An ever-expanding methodological toolbox is one of the privileges of 21st century science. For most of us, the pace of Moore’s law-driven technological advancement is now so familiar as to be almost taken for granted. However, the mere availability of technologically-advanced new methods is not a guaranteed solution to any…
A friend of mine recently gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, but within months she was at the end of her tether with sleep deprivation. Like many parents, she was confused by conflicting advice from midwives, nurses and well-meaning friends – not to mention the many books available. But…
As a developmental psychologist I’m pretty aware of the signs and symptoms of depression and anxiety. However, our school recently ran an evening lecture on supporting well-being in our children and It really made me think about things in a different way – and in particular, to consider how anxiety…
Clearly, the onset of depressive symptoms, at any stage of an individual’s life, is a cause for deep concern among loved ones. But the emergence of such problems in young children and adolescents is especially worrisome for parents – and never more so than when it coincides with problems at home. But what…
Becoming a parent seems to render you fair game for parenting advice, regardless of whether it is based on evidence, opinion or delusion. Family, friends, and even helpful strangers in the street are likely to advise you on … well, everything. In an ideal world, your partner might be expected…
One of the hardest things about academia is that the activity that is most important, is most likely to get put the bottom of the list by other apparently more critical or urgent tasks. I am talking about writing. As a mum of three young boys, my working week is…
The belief that parental behaviour has an important impact on shaping child development is widespread. Entire books, websites, and industries now exist that are focused on this notion. Right from the moment of conception, parents are bombarded with information telling them that their behaviour can have a profound and long-lasting…
With 3 children (now aged 8, 10 and 12), a flexible but full-time job as an academic, and a host of activities I enjoy outside of work (most notably singing in a lot of concerts), one of the things I most often get asked about is how I balance these different interests…
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