Ask Dr. Mike

4 Tips For How To Talk To Your Children About The UVA Shooting As a child psychologist, I mainly address the developmental, emotional, social and behavioral struggles of children, but sometimes the realities of the world enter the therapy space — events that are outside a child’s control and are upsetting.  And, the recent tragic shooting at the University of Virginia has been upsetting to so many children (older and younger) and parents in our community. Several of the teens I see have shared their concerns with me asserting, “I was going to apply to UVA next year,” and “Do [...]

6 Tips To Getting The Most Out of This Summer For Your Kids ”Summer has a flavor like no other. Always fresh and simmered in sunshine.” ~ Oprah Winfrey When I was a kid, a typical Summer day involved me jumping on my bike after breakfast to explore; maybe I’d head over to a friend’s house or to the wooded park near my house with a group of buddies, or perhaps I’d catch up with another group to play a sport.  My friends and I would spend full days outside creating great times.  And when the sun would begin to [...]

The Many Benefits of Playing Soccer for Children and Teens…At Revolution! With warmer weather arriving, this is the perfect time to play soccer.  In addition to being fun, there are many other benefits to playing soccer for children and teens.  Soccer is excellent aerobic exercise and it’s great for motor skills and hand eye coordination.  Soccer also fosters children’s social skills, perseverance, and communication skills. We know from the research that children and teens who participate in team sports do better in a variety of ways.  Athletic children and teens display greater self-confidence and self-respect, possess significantly more leadership skills [...]

Should I Quit My Job?     The Great Resignation, a term coined by organizational psychologist, Dr. Anthony Klotz, characterizes the trend in which large numbers of employees have quit their jobs from Spring of 2021 to the present.  It’s believed that the trend is due to many factors in response to COVID-19 including burnout, being dissatisfied, lower wages and wage stagnation, being at home for an extended period of time, not wanting to return to the work space and reprioritizing one’s work life and personal life balance. So, if people are leaving their jobs in growing numbers, what does that [...]

How to Support Our Children During This Not Quite Normal School Year Our children are back in school, and everything’s great, right?  Yes and no.  Sure, there are plenty of positives to being in school again – our children can access academic material better, receive more personalized and direct instruction, form and maintain better connections, and they are less distracted.  However, while research has shown that children learn more when they are in school, the return to school has been problematic for many. In my opinion, the protracted changes, adjustments, and uncertainties of COVID-19 have been, and continue to be, [...]

In these technology driven times, managing our children’s screen time is a daily – and sometimes moment to moment – parenting task.  With the changes we’ve had to make societally as parents due to COVID-19, that task has certainly become even more imperative. Think about it.  Many children are on screens for full school days now, then they do their homework on a screen and then they enjoy much of their free time with screens.  If your children are awake about 16 hours a day, the majority of their waking time is likely being spent with some form of technology. [...]