The nose is an essential part of our body. It filters the air you breathe, removing dust, germs, and irritants. It warms and moistens the air to keep your lungs and tubes that lead to them from drying out. Your nose also contains the nerve cells that help your sense of smell. When there is a problem with your nose, your whole body can suffer. For example, the stuffy nose of the common cold can make it hard for you to breathe, sleep, or get comfortable. Let's be nosy and find out standard childhood nose related issues : Bacterial Nasal Infections - Minor infections at the opening of the nose, may result in pimples at the base of nasal hairs and sometimes crusts around the nostrils. The infection may result from nose picking or excessive nose blowing and causes annoying crusts and bleeding when the crusts slough off.Broken Nose - A broken nose, also called a nasal fracture, is a break or crack in a bone in your nose — often the bone over the bridge of your nose. Common causes of a broken nose include contact sports, physical fights, falls, and motor vehicle accidents that result in facial trauma. A broken nose can cause pain, along with swelling and bruising around your nose and under your eyes. Your nose may look crooked, and you may have trouble breathing. Treatment for a broken nose may include procedures that realign your nose. Surgery usually isn't necessary for a broken nose.Deviated Septum - The bone and cartilage that divides the inside of the nose in half is called the nasal septum. The most common symptom from a badly deviated septum is difficulty breathing through the nose, which is usually worse on one side. In some cases, it may cause sinus drainage or repeated sinus infections.Nosebleeds - A nosebleed is blood loss from the tissue that lines your nose. The most common causes of nosebleeds are dryness (often caused by indoor heat in the winter) and nose picking. These two things work together — nose-picking occurs more often when mucus in the nose is dry and crusty. Colds also can cause nosebleeds.Post-Nasal Drip - Post-nasal drip occurs when your nose and throat produce excess mucus, often causing you to feel it dripping down from your nose into your throat. Symptoms include Feeling of mucus drainage into the throat, Frequent swallowing, Throat clearing, Sore, irritated throat &amp; Feeling a lump in the throat.Rhinitis (Hay Fever) -&nbsp;Allergic rhinitis is the most common childhood ailment caused by allergies. Symptoms include a runny and itchy nose, sneezing, post-nasal drip and nasal congestion (blockage). A child with allergies may also have itchy, watery, red eyes and chronic ear problems.Runny Nose - A stuffy or congested nose occurs when the tissues lining the nose become swollen. The swelling is due to inflamed blood vessels. The problem may also include nasal discharge or "runny nose." If excess mucus runs down the back of your throat, it may cause a cough or sore throat. A runny nose may be annoying and uncomfortable, but it usually clears up on its own. Occasionally, it can be a sign of a more severe problem. A runny nose may be severe in infants. Prevention tipsAlthough it may not be possible to prevent all nosebleeds in children, a person can take steps to help reduce their occurrence. These include:·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Treating allergies to prevent inflammation in the nose·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Using saline (saltwater) nasal sprays to keep the child's nose moist·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Running a humidifier or vaporizer in the child's bedroom to prevent the air from drying out·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Keeping children's nails trimmed to prevent injuries due to nose picking·&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Encouraging children to wear appropriate protective equipment during sports or other activities where injury to the nose is possible RememberIf your child has symptoms of any of the above nose related issues/infections, see your paediatrician. Your paediatrician can properly diagnose and treat the infection and recommend ways to help alleviate the discomfort from some of the symptoms.

The nose is an essential part of our body. It filters the air you breathe & removes dust. When there is a problem with your nose, your whole body can suffer. 

Nose related issues in Children

The nose is an essential part of our body. When there is a problem with your nose, your whole body can suffer.

