21st century parenting: kids need to be kids

Published in MapleLine Magazine: Feb.3, 2010

Books for sale at the MapleLine Business Centre >>

by Mary P. Brooke

“Kids need to be kids. If they can’t be ego-centric it does interfere with their development,” says Allison Rees, Ph.D., a parent educator who is widely known in the Greater Victoria area. “I often see parents being bewildered by their kids’ behaviour – not understanding why their kids act the way they do – and they are becoming fearful,” said Rees in an
interview in January.

“The level of anxiety in children is also increasing,” said Rees, explaining that children are exposed to so much information. “Last year there was H1N1. Kids weren’t freaking out but they were thinking about it and talking about swine flu. They go through earthquake drills and fire drills. They raise money for breast cancer and prostate cancer – much of it through community events. Kids can feel quite inundated with all of this. We have to be very sensitive to the fears that our kids have as a result of this.”

“Parents in general put their own needs aside in order to focus on their children’s needs, definitely with younger children. When people get tired and
overwhelmed they have a tendency to just goof off. We might have all these great goals to workout or feel we need to take painting classes or whatever, but only have the energy to watch a sitcom – and sometimes that’s just the way it needs to be. It’s okay,” Rees says with calm certainty.

“Spending time with our kids is the key. It takes care of a lot of things, even the anxiety in children,” says Rees who in 2006 co-authored Sidestepping the Power Struggle – A Manual for Effective Parenting with Alison Miller, PhD. Together they deliver their popular LifeSeminars workshops. MM

Sidestepping the Power Struggle is available for purchase ($30 + gst) in Sooke at the MapleLine Business Centre, 6707 West Coast Rd. Also available from the authors at www.lifeseminars.com .

MapleLine Business Centre - Sell your book on consignment. At 6707 West Coast Road (across from Peoples Drug Mart), Sooke, BC. Phone: 250-642-7729 or toll-free 1-877-595-6925. info@maplelinebusinesscentre.com

This article was published on page 28 in the print edition of MapleLine Magazine (Winter-Spring 2010 issue / Feb-Apr.2010).