Author: Chien Liu

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…

Childhood trauma is one of the mostimportant and most misunderstood conceptsin child development. The word “trauma”is sometimes used so broadly that itloses meaning — applied to every difficultexperience a child has. And sometimesit is used so narrowly that genuinelytraumatic experiences go unrecognizedand unsupported. The research on childhood trauma isspecific, important, and directly relevantto parents who…

Child-led play is one of the mostevidence-backed concepts in earlychildhood development — and oneof the most counterintuitive forparents who feel they should beteaching, guiding, and structuringtheir child’s play to make itas educational as possible. The research on child-led playtells a compelling story aboutwhat children actually learn whenadults step back, follow theirlead, and let them direct…

Setting boundaries with children is oneof the most discussed and most misunderstoodaspects of parenting. The word “boundaries”appears constantly in parenting conversations —but it is used to mean very different thingsby different people, and the research onwhat actually works is more specific thanmost popular discussions suggest. This article covers what boundaries actuallyare in the context of…