From my inbox: one of Ireland’s truly worst sources of clickbait** that pretends to be parenting/medical advice is back today with how your parenting could harm your child’s brain.
Deep breath. Probably not. Carry on. Your child’s brain is just fine. You’re doing great. But parenting in a pandemic is hard.
But, now that it’s been raised, you would still like to parent your child’s brain better? Ok, well, let’s see if we can help.
Instead of sharing that post/article, what I will share is an evidence-based technique that I use with my own son in the past year.
It was, understandable, becoming easy for him to focus on fear and what he couldn’t do. So, we added gratitude practice: every night when we tuck him in, he thinks of 3 things to be thankful for from the day. Sometimes, it’s the big things. And sometimes it’s the small things (it’s amazing what matter to children). And if he says “can’t think of one”, I gently help him remember that it’s most basic things (safe house, health, warm bed, family, food) also count and we shouldn’t take for granted. #attitudeofgratitute (#lifestylemedicine There is quite a bit of science behind gratitude practice. While it is a nice, feel-good activity — I didn’t pick it randomly!)
Honestly, it’s hard enough parenting in a #pandemic without a clickbait adding to your stress and doubts.
**#clickbait pro-tip if you’ve missed it before: Clickbait sites/ accounts commonly use this technique: take a small amount of science – and take it out of context just enough to scare you into now fearing that common, everyday practice or household item may be harming you/your child. They make money from clicks, shares, ands ads – so those “grab ya” headlines are purposely sensationalised. And, often, if you read the article – which, statisticaly, almost no one does before sharing- the headline might not even be supported by the article]
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