Dr John Irvine on family life

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Peter never stops. He fiddles, he tampers, he teases, he demands, he interrupts, he’s impulsive, he’s impatient, he risks, he ransacks, and his school reports are a disaster. Yet despite all this, he loves everybody and never carries a...
Be-twitched and be-tween
Dear Dr John, I’ve tried to be a with-it nanna but I’m not sure I want to be with what’s happening to our young girls today. My granddaughter, Hannah, is age 10 and in year 5 but has been giving my son and his wife merry hell as...
Bully for you
No-one likes a bully – not even the bully themselves. These kids usually have low self-esteem and want nothing more than to fit in but don’t know how. Dr John Irvine talks about how to help bullies and their victims. The only thing more...
Bullying advice
Dear Dr John Recently I caught your segment on Channel 10’s ‘9 am with David and Kim’. I thought that what you had to say on bullying was great, especially your advice to child victims that you counsel on how to arm the victim and...
Dress defiance
I have a fairly determined three-year-old daughter, especially in the matter of dressing! If I manage to dress her, she won’t keep the clothes on and runs around in her singlet. And she refuses to wear jackets or jumpers, even if it is 5...
Family flash points
Mum was furious. No matter how many times she reminded her kids, nothing changed. At one stage she yelled out, “How many times have I told you kids to come inside?” Back came a giggled “17” from the young offenders. What...
Hair horrors
What do you do when a minor confrontation with your child blows up in your face? Recently my four-year-old daughter asked me to brush her hair. Usually this is a ritual that we both enjoy but this particular day had been windy and her hair was...
I won’t tell you again…
“I won’t tell you again!” “I mean it this time!” “When I say no, I mean NO.” These are typical battle cries of the beleaguered parent faced with mutiny in the ranks. Dr John Irvine offers help. How many...
Liar liar….pants on fire!
How many parents could stand up and say their child has never told a lie? Not many we suspect!  But don’t worry – it’s quite normal.  Dr John Irvine, well known child psychologist, author, public speaker and father of...
Lying
My seven-year-old seems to have picked up the habit of lying. Even when I ask him a simple question, such as, ‘Have you cleaned your teeth?’, his immediate reaction is to tell a fib! What can I say or do to help him to realise that...
Mummy I’m scared
Irrational fears and phobias in children are more common than parents realise. Just as they can dream up superheroes, they can also dream up super monsters. Child psychologist Dr John Irvine explains. Can you remember back to when you were a kid -...
Musical beds
Ever since my three-year-old daughter learned to climb out of her cot, she has made a beeline for our bed. We wouldn’t care, but she is a restless sleeper and we find ourselves clinging to the edge of the bed while she sprawls luxuriously...
Nobody likes me
It’s a heart breaking scenario. A woebegone child stands at the periphery of a happily playing group of children. Desperate to belong but doesn’t know how. Or your child comes home and says ‘Nobody likes me. I haven’t got...
Sad sacks…depression in children
Why is it that in today’s society, depression has become a major public health issue? Dr John Irvine talks about how depression affects children. Depression among today’s kids is on the increase. Previously regarded as the province of...
Shyness
Our five-year-old son, Harry has always been shy and preferred to stand back and watch other children playing, rather than join in. He is fairly sensitive, wary of new people and, since beginning preschool, has become very clingy. How can we help...
Sibling rivalry – the winnable war
Marie was in a bad way. She was as hoarse as a hyena with throat nodules. After a cup of tea she told me she had used up all her throat leather trying to referee her kids’ fights. ‘Tell me, Doc, is their fighting average, above average...
Sibling separation Anxiety
My two girls are close in age, separated by less than 18 months. This year the oldest has started school and to our surprise her younger sister is not coping at all with the change, especially about going to day care by herself. She’s rather...
Sibling squabbling
Dear Dr John Our 6 year old daughter seems to have got a bit too big for her boots. She’s nearly at the end of her first year at school and has lately adopted what I can only describe as ‘attitude’ – answering back,...
The secrets of self esteem
Parents want their children to grow up confident, happy and well adjusted – and the secret to that is a healthy self esteem. Leanne really wanted her daughter to have high self esteem. She not only believed it was the most important legacy she...
Thriving at school
Gather a group of parents at the school gate and the conversation soon turns to the children and the school itself – its merits (or otherwise), the progress of reading, how to get out of home in the morning minus the chaos, and whether or not...
Toilet troubles
You’ve dumped the dummy and booted the bottle. Only the nappies to go and your little one is well on the way to growing up. So why is toilet training a major issue for some families? Denise had had one of those days…well…weeks...
What worries kids?
What is it that worries kids in the 21st century and what should parents do about it? In a recent survey of 2000 children’s fears and worries (undertaken by ABC TV’s children’s current affairs show BTN) it’s obvious that...