similar cultures. They were having almost similar nurturing environments, learning facilities, and parental involvement. They had no specific instructions on how to win. They all seemed fully engaged with the idea of winning and having fun. I meant to say that despite having similar developmental levels and almost equal learning opportunities, one or two of them stood apart out of the group of around 20 to 25 and won the race.

I observed that the children who won had some similar traits, for instance:

They all were very much focused

They all were maintaining a balance between their brains and body movements

They all seemed very much attentive to their tasks

They all were maintaining a normal pace neither fast nor slow

They won irrespective of their body shape and energy level as some of them were fat

I also noticed that the children who were left behind the winners were sharing some traits too, for instance

Some were fun-seeking

Some were highly enthusiastic

Some were overly anxious

Some were too relaxed

Some seemed uninterested

Some looked depressed

Some were overly conscious

So what do we learn from it. In life, we all try to maintain a balance between our mental states and bodily actions. We get instructions from our brains to complete the tasks as effectively as possible. We all want to reach our goals without losing the balance! At every stage of life, we compare ourselves with people who are similar to us in some capacity. When we see others going fast, we try hard to win. Meanwhile, when we see others leaving behind, we try harder to get better than those who are ahead of us. And the race continues.

In fact, life is not a race. We don’t have to win to compete with others rather we have to win to reach our full potential. When we reach our full potential, it does not matter whether we won or not. So we should try our best and use each and every possible means to find our dreams. We should enjoy the process as well. The goal should not be to win and leave others behind; rather win while utilizing our full potential and improve ourselves to achieve what we want.

Consider the age appropriate reasoning in motivating your kids to do something important to you and them

The word ‘why’ is very important in motivating a person to make some decision. When one believes that the task given to him is worth considering, he/she is naturally inclined towards it. The goal, belief, purpose, benefit or cash whatever is in your mind to boost your energy towards a set task, is the most important thing. It is usually in your unconscious when you set your mind to take an action. There could be one or several motivating forces behind your actions;  however, usually one factor is big enough to make a person willing to do something.

For the children ‘why’ is very important as well. They are never willing to do anything unless you tell them the reason for that. Suppose being a parent you want your child to work hard and stand first in his/her class. You apply different techniques to get that goal. You offer various reasons to work hard. Say you tell them to:

  • Work hard – as it will help you to become a successful man in future
  • Work hard- as it will help you to gain popularity among kids.
  • Work hard- as it will boost your scores in the class.
  • Work hard – as your parents would feel proud of you.
  • Work hard – as you will get a beautiful life after that.
  • Work hard – as you will be punished if you fail.
  • Work hard- it will make you smart and strong.
  • Work hard- if you want to achieve your goals in future.
  • Work hard- it is good for your mental health.
  • Work hard- as it was the wish of your grandparents.
  • Work hard- as I love to see you working hard.

Consider all of these goals wisely and think about them. Do you feel motivated if you are said like that? Rarely, we get involved by these motivational catching statements. What about children- they don’t pay attention at all!

Now change your strategy and divide the time into the units. For the kids, consider the age of the child being a big factor in making them motivated towards doing something. If your child is 5-year-old and he/she is interested in playing with toys for most of the time; then consider this information as the best motivating force. For example:

  • Work hard for one more hour – as I have a secret surprise for you.
  • Work hard for the next two hours- as there is something of your choice waiting for you.
  • Work hard for half an hour please- as we are going to play together after that.
  • Work hard for one more hour please- then you will get a reward sticker for today.
  • Work hard for the whole day – as in the end of the day, you will be surprised by some sweets (of your choice).
  • Work hard for two hours only- then you can watch your favorite movie/video.

 Basically, there could be anything from your kid’s favorite world of choices to offer to motivate them. They will get motivated and willingly perform the hard work each day. After passing a few months or weeks, they will no longer be interested in the old motives; rather would need a new list of motives to make them energetic again. And the cycle of motivation will continue until they would understand the meaning of working hard in the real sense. And as each child is unique and capable of doing a lot with the great power of motivation, enthusiasm and creative abilities; one should seek for various incentives for each child to work in the unconscious according to her age group and as per her own need at that particular time frame.

Thanks

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Doing Homework is Fun for Some!

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When your child is not interested in doing homework? Not interested in reading or not interesting in writing – what would you do ? Stuck! Follow the steps below and hope for the best.

