Anxiety is a necessary and useful emotion for all species, including humans, because it signals that danger is present or potentially present, and some action must be taken in order to protect against it. This article explores anxiety in children and ways to help.

A tantrum may include a wide array of behaviours including crying, screaming, flailing about on the ground, kicking out and punching, and breaking things. It’s unpleasant for the observers and usually humiliating for the person having the tantrum. Read more to learn what's normal and when children may need more help.

Exploration and curiosity about all bodily functions, including sex and reproduction are normal and healthy, and experts encourage parents to provide information to their children, to answer their questions, and to refrain from punishing or shaming them when they touch themselves, or engage in play with siblings or peers.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a preventable but incurable brain injury caused by mothers consuming alcohol during pregnancy. The amount of alcohol required to cause this disability is unknown and most likely is considerable, but no “safe” amount has been determined for drinking during pregnancy.

Deon is six years old and he lives with his mother and twelve year old sister. His father left when he was two and, except for a few encounters at family occasions, they have had no contact.

Phuc is a seven year old boy, born to parents from Vietnam. He has an older brother with serious medical problems requiring ongoing treatments and hospitalizations. When Phuc was still an infant, his parents separated and he has had no contact with his father.

When Jeremy was seven years old, he travelled to Toronto with his mother from a war zone in the Middle East. The year before, he and his parents had witnessed six people die in a bomb attack. Adding to his distress, his parents began to have violent quarrels and later separated.

Sherri was 10 years old at the beginning of her therapy. She suffered from depression and anxiety as a result of sexual abuse by her father over many years and physical abuse by her older brother.