What makes 'bad' children 'good'?*
[* personally, I don't buy into the whole good/bad thing. To find out why, I invite you to visit the links below. I just thought that I'd use it to grad your attention.]
I hear and read a lot these days about children and teenagers exhibiting antisocial behaviour, about children who have ADD or ADHD and are medicated because of it. When I hear these stories, I am usually left feeling pretty sad, as my experience of working with teenagers in Belfast teaches me that quite often what they are looking for is trust, respect and autonomy. Having a sense that they matter, and have something to contribute is also important. And so, I was pleased to read the following report in a What Doctors Don’t Tell You (WDDTY) email newsletter.
A new study among small children suggests it’s more to do with nurture than nature. A group of socially disadvantaged children in Wales, who were raised with ‘positive parenting’ techniques – such as consistent praise and positive role models – displayed less antisocial behaviour than those who were neglected or abused. Fewer ‘positive parenting’ children were hyperactive or had learning problems, which are normally remedied with powerful drugs. In all, 153 parents from deprived areas with children aged between three and five participated. Of those, 104 adopted ‘positive parenting’ techniques, while the remainder continued with their usual approach to parenting. (Source: British Medical Journal, 2007; 334: 678-82).
To find out more about approaches to positive parenting and needs-based communication, I would invite you to check out the following sites as a starting point.
http://www.alfiekohn.com/index.html - Website of Alfie Kohn, author of Unconditional Parenting.http://www.cnvc.org/parents.htm - website for the Centre for Nonviolent Communication, founded by Marshall Rosenberg.
http://www.attachmentparenting.org/ - website for Attachment Parenting International.
I hear and read a lot these days about children and teenagers exhibiting antisocial behaviour, about children who have ADD or ADHD and are medicated because of it. When I hear these stories, I am usually left feeling pretty sad, as my experience of working with teenagers in Belfast teaches me that quite often what they are looking for is trust, respect and autonomy. Having a sense that they matter, and have something to contribute is also important. And so, I was pleased to read the following report in a What Doctors Don’t Tell You (WDDTY) email newsletter.
A new study among small children suggests it’s more to do with nurture than nature. A group of socially disadvantaged children in Wales, who were raised with ‘positive parenting’ techniques – such as consistent praise and positive role models – displayed less antisocial behaviour than those who were neglected or abused. Fewer ‘positive parenting’ children were hyperactive or had learning problems, which are normally remedied with powerful drugs. In all, 153 parents from deprived areas with children aged between three and five participated. Of those, 104 adopted ‘positive parenting’ techniques, while the remainder continued with their usual approach to parenting. (Source: British Medical Journal, 2007; 334: 678-82).
To find out more about approaches to positive parenting and needs-based communication, I would invite you to check out the following sites as a starting point.
http://www.alfiekohn.com/index.html - Website of Alfie Kohn, author of Unconditional Parenting.http://www.cnvc.org/parents.htm - website for the Centre for Nonviolent Communication, founded by Marshall Rosenberg.
http://www.attachmentparenting.org/ - website for Attachment Parenting International.
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