Are there any psychological effects on children watching cartoons on TV or mobile?Cartoons are the most popular entertainment for children. Earlier children would spend time outside playing with their friends, compared to now where they choose to spend time in front of the TV, watching their favourite Cartoons for hours. Ever since the emergence of the cartoon industry, it has been noted that watching cartoons can have both negative as well as positive impacts on a child's psychological growth along with their physical growth. Positive Impacts:<ol><li>Early Education: Preschoolers can get help to learn alphabets, shapes, numbers, and colours while watching TV. Undoubtedly, television can be an excellent educator and entertainer. The moving, talking pictures and colourful visuals make learning interesting and fun for kids.</li><li>Cognitive development:&nbsp;Watching TV and cartoon can help in the development of cognitive skills in kids. Skills such as logic and reasoning ability, visual and auditory processing, and sustained and selective attention of a child are developed and enhanced in kids.</li><li>Linguistic skills:&nbsp;Watching cartoons in different languages can assist children in not just learning different languages but can also help them improve their pronunciation and their manner of talking.</li><li>Creativity:&nbsp;watching cartoons enhances creative thinking in children. They may start thinking of new creative ideas like stories, characters, situations, etc on basis of cartoons they watch.</li><li>Morals and Culture:&nbsp;Mythological cartoons can introduce children to their religion and culture. Many cartoons end with good lessons of morals like kindness, caring and compassion.</li></ol> Negative Impacts:<ol><li>Violent Behavior:&nbsp;Kids who watch violent acts are more likely to show aggressive behaviour and also may fear that the world is scary and that something bad will happen to them. Also Because Cartoon characters display no more than little harm during violent scenes, children may believe that no one gets hurt or feels pain since cartoons escape unscathed after experiencing violence or an accident.</li><li>Less-empathetic behaviour:&nbsp;Few cartoons characters display a lack of empathy and rude/ disobedient behaviour towards others. Kids might mimic this behaviour and challenge their elders when they are disciplined for bad behaviour.</li><li>Rough Language:&nbsp;Few cartoon characters make use of rough language, as a result of which children begin to use foul/ rough language in their day to day life.</li><li>Anti-social behaviour:&nbsp;Several cartoons encourage antisocial behaviour and give wrong messages to kids. Cartoon characters often display risky behaviour, such as smoking and drinking, and may also reinforce gender-role and racial stereotypes. These can affect a kid's behaviour and make them believe it is normal to be aggressive, spoiled, or violent. cartoons may be the reason for many children to even become bullies in schools.</li><li>Health Issues:&nbsp;Children who consistently spend more than 4 hours a day watching TV are more likely to be overweight. They watch cartoons even when they eat because many parents believe it gets easier to feed babies watching television. Health issues arising due to sedentary lifestyle and inactivity for hours include obesity, vision problems, and nutritional deficiencies due to bad food habits.</li><li>Role models:&nbsp;From a very young age children start to mimic their role models. A role model is someone who either inspires and motivates the kids or discourages and admonish them, thereby shaping their character and personality as adults. Children often idolize their favourite cartoon character which could be Often a misleading role model that encourages the wrong habits or displays insensitive behaviour towards others. This kind of impact of cartoons on children’s psychology can often lead to devastating outcomes and result in kids being withdrawn, uncommunicative, antisocial, or unruly.</li></ol> Tips for parents: <ul><li>To make cartoons a healthy entertainment and a good and effective source of learning for kids, parents should pay more attention to providing selected cartoons to their kids that could positively influence them.</li><li>Parents must control the time children spend watching TV. They can choose appropriate cartoons for their kids. It would be better if parents also regularly watch and discuss the characters of cartoons with children. This way they will not only keep their kids away from violence but also direct them to different activities.</li><li>Lastly, it is recommended for parents to avoid placing their kids in front of screens while they’re eating.</li><li>Let's protect kids from the negative impact of Television media! Because healthy kids mean a healthy future!</li></ul>

Watching cartoons programs had a significant effect on the behaviour of children. Cartoons can have both positive and negative effects on cognitive and behavioural development.

Influence of watching cartoons on children

Watching cartoons can both negatively and positively influence children. Along with being the best educator, Watching TV can surely encourage children to become aggressive and violent. Hence, the cartoon industry is believed to influence a child's brain as well as physical development.

It's just a few days to your child's birthday and you are wondering if everything will go according to your plan or not. Well, here are a few things you can prepare beforehand so that on your child's special day you are not busy with organising and execution and are able to spend quality time with your child: <ul><li>If you're calling your child's friends over, make all the calls at least 3 days prior and take the confirmations so you can make the arrangements accordingly.</li><li>If you are planning to get food from outside, call the catering people and make appropriate arrangements for the special day.</li><li>If you are going to plan an activity for children, get all the materials for the same and keep everything in one place so that you don't have to rush around for everything on the day of celebration.</li><li>Get a house help for the whole day to help you with the arrangements prior to the celebration and also to help you tidy up the place post the celebrations.</li><li>Make your child try on the clothes and footwear before their birthday so that if any changes are to be made, they can be done within time.</li><li>Wind up all your personal/professional work one day prior to your child's birthday so that you can give your undivided attention to your child.</li></ul> If you are confused as to what you can do to make your child's birthday fulfilling, take a look at our 'Birthday Celebration Ideas' article to get some ideas.

Don't fuss about the preparations on the day of the celebration of the child's birthday, instead, see what you can manage prior to the celebration to make the day less stressful.

Preparing for your childs Birthday

Don't fuss about the preparations on the day of the celebration of your child's birthday, instead, see what all you can manage prior to the celebration to make the day less stressful.

