Parents must pay attention to red flags - Psychologists

Parents must watch out for red flags in managing children's behaviour, Dr Mrs Sandra Thompson-Assan, a researcher and a counselling psychologist of Tema International School, has stated.

Speaking at the Grace Presbyterian Church Tema Community Eleven, as part of education week celebration, Dr. Mrs. Thompson-Assan said, red flags have to do with things parents needed to be worried about.

"Again, red flags are certain emotions that children would usually show to us at home and it also has to do with dangers that children are going through," she said.

She said children usually do not show their inside out to parents even though they go through a lot as they aged, but some of these things they go through could be detected by non-verbal signs.

Dr. Thompson-Assan indicated that, when a child was unable to manage emotions, poor impulse control, failure to respond to discipline, sexualise behaviour among others, then it should be a course for worry.

She noted that, some children were scared to share with parents what they went through for fear of being beaten, insulted, yelled at and screamed at, which inflicted more pain on them.

Mrs Thompson-Assan urged parents to engage in communication, open up and have that listening ears and to validate the children's experiences.

She indicated that the behaviour of today's children was hidden in their laptops, computers, iPad among others, parents should not allow their children to be on these gadgets for more than thirty minutes without intermittent checks on them.

She noted that there were a lot of suicidal platforms on the internet these days and children were practicing, so parents should be on guard.

Dr Thompson-Assan said sometimes some of the behaviours they put up, could also have medical underlings, because every part of the brain corresponds to some of the behaviours they put up.

She encouraged parents to visit the hospital when a child behaves anyhow, for the doctor to ascertain whether it was a medical condition or would need a psychological checkup.

"Be careful who you entrust your child with when you go to work, being it your gardener, driver, nannies, or even family relations, because they have ways of exposing the children to unhealthy behaviours," she said.