  • At first, start thinking positively. Your child might not be a scientist, doctor, engineer, or priest of the future- he might become a sweeper, postman, door guard or cleaner of someone’s house in future. There is nothing wrong in it. What is important in life is education, not status; morality, not money; character, not beauty and good health is the one and the only thing in life to strive for and thankful to All-Mighty.
  • Now, if you still want your child to study hard and pay attention to homework; then watch him or her minutely. Watch day and night and look for things he or she is interested in. Find out his or her interests or cultivate some interests in his or her life. List all of those things according to the priority of your child. For example:

Watching movies

Playing digital games

Playing outside

Talking to friends on Facebook

Singing or listening music

  • Now try to motivate your child to do some homework through the above incentives. You can appreciate his or her small efforts with the rewards ( above mentioned) or anything else appropriate. Please take care of timings in this regard. The incentive should be achievable and not frustrating to achieve within a reasonable time frame. The reward should be very near to completing a task; otherwise, it will lose its effect. There could be thousands of incentives, rewards, motivating grandeurs, and charms for kids to manipulate; however they should not be used in the routine. When a child is a little bit used to do his or her homework in time, incentives are no more needed; otherwise, the child would learn to manipulate your needs as well.
  • Start talking with your child ( in any age) with confidence about the issues you are facing with him or her. Tell him or her, what is irritating you and in what ways, he or she could solve this issue. Tell your child honestly that you are suffering from him or her. Help him or her to understand your stance, perspective, and concern; no matter how long and how many times you need to talk!
  • It is always better not to compare your child with other children; however, sometimes you have to set criteria to educate your children. You can explain your child, ‘ look, the other child is reading very fast, can you try to read like him, or better’. Your child will start trying. Appreciate, appreciate and appreciate. That’s all. Leave other child and focus on your child again.
  • Do what you want from your child. You cannot do his homework, but can do something on a notebook in the same time your child is doing homework. This is true when the home is single child home. Parents should be present with their children mentally and physically when their children are studying. At least for the young children, this is a must! It will make doing homework a fun for your child.

There are many other things to suggest but would recommend in another blog.

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Parental Emotional Support in Time can Prevent Children from being Emotionally Abused in Future!

There is no doubt that parents are supposed to take care of their children all kinds of needs: physical, security, esteem, social, educational, economic and emotional ones. In our culture( the culture of Pakistan), emotional needs are very much neglected by the parents consciously or unconsciously. You can, however, learn how to fulfill your child’s emotional needs by following the simple rules listed below:

  1. by exploring their emotions on various subjects and asking them what they felt over; how they would like to be treated; what is good; what is bad; if this would happen, what are they supposed to do? what is more important? What is least important? What is good for them and what is bad for them? In this way, you could explore your children’s emotional sphere in depth and guide them accordingly.
  2. by giving them plenty of opportunities to boost their self-confidence. Remember, if your child is shy and passive in nature; it is not your neighbor’s responsibility to make her social. You have to be social first, have social interactions and set an example for your child to make her social. Having friends is always good for children. They should be encouraged to have a healthy friendship, social interactions, and maintain a rich social life. However, some children by birth are of shy nature. They should also be provided enough experiences to boost their confidence level and to overcome social anxiety if they have.
  3. Whenever your child is low in emotions; it should not be ignored. Please talk to your child if she is kept lying on her bed since long or she is in a bad mood, or she is being emotional in any way.
  4. Keep an eye on your child’s big events. Big events don’t mean ‘birthdays’ or ‘kids’ day’, or ‘new year day’; rather it means what your child is passionate about; what she longs for; and what she adores. If it is something odd, strange or worrisome-discuss, discuss, and discuss a lot about it. It is kind of poison that should not stay in the body for a long time; otherwise severe consequences would occur.
  5. Many parents claim that they are the friend of their child, whereas in real life it seems as if they are not even in a healthy relationship. Where lays the problem? In fact, there is no consistency and fluidity in parents’ behavior. They usually behave well in a good mood but bad in a bad mood as well. So they loose trust on their children. Like a boss who is good in good time and worse in a bad mood. Friends are not like this. They need to maintain a very consistent temperament throughout their life to maintain a very healthy relationship with their friend. On the opposite side, it does not mean you should be nice and kind all the time; rather you should be firm, passionate, encouraging, persistent, and a secure guide all the time- like teachers to some extent. Rather you can be friendlier to them – more than teachers in your capacity but at the same time more persistent and flexible. One thing more, if you think that you can replace friends of your child’s life, you are wrong. You can be ‘like friend’ but not ‘friend’ indeed.

