How can eating habits make your child’s skin healthier? Source: Registered Dietitian (Public Health) (UK), Ng Pui-Yu   Many kids have dry skin or even eczema, and their parents work hard to find the right moisturizers and other skin care products for them. In fact, in addition to topical skincare products, we should also pay attention to children’s diets. The most direct way, of course, is to drink more water. How much water should be drunk? In fact, our body’s need for water is deeply influenced by the weather. For example, in dry weather, we need more water, as well as to account for children’s activity levels and how much they sweat. The water content in food also affects their need for water. If a child urinates every 3 to 4 hours and the urine is light yellow with no strong odor and the stool is not very hard and

How do parents show love to their children? Source: Parenting Education Specialist, Ken Sir Parents may worry that expressing too much love to their children will spoil them and therefore do not know how to express love to them. Generally speaking, Chinese are more introverted and often dare not express their love. Especially when you originally wanted to express that you were very worried about your child, it often turns into another attitude. Once, I saw a mother and her child get lost in Shatin and then reunite. What was the mother’s behavior like after the reunion? She grabbed the child’s hand and hit him while saying, “I couldn’t find you earlier; do you know how scared I was? I was so worried. What would I do if I didn’t find you?” In fact, everyone knows that the mother loves her child, but the child doesn’t feel it. I often

Why do children have a perfectionist personality? Source : Psychiatrist, Dr. Hui Long Kit    Perfectionistic children may have autism spectrum disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder. In fact, perfectionism often stems from a child’s own high demands on themselves to do everything perfectly. When they cannot achieve perfection, they often blame themselves. For some children, when they score 99 out of 100 on an exam, they may cry endlessly at home because they are so worried about the one point they missed.   However, sometimes perfectionistic thinking does not come from the child, but rather from the parents. For example, if a child scores 99 out of 100, have you as a parent ever asked them, “Why didn’t you get 100 points?” If you say this, you are actually adding some perfectionistic elements to the child’s thinking. Children’s psychology is easily influenced by adults. If adults demand perfection in everything, children

撰文：家營營養中心創辦人　資深營養師　吳耀芬   開學了，小朋友上學前有沒有吃早餐呢？很多小朋友有不同的原因，養成了不吃早餐的習慣，但是各位家長要留意，原來早餐對小朋友的成長有很大的影響呢！   早前中文大學的研究顯示，原來早餐對學生的學業成績有重大影響。有每天吃早餐習慣的學生，考試成績較一般沒有吃早餐的學生高出5分之多。為甚麼吃早餐會令我們更聰明呢？   由於腦部需要血糖作為營養的吸收和消耗，但當我們的身體整晚處於沒有食物的狀態下入睡，身體已消耗了我們一整天的血糖。所以，我們更需要進食早餐以補充血糖，令我們的反應變得較快。家長可能會問，有甚麼早餐比較適合小朋友？ 甚麼早餐可以「醒腦醒晨」？ 澱粉質的食物 包括粥、粉、麵、飯、麵包和餅乾等，所以我們可以吃一件三文治、一碗通粉或米粉也可以；甚至飲牛奶、吃燕麥片或粟米片也沒有問題。 補充蛋白質 由於蛋白質本身也可以讓我們的反應會快一點，例如雞絲含豐富的蛋白質，所以早餐可以選擇一碗雞絲湯米粉或雞絲湯通粉，或吃一份芝士蛋三文治，也可以幫助我們補充一天的需要。所以各位家長記得提醒小朋友，要吃了早餐才上學了！ 返回

撰文：精神科專科許龍杰醫生   很多家長都試過有這樣的經驗：帶小朋友出外遊玩，原本一家人心情愉快，小朋友也玩得盡興。但突然之間，小朋友提出一些無理要求（如看見玩具要買），家長不容許，小朋友就即時變臉，哭哭啼啼。當家長嚴厲訓斥，小朋友卻變本加厲，不但哭鬧得更大聲，更扭盡六壬，蹬腳瞓地，引來街上途人注目（甚至可能懷疑你在虐兒）。家長無計可施，唯有極盡安撫，甚至舉手投降，買下玩具給小朋友，希望平息風波。最後，小朋友一但要求得逞，玩具還未到手，便已經破涕為笑，之前的哭鬧一掃而空，令家長哭笑不得。 可是，家長有沒有留意，假如這些「因扭計壓力而妥協」的情況出現的次數愈多，小朋友的哭鬧次數卻會不減反增？這是由於一個心理學現象 － 「正向增強現象」(Positive Reinforcement) 的後果。所謂「正向增強現象」，意思是當對方出現一個行為之後，假如即時給予對方獎勵，那個行為便會再次出現。當獎勵愈多，行為重複出現的機會也愈高。 套用在剛才的例子上，假如小朋友哭鬧不止，在他情緒最激動之時，假如大人滿足了他的無理要求（如買玩具），這便等於獎勵了他哭鬧的行為，以後當小朋友有其他不合理的要求，便會更傾向用哭鬧的手段來達到目的。另外，一般小朋友都希望得到父母的愛和關注，假如父母平時愛理不理，但小朋友一哭鬧，父母便立時緊張萬分，因為即使打罵也是關注的一種，久而久之，小朋友便會傾向以哭鬧，作為吸引父母注意的手段。   所以，家長要適當處理小朋友的哭鬧，首要的事是父母要保持溫和的態度，但同時要堅持原則，不可以輕易妥協，特別是不能因為小朋友持續哭鬧，就最終屈服而滿足要求。假如父母無法控制場面，可以嘗試減少對小朋友的注意，如移開眼神接觸、木無表情或不與小朋友說話等。另外，假如哭鬧的場所是在家中發生，家長可以帶小朋友到一個寧靜的角落，切斷所有對小朋友的關注，讓小朋友慢慢冷靜下來，再對他慢慢說清楚問題所在。 當然，更重要的是當小朋友行為良好，沒有哭鬧之時，要不時給予小朋友適當的關注，讓小朋友有安全感，不會用大吵大鬧作為「籌碼」，來爭取父母的愛，這才是治本之道。 返回