Teens

There’s something your teen isn’t telling you..

| Sally O'Reilly
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Well.. Ok.. there are probably many things they are not telling you but there’s one in particular we’re talking about here.

One of the benefits of having an almost crystal clear memory (of the horrors) of being an angst-ridden teen is that it helps when you’re an adult to empathize with teen concerns.  And whatever your role, parent, teacher, therapist, when you’re trying to help,  empathy is far more useful than irritation, helplessness, anger or frustration (speaking from personal experience, that is). You’ll probably be familiar with those feelings..?!

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Helping to nurture your teenage daughter’s body image

| Sally O'Reilly
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Do  you suck your tummy in when you think other people are looking at you?

Every day, women (and men) are bombarded by messages on the TV, radio, print media including the internet telling us (and selling us) on how to change how we look. Unless you actually live under an actual rock you are bombarded by change-your-body messages maybe twenty, thirty times a day (?!!). All designed to sell you something. All disguised as “help”.

 

medium_light-yogurt-skinny-small-78283[1]
(That’s an ad for yogurt… ahem and erm…)

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Helping your child to deal with bullies – a 5 step plan

Bullying
Image | | Sally O'Reilly
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Bullying is a hot topic at the moment. I’m not sure that it’s happening more than it used to, but I am sure that the ways in which we bully each other are more varied. All bullying can feel overwhelming, difficult to witness, difficult to control. And we can feel helpless, victimised along with the child.

Bullying

As we know, the consequences can be devastating.

In this piece I’m offering some thoughts around the nature of bullying and how best to manage it. I give 5 steps that I’ve shared with many clients, with good results. So they’ve been tried and tested!

The full text is here, on Voiceboks parenting website (great for other parenting tips too!).

Meanwhile here’s a summary meme to give you an idea of the 5 steps. The full explanation of exactly how to carry out the steps is in the full piece. I hope you find it useful!

Ways to nurture your child’s self esteem.

Awesome Shaped
| Sally O'Reilly
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Yesterday I wrote about my depressing experience in a gym changing room where a little girl sucked in her tummy when she noticed me looking at (admiring) her.

Today, I’ve decided to suggest things we can collectively challenge in our society, things that hurt us and our children. I’m a big believer in taking action!

Here’s a little taster of where I’m going with this one:

Self-Esteem
Self-Esteem

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Kim and Kanye are in Ireland!! (And why we give a &^%*…)

Kim and Kanye
| Sally O'Reilly
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We have a lovely little castle with proper history that has been nicely converted into a 5 star hotel and in fairness, many celebrities have indeed stayed there. Disappointingly I missed, by mere minutes, an afternoon with a very sociable Bruce Springsteen last summer. And so when it became clear that the newlyweds, “Kimye”, (we can nickname them now ‘cos they’re practically locals) flew into Cork airport, Castlemartyr was the obvious choice destination. So we all went mad looking to confirm that we were hosting new sparkly guests, albeit briefly. It was most entertaining!

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The problem with threesomes

Threesomes
| Sally O'Reilly
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This is my response to the criticism of the Spunout.ie threesome page by Michelle Mulherin.

 

I would like to offer my opinion on today’s publicity around Spunout.ie’s section on Threesomes on their website.

I am in fact a huge fan of the website, and as a sex educator with teens myself feel an alliance with people who are willing to offer fact based sex education in a country where we are still utterly lacking in good quality sex education for second level students.

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