In a joint family, every member takes their turn to nurture and nourish the child. Joint families are a boon to working parents or otherwise too. Children get to learn to respond and interact with others, adapt to changes and people. Raising a child in a joint family also becomes a bit easier on the mother because of the whole support system. Like every coin has two sides, bringing up a child in a joint family also has its own set of pros and cons. <ul><li>A joint family has too many authoritative figures which usually can give contradicting signals to a child. In a joint family, the same message should come from all the adults in the family. If jumping on the bed is not allowed, then the same message should come from both parents and grandparents.</li><li>It Is given that the parenting styles of grandparents and parents are going to differ. And when the differences arise, children are quick to catch those. So whenever you feel conflicts arising, it is better to sit down and talk about the differences when the child is NOT around. Set ground rules about raising your child.</li><li>In a joint family, a child learns good family values from the elder family members.</li><li>Children in a joint family are less hooked on gadgets as everyone in the family is ready to cater to their needs, be it emotional, social, physical, or in academics.</li><li>Making decisions for a child might get conflicting in the joint families as the grandparents tend to impose their thoughts and opinions. Sure, at times the help and insights are great but at the end of the day, it is solely the right of parents to decide the best for their child.</li></ul> In the end, it is up to parents to weigh the pros and cons of raising a child in joint and nuclear families and then decide what’s best for their child(ren).

A joint family is a large family where the grandparents, father, mother, uncle, aunt and their children live unitedly under one roof.

Parenting in a Joint Family | Types of Family

A joint family is a large family where the grandparents, father, mother, uncle, aunt and their children live unitedly under one roof.

Parenting in a Joint Family

Creativity is at the epicentre of human exploration and discovery. Creativity is a force that nurtures human development, innovation and helps us appreciate nature around us. Everyone is creative. Being creative helps children to look within themselves, take a pause and helps them to calm down. Below are a few ways to nurture your child’s creative ideas and imaginative spirit:<ol><li>Encourage possibility thinking: Pose the “What if?” question in front of your child in as many ways as possible; these help children naturally think of creative possibilities for everything they encounter.</li><li>Nurture your child’s interests: Allow your children to choose their after-school activities. Encourage them to more deeply explore those activities in essays and projects at school.</li><li>Expand the language of emotion: Being able to understand and describe emotions is critical to the creative process. Help them with the emotional vocabulary so that they can express their feelings better.</li><li>Play, play, play: Through imaginative play, children explore their ideas and create meaning about the world around them. It is better to provide all kinds of art supplies - crayons, play dough, construction paper, glitter to your child so that (s)he can create freely.</li><li>Explore the beauty of nature: The natural world inspires children to think, question, make suppositions, instil problem-solving skills, and develop creative minds. Children can draw in the sand, make designs with twigs, build forts with branches, or simply lie on the ground and look up at the sky.</li><li>Advocate for the daydreamer: When kids daydream, they explore associations, make connections, and search for possibilities. Daydreaming and a bit of solitude for reflection are among the attributes of highly creative people.</li><li>Invent scenarios: Invent scenarios with your child. This way (s)he will try on lots of different roles and organise his/her thoughts while developing social and verbal skills. Encourage your child to play house, doctor, zoo, farm, space station, school, or store.</li><li>Verbal activities: From rhymes to riddles (check our rhymes and riddles content to get you started), silly sounds to phonics, games such as "I Spy" (and many more activities on our app), verbal interactive activities can inspire and nurture creative minds.</li><li>Encourage art activities: Through painting, sculpture, collage, clay, drawing or any other medium, art is a way for children to work through emotions, make decisions, and express their ideas.</li><li>Ask open-ended and thought-provoking questions: Asking questions that provoke imaginative and creative thinking is an effective way to invite your child to express his/her ideas and share his/her visions. "What do you think would happen if….?" "What's the difference between a dog and a cat?" "What are some other ways to do this?" are a few questions to get you started.</li><li>Limit screen time: Nurturing imagination and parenting in the digital age can be tough. Focusing on a screen is a passive way of learning for children. Engaging children in a kinesthetic manner using their entire bodies and their five senses helps in deep learning and also opens up their minds.</li><li>Remember to allow for downtime: Unstructured, unscheduled time allows children opportunities to imagine and create.</li><li>Limit electronic toys: Electronic toys don’t engage a child’s imagination and so children are simply better off playing with a basic wooden toy.</li><li>Ask questions about their creations: Kids have their own thought processes, and we can’t always see what they are thinking just by looking at something they’ve made. Ask them what they have created to help them articulate their process and the ideas behind what they thought of creating and what they ended up creating.</li><li>Respect: Respecting that each child has the right to be himself/herself and believing in his/her uniqueness builds your child’s confidence. Respect his/her imagination and fantasies.</li><li>Base on Values Not Rules: Too many rules hinder creativity. If you let your children decide their behaviour according to those values, creativity will flourish.</li></ol> Here are some examples of comments that nurture the creative environment:<ul><li>“It’s fun to try it different ways”</li><li>“Tell me about it”</li><li>“Let’s try it anyway”</li><li>“Have you thought of any alternatives?”</li><li>“I see you are having a lot of fun”</li></ul>

Creativity is at the epicentre of human exploration and discovery. Being creative helps children to look within themselves, take a pause and helps them to calm down.

