Parenting a Child with a Chronic Health Condition

Parenting brings many challenges, and one of the hardest to deal with is when your child is ill. When this illness is more than a tummy bug or a broken bone, then it gets even harder. Parenting a child with a chronic health condition brings a whole new list of challenges, and adjusting to the diagnosis can be tough for all of the family. Jump! Mag contributor Tina Price-Johnson grew up with a chronic health condition, and wrote an article for children, published today on our site for kids.

Life as a Child with a Chronic Condition

Here’s Tina’s advice for parents of a child with a chronic health condition.

I was 11 years old and in my first year at senior school when I had my first seizure. I was eventually diagnosed with epilepsy and throughout senior school was back and forth to the hospital to see specialists and determine the correct dose of medication. I was generally accompanied by my mum who had to take time off work, and it was my dad who saw my first fit and put into action his first aid training to give me the care I needed at the time. After that it was both parents or my teachers who provided this care.

I was totally freaked out and didn’t know what was happening or why and nor did my parents. In those days you simply did what the doctors told you and didn’t ask questions, and I wish I had asked. So here are my tips for parenting a child with a chronic condition, from the perspective of the child. I hope they are helpful to you:

7 Good Reasons to Raise Your Kids Bilingual

Does your family use more than one language? Or does your child speak a different language at school from the one spoken at home? This is the first in a series of three posts by Millie Slavidou – today looking at 7 good reasons to raise your kids bilingual.

In the past, bilingualism was often discouraged, and parents were advised to use only one language with their children. Non-native speaker parents would be encouraged to use what was for them a foreign language to communicate with their children. An awkward and false situation, especially for parents without a strong grasp on the dominant community language.

These days, things have changed. Studies have proved that bilingualism is not only possible, but beneficial. Children can easily cope with more than one native language and soon learn to sort out which vocabulary and grammar structures belong to which language.

How to Be a Good Houseguest

Are you planning on visiting friends or family over the summer? Read our top tips on how to be a good houseguest, and be invited back again.

If Your Child is Struggling at School

One of the big worries for parents comes about if their child is struggling at school.  Our school system often favours the more academic children, the ones who are unfazed by exams, or perhaps just better able to cope with the stress they are under.
We try to help with extra tuition or coaching, but beyond the stereotype of the ‘pushy parent’, what can you do to help your child? And how can we parents learn to celebrate the road that our children take, even it’s not the one we’d hoped they’d chose. We spoke to Emily, whose unconventional choices led her to march to a different drummer.

Help Your Child be Body Confident

We all want our kids to have great self-esteem and to feel good about themselves. Unfortunately kids are bombarded with images of the perfect body from all angles, and at some point in their childhood they will become very aware of their appearance and body shape, and how it differs to others.

Social Media in Schools – Communication with Parents

In an age of digital communication, it can sometimes seem as if schools are stuck in the past, pecking missives on ancient Olivetti typewriters, and sending them to parents via the often unreliable carrier pigeon of their pupils. Social Media can help, but it is not the perfect solution. We take a look at ways in which schools can update and improve communication with parents.