Parents should take time to care for themselves, the John Tung Foundation’s Mental Health Center said on Sunday, citing a British study which found that the average parent experiences 40 minutes of child-related anxiety per day.
The study also found that parents reported feeling stress at least six times a day, the center said in a statement.
The most common anxiety triggers include misbehavior by children, putting children to bed, trying to feed them a certain type of food, preventing them from watching too much TV or using devices excessively, and asking them to clean their rooms, the center quoted the study as saying.
Forty-six percent of British parents said that their children wrecked wide swathes of their homes, while 13 percent and 10 percent said their children caused damage to stores and restaurants respectively.
Children also delay simple tasks, adding on average 11 minutes to putting on clothes before leaving home and 12 minutes to eating breakfast, it said.
The study was funded by British Petroleum and had a sample pool of 2,000 British adults.
Raising children is not easy and parents have to adjust their mindset to be positive about the process, Tung Yuk-ying (董旭英), a professor at National Cheng Kung University’s Institute of Education, was quoted as saying.
Parents should ask their children to share what is going on in their lives on the way to school and to think about the mess children make as something they will later recall with fondness, he said.
Time management is important and parents should save some for themselves to avoid feeling overwhelmed, he said, adding that division of labor between parents could be useful in reducing stress.
People should not hesitate to ask for help from relatives and friends if childcare is taking a toll on their mental health, as parents need to be well to care for their children properly, he said.
Center director Yeh Ya-hsing (葉雅馨) said that grandparents could help parents with their children a few days per week, while children should be encouraged to follow clear-set rules that allow them some say with regards to watching TV or using devices.
Excessive discipline that cannot be realistically enforced will bring only frustration to parents, she said, adding that parents can always increase the strictness of rules after the child misbehaves.
For the summer vacation, parents should come up with activities for their children and plan ahead of time, she said, adding that possible options include preparing meals together, inviting friends to visit or exercise.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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