Articles

Increasing independence: enabling vs. protecting

When a parent sees his child feeling scared or anxious, it is his natural instinct to try and protect him from the perceived danger. However, with anxiety-provoking everyday situations (like talking to a peer or teacher) in which the child needs to learn to function in order to lead a full and satisfying life, the parents’ aim should be to enable him to acquire and practice coping skills. It’s not easy – how can parents know when to enable “fighting fear by facing fear” and when should they protect their child?


What Causes Selective Mutism?

Selective mutism is caused by the interaction between the nature of the child and external factors—nature and nurture. One can conceptualize this as various factors fitting into one of three groups: predisposing factors, triggers, and maintaining factors.


still waters run deep