Emotions
Emotional Development in Children 0–5: A Parent's Guide
Emotional development is one of the most important—and often misunderstood—aspects of early childhood. From a newborn's first cries to a five-year-old...
7 min read
Emotions
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Emotions
Why Three-Year-Olds Often Say No
Three-year-olds say no in a way that is qualitatively different from two-year-olds. The two-year-old's "No" is often reflexive, globalised, and physic...
3 min read
Emotions
Why Toddlers Begin to Protest
The emergence of active protest — crying, arching, refusing, and the early stages of tantrums — is one of the defining experiences of toddlerhood. Par...
3 min read
Emotions
Why Children Cannot Behave Well All the Time
A child who manages a situation beautifully on Monday may completely fall apart when the same situation arises on Friday. This inconsistency is not de...
3 min read
Emotions
Why Infants Need Emotional Support
The developmental science of early childhood is unambiguous on one point: emotional support is not a luxury for infants. It is a biological requiremen...
3 min read
Emotions
Why Early Emotional Support Matters
The emotional support your child receives in their first five years isn't just about making them feel better in the moment—it's building the foundatio...
4 min read
Emotions
Why an Infant May Appear Fussy
'Fussy' is an imprecise word that covers a wide range of infant behaviours, from difficult-to-soothe general distress to specific patterns of inconsol...
3 min read
Emotions
When Anxiety Requires Professional Attention
The difficulty in knowing when to seek professional assessment for a young child's anxiety is that most anxiety in this age group is developmentally n...
3 min read
Emotions
What Emotional Coaching Means in a Family Setting
John Gottman's research on emotion coaching identified one of the most consequential parenting approaches of the modern era — and it involves no speci...
3 min read
Emotions
What Intensifies Tantrums in Young Children
Not all tantrums are equal. Some dissolve in minutes; others escalate to an intensity and duration that feel unmanageable. Understanding what reliably...
3 min read
Emotions
What Helps Infants Calm Down More Easily
Every parent who has spent hours trying to settle a screaming infant understands the importance of knowing what actually works — and why. The strategi...
3 min read
Emotions
The Role of Parental Voice and Facial Expressions in Emotional Development
Long before an infant can understand language, they are extracting rich emotional information from the faces and voices around them. The interactive b...
3 min read
Emotions
The Two-Year Crisis: Psychological Foundations
The "terrible twos" is one of the most widely known phrases in parenting culture, and one of the most misunderstood. The developmental psychology behi...
3 min read
Emotions
Why Children at This Age Often Feel Anger
Toddlers are angry more often than at any other age. This is not because they are unpleasant or poorly raised — it is because their developmental situ...
3 min read
Emotions
The Three-Year Crisis: Causes and Manifestations
Some parents who have navigated the two-year period and noticed a calmer period at around 30 months are surprised to encounter a second wave of develo...
3 min read
Emotions
Aggression in Toddlers: Developmental Norm or Warning Sign
The toddler who hits their parent, bites a playmate, or pushes another child off a toy is not demonstrating early antisocial tendencies. They are demo...
3 min read
Emotions
Why This Period Is Called the Terrible Twos
The "terrible twos" is one of the most enduring phrases in parenting culture. Most parents who have lived through it would not dispute that the period...
3 min read
Emotions
Toddler Tantrums: What Happens Psychologically
Parents who have tried to reason with a mid-tantrum toddler know, through frustrating experience, that it doesn't work. The developmental neuroscience...
3 min read
Emotions
Why Tantrums Occur More Often in the Evening
Parents who notice that their child is most difficult in the 4–7pm window are observing a real pattern. The "witching hour" of early childhood has bio...
3 min read
Emotions
How to Distinguish a Tantrum from Emotional Overload
Parents sometimes notice that their child's intense emotional episodes seem different depending on context — some feel more like frustrated will, othe...
3 min read
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