Category: Understanding of Child Development

Ability and Interest are the two major variables in career planning.

Written by: Registered Educational Psychologist, Mr. Pang Chi-wah   As Hong Kong shifted from industrial to service-oriented industries, the constant turnover of societal sectors has left many youths feeling extremely helpless about their future prospects. Some young individuals are unsure of what they want or what career path to pursue. If they choose the wrong subjects in secondary school or university, it adds more confusion to their future. Recognizing this, the education sector has begun to emphasize students’ career planning.   Youthful years are invaluable, and time is a precious resource. In our growth process, engaging in career planning is akin to a national investment. However, the investment made by young individuals is not monetary but temporal. Where should they allocate this time?   When young individuals engage in career planning, the key consideration regarding time allocation revolves around their personal interests and abilities. Ability refers to what a person can do, which can be objectively assessed or evaluated and compared with the requirements of a job to determine compatibility.   Interest is more subjective, rooted in personal feelings or desires, sometimes challenging to assess objectively due to individual differences. Young people’s interests may be influenced by their family background, learning experiences, and social environment, and can be understood through personal interviews. Considering students’ abilities and interests, the two major variables in their career planning can be categorized into four groups:   Category One:   These students may lack the ability or interest, or choose subjects and careers they have

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Why do children have the habit of sucking their fingers? What can parents do about it?

Written by: Ms. Chan-Chen Shu-an, Early Childhood Education Specialist   Some children still have the habit of sucking their fingers even when they enter kindergarten, or even at ages 5 or 6. According to Dr. David Levy’s research, children who finish a bottle of milk in 10 minutes (possibly due to a larger bottle nipple hole) are more likely to develop the habit of sucking their fingers, compared to children who finish the entire bottle in 20 minutes. Dr. Levy also experimented by feeding puppies with a dropper, so they didn’t have a chance to suck while drinking milk. The result was that the puppies reacted by sucking each other’s or their own skin, and some even peeled off the skin through excessive sucking. From this, we can understand that the behavior of infants sucking their fingers in the first few months is due to the lack of satisfaction from sucking, it is a need, and not an innate or bad behavior.   Why do children develop the habit of sucking their fingers?   Breastfeeding Promotes Parent-Child Bonding When a mother can breastfeed her baby, the infant is the happiest, because not only does the baby receive proper nutrition, but also the skin-to-skin contact provides warmth and a sense of security. Moreover, by sucking on the soft nipple, in addition to getting fed, the baby also enjoys the communication and deep love between mother and child. This profound affection and intimacy is incomparable to being fed by a cold bottle.

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Obsession: Separation Anxiety

Written by: Hong Kong Registered Psychologist, Ching Wai Keung   Around nine months of age, babies become unusually clingy. Even if the mother goes to the bathroom, the baby may appear extremely anxious, clinging tightly to the mother and even crying loudly.   Separation anxiety can lead to two different types of reactions. In some cases, when separated from the caregiver, the baby will exhibit attachment-seeking behaviors, such as clinging to the mother, trying every possible way to find the mother, or crawling wherever the mother goes (Ainsworth, Bell, & Stayton, 1971). Separation can also result in behaviors such as despair, resistance, and detachment, depending on the duration of the separation (Bowlby, 1960; Robertson & Robertson, 1989).   A child’s reaction to separation can also change depending on the environment. For example, in a familiar home environment, the child will exhibit less anxiety compared to being in an unfamiliar environment (Ross, Kagan, Zelazo, & Kotelchuck, 1975).   Around seven months of age, the concept of object permanence begins to emerge in children. They understand that even if they cannot see someone or something, it does not mean that the person or object has disappeared. When children are able to establish this concept, their separation anxiety will relatively decrease. If the mother can frequently communicate with the child, express positive emotions and feelings towards the infant, and provide appropriate stimulation and assistance, the child will more easily grasp and apply the concept of object permanence to both objects and people (Chazan,

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Children often shirk their responsibilities, and parents should be held accountable?

Source: Psychotherapist, Lee Wai Tong Whenever something happens, children will use different excuses to shirk their responsibility toward others. Parents may then scold the child for this, but this may make the child avoid taking responsibility. Faced with this situation, what can parents do? First of all, when parents ask children, “Why didn’t you finish the work?” or “Why don’t you understand?” Parents want their children to take responsibility. But at this time, the child will want to shirk the responsibility and give it to someone else, but at the end of the day, the parents actually want the child to take responsibility. You should know that responsibility starts with the child having the time to make decisions because having the time is called having a sense of autonomy. If children can have a sense of autonomy, they will be more likely to be responsible. For example, if he does not know how to do his homework and is asked why he does not understand, he will say that the teacher did not teach him, the teacher did not teach him well, or that the other students were noisy. At that moment, if parents continue to say that he is not concentrating in class, they will only make the child throw the responsibility further away. So at this point, we need to know how to do better since we are facing difficulties and then work with the child to figure out how to do it. The child will feel responsible

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