Welcome to Help me, Help my Child
Welcome to Help me, Help my Child, the site that can offer you answers to your worries about your children.
Our children are a source of endless delight, lovable, beautiful small people for whom we would die; we watch them grow, we cherish them, we teach them and we worry for them. At first the worries are fairly simple - the baby stays in one place, and we try to make sure that he has enough to eat and drink, stays well and sleeps enough - then parents can sleep enough too.
As the baby gets older, the worries change and we become anxious as to whether the baby is developing as it should, as other babies do, learning to move and talk and communicate as 'the books' say. And then every month brings new concerns: Is my child clever enough? Will he ever be dry at night? Will he get into that school? Is he happy? Has he got friends? Is this normal? Do other children steal? Why is he so upset about the cat? Will he grow if he only eats baked beans? Why does he talk like that? Why doesn’t he practise his instrument? Is he spending too long on the computer? Does it matter that his Father hardly ever sees him awake? And a whole lot more you can't imagine until they happen.
Of course, some of it relates back to our own childhood too. How can I make sure he doesn't have an eating disorder? or get bullied? or hate his mother and father? Having children reminds us that we are part of a huge and never-ending sequence; as parents, we maybe finally understand what our parents meant, or totally disagree with what they did.
But we all want to be the best parents we can be, and we look for answers. It used to be that there was always someone to hand - extended family, Nanny, the Doctor. But now, to whom can we refer? And if we don't get help, what might happen?
Remember, you are the expert on your child; you know best what makes him or her happy, what helps him or her to learn, what he or she finds distressing. We are the experts on child development, education and child rearing, we are the psychologists. Together we can do a wonderful job to help you maximise your child's potential and happiness.
Ruth Coppard, Chartered Psychologist
Our children are a source of endless delight, lovable, beautiful small people for whom we would die; we watch them grow, we cherish them, we teach them and we worry for them. At first the worries are fairly simple - the baby stays in one place, and we try to make sure that he has enough to eat and drink, stays well and sleeps enough - then parents can sleep enough too.
As the baby gets older, the worries change and we become anxious as to whether the baby is developing as it should, as other babies do, learning to move and talk and communicate as 'the books' say. And then every month brings new concerns: Is my child clever enough? Will he ever be dry at night? Will he get into that school? Is he happy? Has he got friends? Is this normal? Do other children steal? Why is he so upset about the cat? Will he grow if he only eats baked beans? Why does he talk like that? Why doesn’t he practise his instrument? Is he spending too long on the computer? Does it matter that his Father hardly ever sees him awake? And a whole lot more you can't imagine until they happen.
Of course, some of it relates back to our own childhood too. How can I make sure he doesn't have an eating disorder? or get bullied? or hate his mother and father? Having children reminds us that we are part of a huge and never-ending sequence; as parents, we maybe finally understand what our parents meant, or totally disagree with what they did.
But we all want to be the best parents we can be, and we look for answers. It used to be that there was always someone to hand - extended family, Nanny, the Doctor. But now, to whom can we refer? And if we don't get help, what might happen?
Remember, you are the expert on your child; you know best what makes him or her happy, what helps him or her to learn, what he or she finds distressing. We are the experts on child development, education and child rearing, we are the psychologists. Together we can do a wonderful job to help you maximise your child's potential and happiness.
Ruth Coppard, Chartered Psychologist