So emotions of your child should be regulated, trained, maintained and nurtured very carefully, passionately and regularly. In the end, they will not only become your friends, rather will become good decision makers, nation builders, leaders, helpers, persistent and consistent workers, brave and brilliant students, courageous and social human beings in future.

 

Pure Relationship!

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The life is All about Choosing purity In everything. It might be flowers, fragrances, stones, food, Clean water, pure Cotton, leather, crystal, gold, pure glass, pure environment, or It might be any Pure Product and your pure Emotions. Emotions we all understand, could also be either pure or contaminated. We do them Consciously or unconsciously- when we exaggerate, put stress on something, hide something, or make others believe on something; we are not pure.We are not pure when we focus on something or ignore something for some cause. We have to be as simple and pure as possible.  If we aim at making Strong relationships, it is pertinent to reflect simplicity of emotions. Otherwise We will be getting What we are Reflecting.  If you have a lot of make up, you will see faces with same make up! If you are pure,will be able to communicate better, Understand better and go further into deep relationships…..  Children are the best examples for pure expressions, pure Emotions, natural expressions and feelings. They do not care what others think about their spontaneous actions and emotions; they express what they are; they behave as they feel like; they are less concerned about social media and more about their own preferences and choices. We might need to get a lesson from them if we are overly concious about the public.

It is pure relationship advice that never proves wrong!

‘How We Live Together’ Defines Our Kids Personalities

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note: courtesy to Google Images

We, being parents, want to give our kids the best of all: education, health, success, happiness and whatever they desire. To gain the goals above, we adapt different strategies and techniques. Some hire classes of different kinds to keep their children fit: yoga, tennis, golf, swimming, gymnastic, foot ball, etc. Some focus on health and provide their kids the best of all kinds of food: apple, oranges, juices, vegetables, pure milk, eggs, honey, etc. Some would allow their kids to play all types of games and movies on their I Pads, tablets, mobile phones and laptops. Some would even go for the most expensive toys to please their kids and fill their brains with lots of happy moments as much as possible. Some would plan vacations for their kids amusement and pleasure-full of Disney land activities! There is no limit to that. Some would go to the library with their kids to make them the most intellectuals of the world- scientists or doctors. Though, these all options contribute towards the well fare of the kids overall healthy development; these are not enough!

We, being a real human being forget the emotional part of the environment. One part is with us in shape of hard materialistic life-style and other one is the emotional background that provide us with our identity about who we are and what we belong to. It is not sufficient to say that we belong to a middle class family or a very religious family or a modern one. The experiences we share on daily basis are more specific and accurate to define our identity. To simplify the situation we can think of the families in which:

  1. Parents respect each other and usually each partner puts the other one’s need ahead of the children needs. Mother is sharing economical burden too, so she is confident and happy inside. Fathers share house hold responsibilities too to maintain an healthy environment. When mother feels good, she reacts nicely towards kids sudden inquiries. Father can get some time everyday for his family and they together spend some quality time each day. So kids get the feeling of harmony, love and unity from their family background.
  2. Parents live together but do not respect each other in front of children. Father deals with wife as if she is a servant and often uses verbally abusive language to degrade her in different ways. Mother is scared of living alone (due to being a stay at tome house wife) so is forcibly living with her husband to keep the family life intact. Mother is quite passionate about her child as if she thinks her children would become her power some day to protect her from her husband. Children get scary feelings from such environment and are quite hesitant to initiate, to ask questions, and to behave appropriately in a social gathering. Their self-esteem is strongly damaged through such environmental experiences.
  3. Parents try to cheat each other in front of children. They take care of children to get the attention of the other partner. They are not involved in the upbringing of their kids wholeheartedly. Parents think that kids are like burden or responsibility so they have to raise them. Parents have their own goals and they keep them higher than other goals including their kids fresh demands/needs. In this environment kids would feel neglected and lonely and would seek for other resources to keep them entertained and happy. They would start thinking of leaving their parents home as early as they grow up due to having no intimate or friendly relationship with their parents.

