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 share an example during lectures to express love. When I was young, my father ordered a drink, but because money was tight, he asked the waiter to bring an extra cup after ordering one hot drink. He kept pouring the drink back and forth in front of me, trying to cool it down quickly so that the child wouldn’t burn his mouth and could drink it faster. But I found that when children ask their parents or when I asked many students’ parents, they would answer, “This will make it cool faster.” When responding to children, parents should express their feelings at the deepest level: “I love you;

Source: Psychologist, Lee Wai Tong Currently, schools have fully resumed classes, and children have more time to spend with their classmates. Sometimes, children may be teased or bullied at school. When they don’t know how to express these emotions, they may react with aggressive behavior, which may be misunderstood by teachers. For example, in a class of children playing together, one child may be teased for not performing well. At this moment, the child may not know how to handle the feeling of being teased or bullied, so when given the opportunity, the child may push or kick things, or even lie on the ground and scream. When the teacher arrives and sees this scene, they may naturally think that the problem lies with the child and may scold or lecture them. However, the teacher may not have noticed what happened before the incident. When facing bullying or teasing, children often don’t know how to ease their feelings, which becomes a headache for many parents. In fact, when children are bullied or teased in daily life, they usually seek comfort from their parents first. If parents can comfort their children appropriately, such as if the child says to their mother, “Mom, they are making fun of me,” and the mother can comfort the child by patting them and saying, “Yes, sometimes some kids do that; it’s okay.” At this moment, it is a critical time, and the child will internalize this comforting feeling. When the child returns to school and

  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 does not cause difficulty during bowel movements, it usually means that their water intake is sufficient. For children aged 2 to 5, they need about 4 to 5 cups of fluid a day, and water should be the main source. Unsaturated fatty acids, like omega-3, are also important for maintaining the integrity of cell membranes, which keep harmful substances out and keep the skin moist and flexible. Omega-3 fatty acids can also help calm immune responses that are too strong in people with skin allergies or eczema. We should also avoid certain foods, such as candies, cookies, and white bread, which are refined foods. Instead, we should choose low-glycemic

Source：Senior Lecturer Tang Hau-yu of the Department of Psychology at the Education University of Hong Kong. Actually, every child may have emotional issues, and it is difficult to say that children from single-parent families will definitely have certain problems. However, it can be imagined that children from single-parent families may exhibit some behaviors to attract attention because their parents spend less time with them. Especially when they use negative behaviors to attract your attention, the reason is that they do not have a sense of security. On the other hand, children may self-doubt and feel that they are not good enough or not obedient, which causes their parents to divorce. When faced with this situation, parents should first make their children feel loved. In daily life, they should give them more affirmation and tell them how much they love them, so that they know that even though their parents have separated, it will not change their parents’ love for them. When allocating childcare responsibilities, parents can communicate more to avoid neglecting their children. For example, if a child has a special activity at school that requires a parent’s presence, parents should try to arrange for at least one parent to attend. If possible, grandparents and other relatives, such as aunts or uncles, can also participate. Firstly, it can reduce the burden on the parents, and secondly, the child can continue to grow up in a loving environment. However, giving children more love does not mean indulging them. Some divorced parents

Source: Family Dynamic, Marriage and Family Therapist, and Hypnotherapist, Wong Shi Ming Phones emit light and sound, which always attracts children to play endlessly. Some children cannot let go of their phones no matter what they are doing, whether it is eating, riding in a car, or going to school. How can parents solve this problem? First of all, everyone should understand that the children’s reaction is inevitable. Phones can provide a lot of sensory stimulation, and there is no game over. It can be restarted, which gives a sense of accomplishment and can also distance children from the pressure and frustration of parents and school, making them feel invincible. Physiologically speaking, playing electronic games will release a large amount of dopamine in the brain, which excites and stimulates the frontal lobe, and gradually loses self-control. Therefore, many adults cannot control themselves, let alone children? Children can also be drawn to phones without realizing it, which gives most parents in Hong Kong nightmares today. I see many parents and children caught in a never-ending cycle of struggle and frustration. If not controlled, it not only affects children’s learning but also seriously affects their focus, brain development, health, and eye diseases. Therefore, phone addiction will also be listed as a form of psychological addiction, like alcohol and drugs. In fact, I have seen a middle school student addicted to playing the mobile game “PUBG,” where he had to pick up items on the ground, some of which could be booby-trapped and

