Sunflower Mom on a Mission

Kim is the official "Spokesmom" for Just For Me(tm) Texture Softener(tm), the brand new breakthrough in hair care for girls of mixed heritage! Her daughter, is featured on the hair care system package, and you may have even seen her on Barney! Kim's blog will contain her thoughts on being a mom in a multi-ethnic family, health and beauty and self-image and self esteem. And for fun, she will interact with other moms who have "hair care chronicles and horror stories."

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Dr. Jeff Gardere's Advice on Teasing and Name Calling

Hi! It's the Moderator again! I've been monitoring the conversation about children picking on other children because they seem different. So I asked our clinical psychologist Dr. Jeff Gardere to chime in on the discussion to give you Sunflower Moms and Sunflower Girls some tips on how to deal with it. Here is what he had to say:

"Yes, kids can be very cruel especially around the issues of name calling. The fact is they do not yet have the skills to censor their thoughts, so what we are basically left with is a verbal diarrhea; everything comes flying out. Also,because of their immaturity they do not know how to express their unbridled,sometimes hormone filled, hyperactive, emotions in an appropriate manner. So they may actually like or are attracted to another kid, but instead of saying “I like you,” they will instead pull a pigtail, punch a shoulder, or say something rude and obnoxious. It's part of their long road to maturity!

"What we need to do as parents is to help our kids better interpret, understand, express and verbalize their feelings in a more civil, loving and appropriate manner. At the same time we can also talk to our kids and prepare them for the ievitability of being taunted by other kids because of their appearance. Primarily we should get them to verbalize what has been said to them and how it makes them feel. That in itself is a great release and balm to their hurt feelings. It also gives us the opportunity to have “conversations” in order to help them understand what the taunting may actually mean and most importantly that the name calling is irrelevant, often harmless, and part of the outrageous slings and arrows of growing up."

--Dr. Jeff

If you have questions for Dr. Jeff, feel free to pose them in your comments to this post. Thanks, Dr. Jeff!

The Moderator

Labels: , , ,

2 Comments:

At 11:51 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ok is the texture softener is not a relaxer why must you reapply it every 10-12 weeks?

Confused??????????????

 
At 1:27 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am thinking the same thing. Is this a very weak perm? My daughter is hispanic and black and over the years her hair texture changed dramatically. She is very self conscious about her hair and she saw this and thought it would be a great thing to use. My husband and I are dead set against putting chemicals on her hair. Her hair isn't like it use to be but it is still very beautiful and long. We just want it close to what it was. When she was smaller it was like Tytiana Ali's and now it is more like Halle Berry's. What should we do?

 

Post a Comment

<< Home