Love & Relationship

Tam's Small World Modern parents usually wish to raise their children as a confident and extrovert person. They encourage their children to get involved in special activities like sports or music. However, supporting the kids to do more extracurricular activities is not the way. Tam is a 4-year-old boy. He always had the problem of adjusting himself to the new environment since he was little. When put in an unfamiliar circumstance, Tam would hide behind his parents. Eating habit was also his problem. Sometimes it took his mother almost 2 hours to finish feeding him. When he had to go to school, Tam would cry so hard for hours in attempt at avoiding school. After his parents left, Tam would stop crying and isolate himself from his schoolmates.   When Tam’s parents took him to see me, I noticed that he was a shy boy. His mother was worried about his weight and concerned that his son would develop some kind of disease. Tam would probably get this habit of worrying from his mother too. I gave advice to his parents and told them not to get worried too much about their son because pampering him would not going to help him. Instead, we'd better let Tam experience things by himself. That was one way to help him develop his confidence. When it was time for dinner, the mother needed not try too hard to feed him. It was better to have him sit and eat with him which should take no longer than 45 minutes. If he refused to eat, let him. He would get to know the feeling of being hungry when it came to next meal. Remember not to give him snack between meals. As for encouraging him to take up a special activity, it was best not to rush him. The parents could start by noticing what Tam was interested in. Their parents told me that he liked music and enjoying moving his body along with the music. At this stage, I advised them not to take him to a music class yet. Now, they just make sure that they supported their son's special activity. This way he would learn to be comfortable with himself and the things he liked doing. Nowadays when Tam and his parents came to see me, Tam seemed more confident and started talking to me. He might show the sign of shyness at first but I think this was a good start. Other Articles >>