Both parents and teachers alike are concerned about children who are openly defiant of adult requests. An oppositional child can be argumentative and may deliberately annoy students, siblings, teachers, or whomever they feel like challenging. They may attempt to engage others towards some type of interpersonal confrontation in order to handle internal struggles they are experiencing.

Kids Need to Eat Breakfast

The house is alive with a flurry of activity. A young girl is quickly shoving papers into a backpack while her mother is finding her car keys. The girl’s brother still looks slightly dazed as he finishes putting on his clothes while his father exhorts him to get ready to go. In a short-time, the…

Teaching Kids Mindfulness

The girl’s mother could see that her daughter was starting to get anxious. Her daughter’s eyes were beginning to widen and her face was starting to flush. Then the questions began with her daughter seeking reassurance from her that everything would be ok. The mother looked at her daughter calmly and told her, “I think…

Intervene Even if “It’s Just a Phase”

The two year old boy runs over to another child and hits him. He then yanks the toy car away from the other child. When the parent tells the child to give back the toy car, the boy shouts, “No!” The parent grimaces but thinks, “It is just a phase. I am sure it will…

Talking to Teens About Substance Use

“Go ahead, it just relaxes you and makes everything seem alright” said the teen as he passed the joint to another teen. The other teen looked at the joint reluctantly and then said, “I would, but my parents would totally freak out. You don’t understand how dead I would be if they ever found out.”…