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Sat, Jan 23, 2021

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Parents are much more likely to caution their daughters about the dangers of climbing a playground pole while encouraging their same aged sons to do just that. Risky business: Encouraging (safe) risk-taking behaviour in your child

Challenge and risk-taking activities are directly linked to children’s self-esteem

Gary and Annette with their children Cora (7), Ollie (4) and baby Páidí. Gary O’Hanlon: ‘Guys are supposed to be fine about miscarriages. But I wasn’t’

Parenting in My Shoes: The television chef on fatherhood, loss, and birth in a pandemic

The O'Donovans: Sophie (12), Robyn (10), Katie (7) and Jack (17) are being homeschooled by their mother, Lynsey, while schools are closed by Covid-19 Will special needs classes reopen? ‘There are times we find it very hard to cope’

The pandemic has weighed particularly heavily on parents of children with additional needs

Of the 40 to 60 children a year now being adopted here from overseas, they are likely to come from Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Poland, the US or Haiti. Adoption ‘is for children, not for people who wish to be parents’

CEO of Adoption Authority of Ireland makes no apologies for time-consuming rigour of system

Children

Focusing on the shyness can inadvertently make a child think something might be wrong with them. Photograph: iStockphoto How to encourage your child’s potential . . . from toddler to teen

Saying ‘don’t be shy’ or ‘has the cat got your tongue?’ can increase his anxiety

Whether shouting does damage to children depends on the frequency and severity. Has my shouting damaged my children?
Enjoyment is very important when it comes to close family relationships. Photograph: IStock It's not enough to love your kids equally
  • How can you build your child’s self-esteem?
  • Ask the expert: My daughter hates secondary school

Teenagers

For teenagers, bereavement can be particularly difficult to come to terms with. Photograph: iStockphoto Ask the expert: Our daughter is struggling since the death of a classmate

She is struggling to get a proper night’s sleep and is very anxious before going to bed

The transition to secondary school can be a big challenge for many young people. Photograph: iStockphoto Ask the expert: My daughter hates secondary school
Encourage your son to take time out to eat well and to include fruit and vegetables in his diet. Photograph: istockphoto Ask the expert: How can I help son with exam stress?
  • Ask the expert: Should I allow my 11-year-old have a smartphone?
  • Ask the Expert: Our teenage daughter is always unhappy

Toddlers

Sleep training requires a lot of patience and does not yield immediate results. Photograph: Thinkstock Ask the expert: How do we get a toddler to sleep all night?

If you have a parenting query, send your question to health@irishtimes.com

Whining time again: plan your responses to manage your child’s angry behaviours. Photograph: Thinkstock Ask the Expert: My little girl whinges all the time
To break the night-time pattern, it is important to be calm and largely silent, and ideally to reward him with your attention only when he has got back into his bed. Photograph: Thinkstock Ask the Expert: Our toddler wakes three times a night
  • Ask the Expert: Potty problems ahead of preschool year
  • Getting your child back into his own bed

Babies

Pixie McKenna: ‘In an ideal world, if you can cook something, great. It’s cheaper, it’s more convenient, you can batch-cook and, ultimately, as you go through the stages, you can all eat the same thing, which is really important.’ Pixie McKenna on weaning: ‘I hadn’t a clue’

‘Dr Pixie’s First Foods’ examines weaning and babies’ first food recipes . . . sugar included

Ask the expert: Should I listen to my friend’s advice on my baby’s sleep habits?
Decisions about the balance between parenting and career bring up your deepest values about what way you want to be as a parent and what you value as a person. Photograph: Thinkstock Ask the Expert: I dread going back to work and leaving my baby
  • Ask the Expert: My daughter is making strange with her father
  • Ask the expert: I can’t love anyone, not even my baby

Relationships

As one of my boys is 12 and prepubescent, I’m concerned about telling him about his dad before he has established his own sexual identity. Photograph: Thinkstock Ask the Expert: How do I tell my sons their father is bisexual?

John Sharry helps solve your parenting problems. Send your queries to health@irishtimes.com

When telling your children bad news, pick a place where you can be comfortable and when you have plenty of time. Photograph: Thinkstock Images Ask the expert: How do we tell our children their dad is dying?
Tell them about your addiction and recovery: children in particular can find this helpful. Photograph: Getty Images Ask the expert: I am an alcoholic and I need to fix my family
  • Ask the expert: My daughter is railing against my new relationship
  • Ask the Expert: My violent ex-husband is seeking contact with our son

Most Read in Life & Style

1 ‘Stardust took me over. It turned me into a victim too’

2 A pulse oximeter is placed on a person’s finger to measure the oxygen level in the blood. Photograph: iStock Covid-19: How to look after yourself if you catch the virus

3  Former garda Frank Cullinane   with his hybrid car that had the converter stolen from it. Photograph: Laura Hutton Ireland’s catalytic converter thieves: ‘They’re like Formula 1 mechanics’

4 Gardaí conducted an operation in the uplands of Wicklow last weekend, to stop people going there in breach of the 5km rule. Vehicles were  towed away for illegal parking and blocking access Beyond the guidelines: How not to get Covid-19 this weekend

5 Former TD Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran says he has spent recent months fishing and ‘doing up an old cruiser boat’ and is seeking to get a taxi driver licence again. Photograph: Tom Honan My first year as an ex-TD: ‘I looked for jobs, but I didn’t make the grade’

6 Illustration: Alan Clarke Ross O’Carroll-Kelly: ‘75? What on earth makes you think I’m 75?’

7  Boncuk followed the ambulance that transported her owner to hospital last week. Screengrab: Reuters  Dog spends days outside hospital waiting for owner

8 Cars and coronavirus: ‘Even if you’re wearing a face covering, you still get tiny aerosols that are released every time you breathe.’ Photograph: iStock/Getty Sharing a car? Here’s which windows to open to lower the risk of coronavirus transmission

9 Kerala Kitchen Kovalam subji curry (vegetable curry). Photograph: Nathalie Marquez Courtney; styled by Lesiele Juliet A Kerala Kitchen curry for the weekend

10 Blankets help keep the heat that your body generates close to you, while there is nothing more warming than a cup of tea. Photograph: iStock Cold and working from home? How to stay warm without whacking up the heating

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