Showing results for "Dandelion" in Relationships

In The Orchid and the Dandelion, Dr W. Thomas Boyce - one of the world’s foremost researchers in the field of paediatric health - presents findings that children have two very different responses to their environments. While some children are like dandelions and can thrive in almost any environment, there are others who, like orchids, are much more reactive and susceptible to their surroundings. Now we finally have a scientific framework to understand these children and how to address their unique needs to help them find their fullest potential.

The echo of the spinning tire beneath her car seemed to ring louder than the music she attempted to drown her thoughts in. Watching the world pass by in a haze, America sped down the freeway and out of the city while flashbacks of her long-forgotten childhood consumed her. Her parents failed her; the foster care system failed her; social workers, probation officers, teachers, and everyone who was supposed to protect her tossed her aside.

Although my dog Scamp is the lead actor in this book, it is not a book about dogs. Children are the real focus, and the content is addressed to their grown-up handlers — the parents and teachers who guide them out of their blissful state of infant irresponsibility, through the challenges of childhood, and into their own unique, self-determined biographies. Mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, caregivers, or anyone working with children, I thought, might want to partake of lessons Scamp taught me.

How do we navigate childhood in a century that we have never experienced ever before? How do we parent children, when they are managing obstacles we do not even understand? Gritty Growing Up focuses on those topics and conversations that you know you need to have, but sometimes do not know where to start. From mental health to exams, consent to social behaviours, grab a cup of tea and let's talk mental health together.