Similarly, we can define thousand backgrounds that kids come from. These emotional backgrounds shape our kids personalities. Therefore it does not matter what we teach them:  honesty, bravery, or empathy.  What matters is where they come from. We set their environment and they react to it accordingly. Hope this will help someone to understand the kids behaviour and pave a way for someone to alter the way they are living TOGETHER!

If You Are Perceived Wrongly- It Might Be Your Fault!

Let me introduce you some examples first to get to know the real subject later on.

‘ Stop! Stop! What is wrong with you’, said a caring parent.

‘Stop! Stop! What is wrong with you’, said a loving child to her parent.

What do you think about the both statements- are the same in nature? No. Certainly No. When a parent says ‘stop’, it is due to his caring nature being a parent; whereas when a child is saying the same thing, it might be due to imitation, ignorance, or might be due to some distress in mind. In any case, both expressions are not conveying the same meanings while having the same alphabetic language.

 ‘ Take care, and stay safe’, said a caring parent.

‘ Take care, and stay safe’, said a loving child to her parent.

It is again the same thing. The parent is caring and involved in safety issues with the child and the child is assuming as if she is a grown-up, so pretending to become a caring parent.

‘ Why are you not listening to me carefully?’, said a loving husband.

‘Why are you not listening to me carefully?’, said a loving wife.

 Here again husband is a bit aggressive and hyper in mood while arguing with his wife whereas wife is complaining against her husband’s indifferent and neglectful attitude.

‘ I am happy with your performance today’, said an employer to his employee.

‘ I am happy with your performance today’, said an employee to his employer.

 In this example, an employer is happy with his employee’s performance and employer is misbehaving with his boss in a rude manner.

 In the light of the above examples, one can easily conclude that language varies widely between relationships and would never convey the same meanings for each party involved. Even in friendships, partners speak relative to each others social and emotional status.

 Children being junior members of your family might exaggerate your angry feelings and would name it a kind of threat to their happiness and safety. They do need a different level of anger from that you use in your office at least!

 For couples, husbands are by default at the top position, so they must show over caring attitude and nice gestures for being more responsible and energetic as a man. For a wife might name a husband’s little angry mood a kind of emotional abuse, being more tender and subtle human by nature.

 Likewise, every relationship demands different language to speak with. We cannot rule over all people with the same hammer. When we go into the details of the healthy relationships, it is very important to understand that love speaks many languages and that too differs from person to person. We have to consider many other factors indeed in deciding about our way of communication: age, sex, culture, education level, background, personality type, I.Q, E.Q, physical health and the most important is the other person’s status in the relationship with you.

Conclusively, It means while speaking with someone junior to you (in age, position, or status) more respect than you usually give to others, is needed so that he/she should not feel degraded or humiliated due to your slip of the tongue only. It implies on your children, wives, and servants or anybody junior to you in general. Especially when you are in a bad mood, try to show less aggressive attitude as much as possible (lesser than what you usually show to your friends) so that the people who are dependent on you should not feel dejected or neglected due to your sudden rude behavior.

Thanks

Say Sorry To Your Kids!

Parents are always interested in the well being of their children and sacrifice is their second nature. Parents usually collect all their wisdom and comfort their children first and then think about their own needs. We, no doubt, are very much aware of our parent’s intentions, well wishes, and great love for us.

 However, there is no perfect parent in this world. One can try to become perfect; but it is simply not possible to do all what is required in the most professional mechanical way at the exact time. So we are prone to do mistakes while having a great pressure of good parenting style. What do you do when you acknowledge your mistake? Let me give you some examples to understand the concept:

  • Suppose you could not get what your child is saying and shuts her up abruptly
  • Suppose you mistakenly taught wrong meaning to your child
  • Suppose you are upset due to some reason and snubs your child rudely
  • Suppose you could not make some food for your child due to your leisure or lazy attitude
  • Suppose you know you could comfort your child, but you did not act like that due to some enmity for your husband
  • Suppose you are neglecting your child due to your abusive relationship with your partner
  • Suppose you are ill-treating your child due to your anxiety in job

There could be several reasons for your rude behavior with your children that would create a guilt for you. You know you have done something wrong with your children and no body is witness to that. You, in your heart, feel guilt and shame! You feel regret and sorry for that. How would you treat yourself positively and replace your feelings with new energy of love?

Certainly it is very important for you to get rid of such feelings but how?