Source: Senior Nutritionist, Ng Yiu Fun Many children and their parents go outdoors in the summer and feel very hot afterwards, so they want to go into the shopping mall to enjoy the air conditioning. At this time, if someone sneezes, children are easily susceptible to catching a cold or flu. How should parents deal with this problem? The first part is how to take care of them, and the other part is the diet to strengthen their immunity. First of all, we should not enter the shopping mall immediately when it is too hot. When you are sweating a lot, you need to wipe off the sweat. In fact, sweat carries away the heat from our bodies, so the process of wiping off sweat makes it easier for the sweat to evaporate and carries away some of the heat from our bodies. It would be better for us to enter the shopping mall when our bodies are a little cooler. Also, always be prepared with a jacket. Adults are the same; they need to have a shawl, which can be relatively better. On the other hand, if a child’s clothes are soaked, we should prepare an extra set of clothes to replace them, so that the clothes won’t stick to their back and cause them to catch a cold. In fact, the current towels are very long and can be placed on the back. After wiping the sweat with a towel, the clothes can remain dry. In terms of

Source: Speech Therapist, Mok Yee Tuen Typically, babies start making sounds as soon as they are born, such as different crying sounds to express their demands. From 4 to 8 months, they start babbling, which is part of the language preparation period. Children actually go through a ladder of language development, starting with just learning single words and ending with being able to tell stories with their words. Babies from 9 months to 1 year generally start producing their first meaningful word, such as “ba,”  “ma,” or “ball ball.” From 1 to 2 years old, their understanding and vocabulary expression increase greatly, with the accumulation of single words forming two-word phrases, such as “mommy drink” and “eat bun bun.” From 2 to 3 years old, children generally speak in longer sentences and can express different needs. For example, they like to add a word to the two-word phrases, forming three-word combinations, such as “Daddy eat bun” and “I want grandma.” Some children start using adjectives, such as “sister eats a big apple.” Young children generally recognize more different sentences and start using conjunctions after 3 and a half years old, and by 5 years old, they slowly understand how to combine different sentences and use more conjunctions and start to narrate things logically, that is, by telling stories. In fact, the language development of young children is slightly different for each person, but through empirical research, we also have some important reference indicators to see if a child may have

Source: Senior Dietitian, Ng Yiu Fun Many parents are worried about whether the self-prepared lunch boxes are attractive and nutritious enough for their children, so that when they open the boxes, they will feel like eating everything. Parents also like to check their children’s lunch boxes after school to see if they have eaten everything. First, they want to prove their love and care, and second, they want their children to have some nutrition. But what kind of lunch boxes will make them exclaim, “Wow!” I’m so happy! “I love it!” when they open it. First of all, we should let children develop the habit of eating without choice. If they can choose all day, they may think that if they don’t like this lunch box today, their mother will make something they like tomorrow. Therefore, they deliberately won’t eat this lunch box, which will force their mother to make a second lunch box that they like. Gradually, they will develop a habit of pickiness. I have two daughters who are also in elementary school. Our habit is that from Monday to Saturday, they don’t have a choice. Whatever their mother says to eat, they have to eat it. They know they can’t choose, and they have to eat, even if they are hungry. So she rarely complains about not eating certain things. On Sundays, she can have a meal of her choice, go to restaurant A or B for a meal, or be rewarded with some snacks. Then she

Source: Shirley Loo, Executive Director, Family Development Foundation As we may notice, in today’s society, the children of the previous generation have grown up and are now working in society, but it seems that their parents are involved in many things. It made me think back to my own childhood—did our moms always take care of us in a pampering role? Did everything seem to be taken care of so well that the kids could just focus on school and academics? In fact, this is definitely not a healthy phenomenon for the growth of children, but I also understand that mothers think that children do not need to care about anything, mothers take care of everything for you, remove any adversity and difficulties for him, establish a protection zone, and tell him to focus only on studying well. But being a good student is not the same as knowing how to be a good person. Both things should be balanced. They may find it very profound to know how to behave. If you narrow it down, it means the ability to take care of oneself. Parents should know how to let go and let their children learn to take care of themselves; that is, if they know how to do things themselves, they should let them do as much as possible. For example, he knows how to pack his schoolbag, and how to put things into it. Of course, you have to teach him first and then let him do

Source: Unleashing Mind, Psychotherapist, Dr. Lee Wai Tong Next semester, K3 children will start to prepare for elementary school. Apart from getting to know the new school, preparing stationery, and learning to wear school uniforms, what else can parents do to help their children transition smoothly and make a good transition to elementary school? It is often the case that children will feel anxious when they encounter many unknown things. To deal with the anxiety of children, it is best to prepare for the situation in advance. What’s for preparation? Open the schedule before school and remind the children, “Look, there will be a recess after these two classes, and then another recess after these two classes.” They will know in their minds when there will be a short break, then lunchtime, and then the school will be over after a while. In terms of teachers, they don’t know who the teacher is, so we can say, “This teacher should be a male teacher, and this one is a female teacher.” This is the advance preparation so that the children know more about the things that have not happened and are better prepared. In particular, many elementary schools will hold orientation activities. Parents should not think that they don’t need to participate now because they are busy and their children will only return to school in September. If you can participate, you should do so, as it actually helps children know more and be well prepared for the unknown. With