Nurturing your child's Creativity

Being creative helps a child take a pause from the constant running about of life and makes them feel relaxed.

Nurturing your childs Creativity

Claustrophobia is the fear of closed spaces. This can be experienced in an elevator, small rooms without window, caves, cellars, small closed cars and sometimes tight – neck covered clothing. If you know the child is claustrophobic do not tease the child in panic situations. Causes:Calustrophobia may be caused due to a traumatic event in early years of childhood. These event(s) could be:<ul><li>Child getting locked in dark room unable to find door</li><li>Child crawling into a hole and getting stuck</li><li>Child locked in a closet</li><li>Child left alone in car or van</li><li>Child with clautrophobic parent(s)</li><li>Child who was bullied or abused</li></ul> Triggers:People affected by claustrophobia will often go out of their way to avoid confined spaces, such as lifts, tunnels, tube trains and public toilets. But avoiding these places may reinforce the fear.Some people with claustrophobia experience mild anxiety when in a confined space, while others have severe anxiety or a panic attack. The most common experience is a feeling or fear of losing control. Some common triggers are:<ul><li>Lifts</li><li>Tunnels</li><li>Tube trains</li><li>Revolving doors</li><li>Public toilets</li><li>Cars with central locking</li><li>Car washes</li><li>Shop changing rooms</li><li>Hotel rooms with sealed windows</li><li>Planes</li></ul> Physical Symptoms:<ul><li>Sweating</li><li>Trembling</li><li>Hot flushes or chills</li><li>Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing</li><li>A choking sensation</li><li>A rapid heartbeat</li><li>Tightness in the chest</li><li>Upset stomach</li><li>Headaches and dizziness</li><li>Feeling faint</li><li>Numbness or pins and needles</li><li>A dry mouth&nbsp;</li><li>A need to go to the toilet</li><li>Ringing your ears</li><li>Nausea</li></ul> Psychological symptoms:<ul><li>Feeling out of touch with reality or detached from your body</li><li>Fear of fainting</li><li>Fear of losing control</li><li>Fear of dying</li></ul> Diagnosis:<ul><li>A mental health expert can diagnose phobia; keep a regular track of your child’s behaviour/health in particular situations and with objects.</li><li>Phobia diagnosis is based on diagnostic guidelines and a thorough clinical interview. If you feel that your child has a phobia, take him/her to a healthcare expert. Your child's doctor will either ask you or your child about the symptoms. The doctor might also take a medical, psychiatric, and family history.</li><li>Your child's doctor might also use the diagnostic criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).</li></ul> Treatment:<ul><li>Exposure therapy: In this method, your child will be exposed to the situations that frighten him/her. This is done to help a child get over his/her fear. The situations that trigger the fear or phobia are gradually intensified. For example, at first, your child might be asked to just look at a photo of a tight space. Then, with the help of your child's therapist, your child will be worked up to being inside a tight space. Mind well, this method should be used in the presence of a mental healthcare expert as this can trigger intense panic attacks and anxiety.</li><li>Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT): This is a type of talk therapy where your child can meet with a trained therapist one-on-one. The child will be encouraged to talk the negative thoughts that drive his/her fear and learn ways to overcome them. Your child may get CBT alone or combined with exposure therapy.</li><li>Virtual reality (VR): It's a treatment that uses computer simulations of tight spaces like elevators or MRI machines. Getting the experience of a tight space in the virtual world can help your child get over his/her fear in a setting that feels safe.</li><li>Modelling: In this method the child sees other person facing a closed space situation without any fear or panic.</li><li>Medicines like tranquillisers and antidepressants (prescribed by a doctor) can be helpful along with the above treatments.</li></ul>

Claustrophobia is the fear of closed spaces.

