Parenting

Do numbers “do your head in”?

| Sally O'Reilly
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Are you constantly late? Do you freeze when asked to make a calculation? Do you dread questions at work that will involve numbers? Do you overspend? Do you get  lost easily?

 

Well you’re not alone!

 

Credit: Unknown

These are some of the signs of a condition called Dyscalculia – often referred to Dyslexia for numbers. It too causes difficulty at school, social difficulty and anxiety, but somehow it has received less attention and so fewer people know about it.

 

 

I wrote this piece for Voiceboks.com – and if you think you may have Dyscalculia it may be worth the three minute read!

 

And if your child seems to fit the description, now’s a great time to get help!

Feel free to let me know how you (or your child) get on!

 

Why is Self-harm on the rise?

| Sally O'Reilly
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I’ve taken up running again (grateful nod to the best physio in the world), and to keep me company I’ve downloaded hours of nerdy sciencey podcasts – and it’s brilliant!

My current addiction is “You Are Not So Smart” – it’s super informative and one doesn’t have to be a scientist or academic to ‘get’ it. And it has this way of helping you to understand that a lot of what you thought you knew is wrong – or at least has been improved upon. If only I could force all the world leaders to subscribe … AND it’s free! ( As I’m here I also recommend 99% Invisible and The infinite Monkey Cage which is very funny as well as fascinating).

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Fidget Spinners: Fix or Fad?

| Sally O'Reilly
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The lovely people at parenting site Voiceboks.com invited me to write an opinion piece on the latest craze ( As I type though I wonder is it already dying out??) –

You know them, you’ve seen them everywhere if you’re a parent – Fidget Spinners

Dizzying array…ch-ching!€€€££££$$$$$$

 

If you’ve been pestered/advised/guilted into buying one or a million of these there may a few things to consider first.

 

 

 

 

[bctt tweet=”The problem is that there is no evidence of effectiveness for the treatment of ADHD. In fact, to my knowledge, no proper research has been done at all.” prompt=”share with a fellow parent” username=”psychosal”]

PS: This dog gif IS pretty great though:

via GIPHY

Manchester: Parenting in the Aftermath

| Sally O'Reilly
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You’ve heard about Manchester of course. 22 dead as I type, including kids. Kids for God’s sake. At a concert, having fun, then literally – boom.
What.The.Hell.
Pray-For-Manchester
You may have teared up like I did when you saw the photo of the first victim identified – a sparkly happy photo taken of her with her idol Arianna, the same idol she watched last night. How I hope she enjoyed it.

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On staying together for the sake of the kids

| Sally O'Reilly
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“What caught him off guard though was that at some level he felt ‘programmed’ to bring conflict and drama into the relationship. Even where there was no evidence of cheating he suspected it. Even though he loved her free spirit he felt he should curtail it in case she ran off. Even though he admired her intelligence he found himself calling her stupid. When things were good he was waiting for something to go wrong – enjoying peace and fun felt alien and weird.
So if it didn’t ‘go’ wrong, he’d make it go wrong.”

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Is it ever OK to argue in front of kids?

| Sally O'Reilly
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Sulking = NOT arguing well...
Sulking = NOT arguing well…

I think so yes. Because there are ways to argue ‘well’.

(Hint – sulking isn’t one of them – but we’ve probably all done it!)

 

And not only do I think it’s OK, I think it’s important.

 

 

This is the subject of my latest piece for the lovely folk over at Family Friendly HQ and you can  read more by clicking the green button:

CLICK-HERE-BUTTON

I hope you find it helpful and as always I am interesting in feedback and further suggestions!

 

 

 

 

 

Feel free to sign up over there on the right or scroll down if you’re on your phone or tablet to receive new posts as I write them.

Talking to your child about about sexting

| Sally O'Reilly
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In my last piece I asked a scary question – Is your child sexting?

And here is the follow-up piece with some suggestions on how to introduce the conversation to your child. And even though it says ‘teen’ in the title – I wrote this with younger children in mind too.

Sexting figures
Sexting figures – I don’t like the word ‘admitted’ but you see where I’m going..

 

Because as you may or may not know, children as young as ten are accessing porn and are being pressured into sexting. So it’s a very real concern that has a lot pf parents worried and feeling powerless. Hopefully, this will help. And if you have any other tips from your own experience and wisdom please do share them below.

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Warmly,

Sally O'Reilly Counselling & Psychotherapy