Robin Steiner Wallace, LCSW
Wallace Family Therapy Blog"They always say time changes things but you actually have to change them yourself." — Andy Warhol
When I was a girl, I played with Barbies and had many different types of Barbie dolls. I had it all: the Malibu house, the car, and the clothes. With the Barbie movie out now and the doll’s popularity again soaring, it got me to thinking about the connection between this iconic doll and body image. [Read more…]
Many parents nowadays think that it’s okay to be friends with their child. In fact, trying to be your child’s friend can be confusing. Kids need boundaries and rules. They look to you for guidance. Your child sees the choices you make in life, and they get a good sense of what is right and wrong. They may not always show it, but those lessons become a part of their moral compass. Your kids are navigating the choppy waters of adolescence—that includes sex. That’s why it’s important to talk to them about sex, and that conversation needs to come from you. [Read more…]
For some people who have never experienced an eating disorder, it might be tempting to think that it is somehow self-inflicted. Let me say this unequivocally—eating disorders are not a choice. Those of us who work in the field understand that no one would ever choose to develop this illness. The statistics are staggering with nearly 30 million people in the U.S. alone suffering from eating disorders. For those still in the darkness of the disease, I want to say that there is hope. You can recover from eating disorders. [Read more…]
It’s not as bad as you think
The whole world has been through a lot these last couple of years. Those of us who made it through the pandemic now have to look at the world in a whole new way. That includes kids. They spent the better part of a year or more in lockdown away from their teachers and their friends. They are back in school, but instead of transitioning to the way things were pre-pandemic, what we see now is that being in lockdown has negatively affected many children who now show signs of physical and social underdevelopment and a marked increase in levels of stress, anxiety, fighting, and self-harm. [Read more…]
But the fastest-growing drug problem in this country isn’t pot, meth, heroin, or cocaine. It’s prescription drugs, and it’s profoundly affecting the health of our teens. There has been an alarming increase in the number of children who have been prescribed multiple psychiatric medications. Researchers have seen an increase in antipsychotic use in children and teens since 1999 despite not knowing if the drugs actually work or if they could lead to long-term effects. In fact, there has been very little evidence that prescribing multiple medications for children is safe or effective. [Read more…]