Claustrophobia - Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment

You may be coping up with financial challenges of managing your career or climbing up the corporate ladder, parenting is something where most people are stuck. Raising a child with both parents working is indeed a challenging task. But, do not worry, a research shows that having a working mother has no impact on children’s happiness in adulthood. Also, children of working mums and dads are often successful in their later careers. The key here is to divide the household chores and child’s responsibilities equally among both the partners. For example if the mother is cooking food, the father should help with the dishes or vice versa. Similarly, if there’s a meeting or function to be attended in the child’s school, both the parents should do it alternatively. It should fall on to any one of the parents’ shoulders. Things to take into consideration here are:<ul><li>Work timings of both the parents: Say for example if the father has to report to work early in the morning, it is obvious that he won’t be able to take up the household chores in the morning. If the child has to go to school in the morning, the mother will have to look after that if she has the time in hand.</li><li>Work profile of both the parents: Say for example, if the work profile of the mother is stronger than the father and requires more time, then the free time that the mother gets should be first devoted to the child and then to the household chores. Or the mother can opt to do the household chores along with the child. This will help her to bind with the child better.&nbsp;</li><li>Both the partners should be mature enough to understand the above two points and work in the direction in which both the parents get equal amount of quality time to spend with the child.</li><li>Make sure that the time which you are spending with the child should be quality time. play family games post dinner, go for a walk together. A weekly ritual of spending the day on a day off also does wonders. Take the opportunity to learn about their interests, what is going on in their schools and classes, how are things with their friends, if there is anything that’s bothering them, etc.</li><li>In all these, do not forget to spend alone time with your partner. You both are each other’s strongest pillars. Once in a while, plan family outings so everyone is just having fun with each other by leaving behind the worries.</li><li>If your partner is not helping you share the responsibilities of the house and of the child, talk to your partner calmly and make them understand that you cannot do this single handed and it might take a toll on your mental health.</li><li>Make them understand that for healthy family dynamics, you will need their full support in everything.</li><li>In case if you are not able to sort it out, you can take counsellor’s help to resolve the situation between both of you.</li></ul> What can be done to reduce the burden on working parents other than sharing the responsibilities:<ul><li>Find a quality Day care: Find good, trustworthy, hygienic day care for your child. This will help you stay at peace and focus on your work at office. Also, ensure it offers flexible hours. In case if the grandparents are available and are ready and healthy enough to take care of your child, that option can also be considered.</li><li>Have a good morning routine: This is extremely important for working parents as a haphazard morning can spoil both your and the child’s day. Spend some time while brushing teeth together, give a long and refreshing shower, have breakfast together and a little conversation while you drop the child at school/bus/van.</li><li>Stay organised: Prepare everything a night before, pack the bag, chop vegetables, have a menu for breakfast. This will give you enough time to spend with your child.</li><li>Take good care of yourself: When you are tired and stretched, it gets difficult to manage both work and home. Have some ‘me time’ wake up a little early – exercise or go for a walk in green surroundings. A healthy body and healthy mind will keep you fit and energetic for the day.</li><li>Take help whenever required: You can always seek assistance from parents or grandparents. Offer car pooling for evening activity class on a busy day at work and arrange for a play date for children over the weekend.</li><li>Avoid planning to give equal time for both: You cannot practically do that because some days are extremely busy at work and sometimes baby’s health/education will need an extra attention. Flexibility at work and home is the key to strike the right balance.</li><li>Be a smart cook: you can boil 2 – 3 types of lentils on weekends and stuff them in refrigerator, this will save your cooking time on weekdays and spare time to spend with your kids. If your finances allow, outsource certain tasks like cleaning, cooking etc.</li><li>Discipline sleep schedule: The efforts should not be to wake up early; the efforts should be about sleeping on time. Spend more bedtime with kids and wake up early together. Share small household chores with your kid(s).</li></ul>

When both the parents are working, it becomes a tad bit difficult to manage work, household chores, and spending time with the child.

Working parents and Responsibilities

Palak Vyas

It is difficult to know what’s going on in a child’s mind because they contemplate things differently than adults. It becomes all the more difficult because they cannot express their thoughts, feelings, and emotions in words as their vocabulary is not fully developed. Parents want to know what’s going on with their child because they are concerned about their children and want to help them. When children speak out their mind, it's easy to decipher what they are thinking but when they suddenly discontinue sharing, try to hide things, or avoid telling you the full story, it becomes a matter of concern. During such phases parents can try to observe their child closely. Observe their behaviour and listen to their conversations with friends and family. Observe their body language. Make them comfortable and try to talk to them with love and compassion. Give them the assurance that they can talk about everything to you and you won’t be mad at them or judge them. Make them feel safe and secure, make them feel heard and seen for who they are. In cases, where a child is being molested by some friend or family member, they tend to go silent and try to hide things from you out of fear. Likewise, when they are bullied or suppressed or shocked, they need your love, care and support. Stand by their side and listen to them. When you have gained their trust, they will open up with you and you won’t have to wonder what is running on their minds.

Be very observant of how your child behaves, that should help you understand your child better.

