Staff, APPS

Dr. Mike, Our 6 year old daughter needs to sleep with us every night now.  It’s 100% because of the coronavirus since she’s been sleeping by herself for years with no issues.  She started by coming into our room at night crying about “nightmares” and “scary dreams” a few weeks ago and now she needs to stay with us every night.  When we’ve tried to get her to stay in her own bed, she cries non-stop.  She’s also resorting to baby talk when expressing herself, which is a new thing for us.  When we try to correct that, she also [...]

Dr. Mike, My wife has decided that she does not want us to go to the beach for our annual big family beach gathering this July because of coronavirus.  Even though all of our extended family are just going to pile into a huge beach house rental, she’s afraid that we or our kids will somehow “get sick and die.”  I think she’s being completely crazy about the beach and everything else with the virus.  She wipes down our delivered groceries before putting them away, she makes us all take showers after we return home from being outside in the [...]

5 Psychological Tips To Help You Get Through The Quarantine While no one knows for certain when the coronavirus will end, it appears that the virus and quarantine will continue on for now.  This has been a very difficult time for us all; and, for many across the U.S. (and the rest of the world) our social, work, school and financial lives have been upended beyond belief.  This has understandably led to increased stress and other sorts of emotional struggles. As a psychologist in private practice, I wholly appreciate that the coronavirus and the quarantine have impacted us all differently, [...]

The recent college admissions scandal has sent a shock wave throughout the country, and the topic has come up for me repeatedly with parents. The scandal has caused the parents I see to more immediately deal with the anxiety they experience regarding their children’s academic futures. College has historically been the path many take toward achieving later vocational success. How do you get your kid into college? It’s not your job to get your kid in college, it’s your kid’s job to do that. As the old adage goes, “You can bring a horse to water, but you can’t make him [...]

Dr. Mike, We found a Juul and other vaping gear in our 14-year-old son’s backpack recently and confronted him. It took some pressure, but he eventually owned up to it. He also eventually accepted our zero tolerance for vaping due to its harmful side-effects, most notably nicotine addiction. Well, kids will be clever, and now he’s asked us if he could vape without nicotine. He says vaping “calms” him and that everyone is doing it every day, and what’s the big deal if there’s no nicotine in it. My husband and I see his point of view but still feel [...]

At what point does getting a job make sense for you and your teen? In Virginia, teens as young as 14 years of age can work, albeit in a limited capacity, but it’s not uncommon for teens between the ages of 16 and 19 to have a part-time job – both during the summer and the school year. The benefits to working for teens are numerous, and I’ve listed the main ones here: Having a job as a teen pays off academically. Research in this area of study has repeatedly shown that teens who work actually do better in school. [...]