Author: Chien Liu

Emotional intelligence — the capacityto recognize, understand, manage, andeffectively use emotions in oneselfand in relationships with others —is one of the qualities most stronglyassociated with adolescent wellbeing,relationship quality, and long-termlife success. It is also one of the qualities thatparents of teenagers most frequentlyfeel they are losing ground on —as the warm, communicative childof earlier years…

Friendships are one of the most importantcontributors to children’s wellbeing —and one of the areas where parentsfeel most uncertain about how to help.The line between helpful support andunhelpful interference is not alwaysclear, and the approaches that feelmost natural are not always the onesthe research supports. This article covers what the researchshows about children’s friendships —how…

Content: Independent thinking — the capacity toform one’s own views, to question assumptions,to reason carefully rather than simplyaccepting what one is told — is oneof the qualities most strongly associatedwith good decision-making, resilience,and the ability to navigate a complexand often misleading information environment. It is also one of the qualities thatparenting can either build or…

Sensory processing is one of those termsthat appears frequently in conversationsabout child development and behavior —and is rarely explained clearly enoughto be genuinely useful to parents.Understanding how children processsensory information — and what happenswhen that processing is different fromtypical — is one of the most practicalthings a parent can know. This article covers what sensory…

Reading is one of the most importantskills a child will develop — and oneof the most powerful predictors ofacademic success, cognitive development,and lifelong learning. But the researchon reading motivation suggests thatthe how of raising readers mattersas much as the what — that the conditionsunder which children develop a loveof reading are as important as thereading…

Helicopter parenting — the tendency tohover over children, to intervene intheir difficulties before they havea chance to struggle, and to managetheir lives at a level of involvementthat exceeds what their developmentalstage requires — is one of the mostdiscussed parenting phenomena of thepast two decades. The term was coined by child developmentresearcher Haim Ginott in 1969…

Low self-esteem in children is one ofthe most common concerns parents bringto pediatricians and child psychologists —and one of the most frequently addressedin the wrong ways. The instinct to boosta child’s self-esteem through praise,reassurance, and protection from failureis understandable and largely ineffective.The research on self-esteem developmenttells a more specific and more useful story. This article…

Mindfulness — the practice of payingdeliberate, non-judgmental attentionto the present moment — has movedfrom meditation cushions to mainstreamparenting and education over the pasttwo decades. Mindfulness programs forchildren are now offered in schools,clinics, and community settings worldwide. The research on mindfulness for childrenis growing rapidly — and is more nuancedthan either enthusiastic advocates orskeptical critics typically…

Talking to children about race and diversityis one of the conversations many parentsmost want to have — and most feel leastequipped for. The instinct to protectchildren from the reality of racism,or to hope that colorblindness is theright approach, is understandable.The research consistently finds thatneither protection nor colorblindnessserves children well. This article covers what the researchshows…