Decoding your child’s psyche

Acrophobia is the fear of heights that can cause anxiety and panic among children. Causes:<ul><li>Acrophobia is sometimes developed due to a traumatic experience in early years of a child’s life. Like falling from a great height, or closely watching someone from high place.</li><li>Acrophobia, can also develop without a known cause. In these cases, genetics or environmental factors may play a role.</li></ul> Physical symptoms:<ul><li>Increased sweating</li><li>Chest pain or tightness</li><li>Increased heartbeat</li><li>Nausea</li><li>Headache</li><li>Shaking and trembling</li><li>Feeling dizzy</li><li>Numbness</li><li>Shortness of breath</li><li>Upset stomach</li></ul> Psychological symptoms:<ul><li>Experiencing panic when the child sees high places</li><li>Child experiencing extreme fear of being trapped somewhere high up</li><li>Experiencing extreme anxiety and fear when the child has to climb stairs, look out a window, or drive along an overpass</li><li>Worrying excessively about encountering heights in the future</li></ul> Diagnosis:<ul><li>A mental health expert can diagnose phobia; keep a regular track of your child’s behaviour/health in particular situations and with objects.</li><li>Phobia diagnosis is based on diagnostic guidelines and a thorough clinical interview. If you feel that your child has a phobia, take him/her to a healthcare expert. Your child's doctor will either ask you or your child about the symptoms. The doctor might also take a medical, psychiatric, and family history.</li><li>Your child's doctor might also use the diagnostic criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).</li></ul> Treatment:<ul><li>Exposure therapy: In this type of therapy, your child will work with a therapist to slowly expose himself/herself to what (s)he is afraid of. For acrophobia, your child might start by looking at the pictures from the point of view of someone inside a tall building. The therapist might make your child watch video clips of people crossing tightropes, climbing, or crossing narrow bridges. Eventually, your child will progress and might go out onto a balcony or use a stepladder.</li><li>Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): In CBT, you child will work with a therapist to challenge and reframe negative thoughts about heights. This approach may still include a bit of exposure to heights, but this is generally only done within the safe setting of a therapy session.</li><li>Virtual reality (VR): It is a treatment where your child will be exposed to computer simulations of heights. Getting the experience of a heighted place in the virtual world can help your child get over his/her fear in a setting that feels safe.</li><li>Modelling: In this method, the child sees other person facing the situation without fear and panic.</li><li>Medicines like tranquillisers and antidepressants (prescribed by a doctor) can be helpful along with the above treatments.</li></ul>

Acrophobia is the fear of heights that can cause anxiety and panic among children.

Acrophobia - Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment

<ul><li>Stubbornness is a quality that everyone has. We use it as and when required. So when a child is stubborn, the child has their views where (s)he is stuck up firmly. It means they don’t want to listen to others; they have their criteria and want to follow them. They are at an age where they want to try and explore what they feel is correct.</li></ul> <ul><li>Let's take an example of food; food is a topic where most parents find it challenging to handle their child. As a parent, we want them to eat healthy and nutritious food whereas they want to eat junk food like pizza and pasta.</li></ul> <ul><li>One of the methods to deal with stubbornness is negotiation. We can negotiate with them. For example, you can tell them that if they want to eat junk food, they can have it once a week, and the rest of the days, they will have to follow your schedule. But then let them decide which day they want. You don’t dictate the day for them. Give them the liberty to select the day and the kind of junk food they prefer. Let it be homemade, preferably. Once in a while, you can take them to dine out as well. As a parent, we know all the pros and cons of the situation, but they don’t. They learn by trial and error method, and they tend to get distracted as well. You can always have limited control over your choices if you are too distracted.</li></ul> <ul><li>But when it comes to academics, negotiation may not work always. Like a child can come up with, “I don't want to study now”. “I will do this on my time.” “In such cases, we can’t allow them because we know that time is running out. So for this, we can help them create a timetable, where primarily they have to create the timetable, and you have to stay around helping them. Keep in mind that timetable is not a sure shot thing that will be followed thoroughly. It can be a trial and error method. But at least the children know the time boundaries, which will help them.</li></ul> <ul><li>The other important thing is that stubbornness doesn’t come alone; it brings misbehaviour hand in hand. When you know your child is stubborn and misbehaving, you can’t deliberately put them into any awkward condition. Could you not make them feel socially awkward? For example, if there are guests around and you force your child to greet them. The child might react in a way which might be humiliating to you also, by back answering, by disobeying, making a scene in front of the guests. As a mature adult, to avoid this, you can say, “There are guests around if you feel like just greet them.” And then leave it up to them. Don’t make it a compulsion. Could you give them the liberty of choice? At the same time, keep saying that what you would like them to do.</li></ul> <ul><li>Up to a certain extent, this will give them a choice of thought process, which will mellow them down and put them in strata where they will be able to make their choices. Once it might be unhealthy, but at a later stage, they will learn from their mistakes and become a better person compared to their stubborn behaviour.</li></ul> <ul><li>When you talk about stubbornness, it is also a lot about “Ego”. We all have an ego, and with maturity, we learn how to deal with it or overcome it. With children, they don’t have this filter. It is always a question about their ego, so they get stubborn at every point. They don’t know how to control this behaviour. So at times when you start to express stubborn behaviour in terms of commands, rules, or instructions, they feel that this is the only way a person can cope or deal with things. Irrespective of the situation, never behave stubbornly in front of them. Don’t stubbornly put your point. You can explain the reasons behind your instructions to help them understand the difference between appropriate and inappropriate behaviour.</li></ul> <ul><li>Give them options. Of course, they can’t keep doing things they like in their manner, but giving them multiple options and showing possibilities of ways of doing things, will solve the problem to a great extent.</li></ul> <ul><li>By giving multiple options, they will not feel stuck and feel the liberty of choosing their preferences, satisfying their ego, so it becomes easier to work with them.</li></ul>

All humans are stubborn, more or less. That does not mean you cannot teach your child to put their foot down and patiently listen to what the other person has to say.