There is not much work for you to do in this regard. You may say SORRY  to your child and explain to her why you were rude or indifferent according to her age level. Even if the child is two years old, she will listen to you carefully and respond empathetically. This is most important for both of you to resolve the issue as early as possible; otherwise the gap of misunderstanding would become too huge to settle down.

How Do You Introduce Your Toddlers To Your Friends And Relatives

How parents introduce their children to others impact on their personalities strongly. There are many examples that may clarify the concept better. Let us consider:

A parent is introducing his/her child to his/her relative/friend and says with a smiling face-

  1. She is too aggressive. Please be careful…she could harm you through her sharp nails. (the child is only 2 years old).
  2. My son is too shy. You can see he is not behaving properly in front of you.
  3. My son is too hyper. Please do not stop him from doing anything. He will create a scene.
  4. My son too submissive. He cannot say ‘no’ to his rivals.
  5. My son is extremely scared of strangers. He will scream if I leave him for now.
  6. She is too rash, could bite and hit blindly. So be careful guys.
  7. She is very social being, would like to show you her room and toys.
  8. She is very fond of books.
  9. He likes to destroy things all the time. Very destructive mindset, he has.

And all the relevant similar comments that parents pass on to others make a deep impression on their parent’s children who are passively listening the talk between you and the significant others.  Therefore, it is highly recommended to strengthen those traits of personality in your statements that you really want to observe in your off springs later on. Otherwise, your mentioned traits would reinforce the same quality among them and they would love to adopt them as a part of their personality.

The Best Medicine For Stressed Parents  

 

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In todays modern lifestyle, everyone is stressed up, tired and bore,  especially the parents. In most of the parts of the world, parents are usually engaged in earnings and greatly tired when back home. Even if one of the parents is not working hand, he or she must be doing house chores and at the end of the day would feel strained, pains, and aches with dull and strange mood. Each one of us is suffering from some kind of anxieties so they will further boost the stress and play their role in feeling less energetic and rude to some extent. Usually parents are irritating and annoyed on trivial matters of children. They feel like to take a long, deep sleep when their children want their time!

Not all of you have the same situation so I will focus on the group who is especially stressful and full of anxiety and depression at the moment. However, it is becoming very common routine of parents nowadays to become more critical and less sharing with their kids. My observation is not different in this regard. I have seen many who just want to get rid of their day to day routine and want an escape. They are simply not ready to accept the reality of their situation that they are Parents now and no more kids!

What parents do when they feel low? Usually they take medicines, go for the therapies, and try several tips to return to their old track. They go for swimming, for example, go for a walk, go to the gym, go to yoga, listen soft and soothing music, change their eating habits, and do whatever their source suggests them to do to live a stress free life. The point is that all of such tactics are not wrong if they do not  forget one thing all together.

They forget that nature can never ever do something wrong with them. They, being a parent, are not blessed with only duties, responsibilities and anxieties. Nature’s blessings are  equal to everyone. It makes no sense that what a wealthy man can afford to relax, a poor cannot. This is especially not true with the parental stress. Nature cannot be biased in bestowing her blessings to its creation. There must be something wrong with us. We must have forgotten something very important and unique; so we are suffering.

That, something very important is, that the best medicine is the sharing your love with someone: your parents, siblings, your children or your friends. When you love someone, you are in cool mood, stress free and fresh. When you become parents you become more responsible and mature. This does not mean you cannot play with your kids. You need to understand that playing with your kids is not only your kids wish and need; it is basically your physical and innate need. Moreover, playing with your kid will reduce your stress hormones, give you more happiness, increase your oxygen level, boost your energy, improve your vision and memory and leave you with a refreshed and sexy human being. If you are suffering from high blood pressure, diabetes and any kind of psychological disorder, your time spent with your kids will help you to recover fast.

Here, it is important to note that playing with your kids should not be taken as going with your kids to the playground or playing areas. You should spare some time to play with your children every day in which you play a role just like your kid. You may pretend that, but it is the most important part of the game. Even if your kids play with their siblings, cousins, or friends, your role will never be compensated. Thus to become a loving and caring parent, you need to engage yourself with your kids as much as possible. It will not only help your kids to become a good human being rather get you away from present or upcoming diseases, sufferings, anxieties, and stresses.

If you have another point to raise in this regard, please do not mind commenting on it. I would love to reply you in my humble capacity.

Thanks