Dealing with a stubborn child

Entomophobia is defined as the fear of insects; this type of phobia is focused on particular insect and not on situation or experience. It is not just about avoiding to see insects but the mere thought of insects creates anxiety. Causes:<ul><li>Developing the phobia from family, some of the family members could have experienced it in front of the child, for example a parent would have shouted in front of the child while seeing a cockroach/spider.</li><li>Traumatic brain injury in early years of age could be one of the possible reasons for anxiety and panic.</li><li>A traumatic experience during early years of childhood, for example the child would have a lizard fallen on his/her arm.</li></ul> Physical symptoms of phobia:<ul><li>Sweating</li><li>Increased rate of heart beat</li><li>Trembling</li><li>Discomfort in speaking</li><li>Tightness in the chest</li><li>Shortness of breath</li><li>Upset stomach</li><li>Numbness</li><li>Feeling dizzy or fainting</li><li>Nausea</li></ul> Psychological symptoms:<ul><li>Feeling out of touch with reality or detached from your body</li><li>Fear of fainting</li><li>Fear of losing control</li><li>Fear of dying</li></ul> Diagnosis:<ul><li>A mental health expert can diagnose phobia; keep a regular track of your child’s behaviour/health in particular situations and with objects.</li><li>Phobia diagnosis is based on diagnostic guidelines and a thorough clinical interview. If you feel that your child has a phobia, take him/her to a healthcare expert. Your child's doctor will either ask you or your child about the symptoms. The doctor might also take a medical, psychiatric, and family history.</li><li>Your child's doctor might also use the diagnostic criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).</li></ul> Treatment:<ul><li>Exposure Therapy: It is a method by which the child is deliberately set to experience the situation, phobic trigger until the panic attack passes away. “Imaginary exposure,” in which the child just thinks about ticks, may be the first step in therapy. Next, your child may be shown a cartoon picture of a tick, and then a photograph of an actual tick, and then a video of a tick. At last, your child might be exposed to an actual tick or bug. Keep your child close to you and assure them that they are safe with parents and the therapist around.</li><li>Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT): The therapist of your child will help your child challenge their own thoughts about ticks. They will help your child write down the thought, look at it and think about it, and then replace it with a more appropriate thought - such as that there are ticks in the country, but not in this neighbourhood.</li><li>Virtual reality (VR): It's a treatment where your child will be exposed to computer simulations of insects. Getting the experience of an insect in the virtual world can help your child get over his/her fear in a setting that feels safe.</li><li>Modelling: In this method, the child sees other person facing the situation without fear and panic.</li><li>Medicines like tranquillisers and antidepressants (prescribed by a doctor) can be helpful along with the above treatments.</li></ul>

Entomophobia is defined as the fear of insects.

Entomophobia - Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment

Separation anxiety often develops after a significant stressful or traumatic event in the child's life, such as leaving child for&nbsp;school, a stay in the hospital, the death of a loved one or pet, or a change in environment (such as moving to another house or a change of schools). Measures which can be taken to deal with this situation:<ul><li>Good-byes should be quicker and loving: See them off with warmth and love. Kiss them bye, provide a special blanket or toy as you leave, keep the good-bye short and sweet. If you take longer time the child gets anxious, so make it quick.</li><li>Be consistent: Try to drop them at the same time each day, to avoid unexpected factors whenever you can.</li><li>Attention: While you are leaving your child, give your him/her full attention, be loving, and provide affection. Then say good-bye quickly despite their cries for you to stay.</li><li>Keep your promise: You’ll build trust and independence as your child becomes confident in his/her ability to be without you when you stick to your promise of return.</li><li>Be specific, child style: When you discuss your return, provide specifics that your child understands. If you know you’ll be back by 3:00 pm, tell it to your child on his/her terms; for example, say, “I’ll be back after reading time and before afternoon snack.” Define time in a way (s)he can understand.</li><li>Practice being apart: Leave the children off to grandma’s home, schedule play-dates, and allow friends and family to provide child care for you (even for an hour) on the weekend. Before starting child care or preschool, practice going to school and your good-bye ritual. Give your child a chance to prepare, experience, and deal in your absence!</li></ul> Separation anxiety hardly persists after pre-school years. In case of working parents, separation anxiety can occur to both parents as well as children. Above mentioned measures can be helpful in this case as well.

Separation anxiety can be difficult to deal with but things can be made easy by following a few measures.

Separation anxiety measures

Ravina Sewani

When your child suddenly has blood running down from their nose, it can be startling. While nosebleeds in children seem dramatic, they’re not usually serious.&nbsp;Nosebleed is caused by the rupturing of tiny blood vessels inside the nose, known as capillaries. There are a few common culprits behind a child’s bloody nose:<ul><li>Dry air: Dry air irritates and dehydrates nasal membranes.</li><li>Scratching or picking: Irritating the nose by scratching or picking can expose blood vessels that are prone to bleeding.</li><li>Trauma: When a child gets an injury to the nose, it can start a nosebleed. Most aren’t a problem, but you should seek medical care if you’re unable to stop the bleeding after 10 minutes.</li><li>Cold, allergies, or sinus infection: Any illness that includes symptoms of nasal congestion and irritation can cause nosebleeds.</li><li>Bacterial infection: Bacterial infections can cause sore, red areas on the skin inside the nose and in the front of the nostrils. These infections can lead to bleeding.</li><li>In rare cases, frequent nosebleeds are caused by problems relating to blood clotting or abnormal blood vessels. If your child experiences nosebleeds that aren’t related to the causes above, raise your concerns with your child’s doctor.</li></ul> Treatment:Make your child sit on a chair. Follow these steps to stop a nosebleed:<ul><li>Keep them upright and gently tilt their head forward slightly. Leaning their head back could cause blood to run down their throat. It will taste bad, and it can make your child cough, gag, or even vomit.</li><li>Pinch the soft part of the nose below the nasal bridge. Have your child breathe through their mouth while you do this.</li><li>Try to maintain pressure for about 10 minutes.</li><li>You can also apply ice to the bridge of the nose, which may reduce blood flow.</li><li>Make your child rest or play quietly after a nosebleed. Encourage them to avoid blowing their nose or rubbing it too hard. Knowing how to slow and stop a nosebleed is a useful skill for any parent.</li></ul> Treating frequent nosebleeds:While some children will only have one or two nosebleeds over a span of years, others seem to get them much more frequently. This can happen when the lining of the nose becomes overly irritated, exposing blood vessels that bleed at even the smallest instigation. If your child has frequent nosebleeds, make a point to moisturise the lining of the nose. For moisturising the lining of the nose, consult your child’s doctor. You child’s doctor may recommend using:<ul><li>A nasal saline mist sprayed into the nostrils a few times a day</li><li>Rubbing an emollient like Vaseline just inside the nostrils on a cotton bud or finger</li><li>A vaporiser in your child’s bedroom to add moisture to the air</li></ul> Call your doctor if:<ul><li>Your child’s nosebleed is the result of something they inserted into their nose</li><li>They recently started taking new medicine</li><li>They have severe bruising all over their body</li><li>You should also contact your doctor immediately if your child’s nosebleed is still bleeding heavily after two attempts at 10 minutes of continuous pressure. You’ll likely need to seek medical care if your child is complaining of headache, or feeling weak or dizzy.</li></ul> Prevention:<ul><li>Since most nosebleeds in kids are caused by nose-picking or irritation from hot dry air, using a few simple tips may help your kids avoid them:</li><li>Keep your child's nails short.</li><li>Keep the inside of your child's nose moist.</li><li>Make sure your kids wear protective gear during sports.</li></ul>

When your child suddenly has blood running down from their nose, it can be startling. While nosebleeds in children seem dramatic, they’re not usually serious.

Nosebleed in children

Raising a gender-neutral child is need of the hour. Rewrite the rules and divide the roles equally. These are some things that you can inculcate to raise a gender-neutral child: <ul><li>Divide both domestic and professional duties equally among yourself (parents). There should be no gender-specific duties at home.</li><li>Read them inspiring stories of both genders without getting bias or judgemental towards anyone. Stay as much neutral as you can. So they will automatically learn the concept of equality without. Do not introduce terms like fairer or weaker sex for any gender.</li><li>Let them choose the toys they want. Do not judge or insult if, for example, your son chooses a doll to play with or if your daughter chooses a car to play with.</li><li>Let there be no colour stereotypes. Both boys and girls can wear pink, blue or any colour for that matter depending on their choice.</li><li>Never insult your son if he cries, do not call him names or compare him to girls. Refrain from judging your daughter for being angry; don’t tell them that anger is a “boy thing”. Children are emotional beings. Let them express their emotions in whichever way they want.</li></ul>

Children, by birth, do not know gender bias. Hence it is important to not unknowingly introduce gender bias to children.

writing parenting concerns

Parenting issues are a part of the everyday parenting journey. Following article(s) might help you with your concern(s).

Claustrophobia - Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment

Working parents and Responsibilities

Decoding your child’s psyche

Acrophobia - Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment

Dealing with a stubborn child

Entomophobia - Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment

Separation anxiety measures

Nosebleed in children

Raising Gender-neutral children

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