https://www.scmp.com/rss/326961/feed Dr Bertie Wai is a bilingual clinical psychologist at Beautiful Mind Therapy and Family Services in Central. She provides therapy to children, teens, adults and couples, as well as parenting consultation. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com With the start of the Covid-19 fourth wave in Hong Kong, the announcement that face-to-face classes would be suspended in junior primary has probably sent parents into a whirlwind of anxiety and frustration. While parents want to protect children from Covid-19, class suspension and online learning can cause both children and parents immense stress. What is it about home-schooling that drives many parents to the verge of a psychological breaking point? For working parents, who spend their days... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3111013/how-hong-kong-parents-and-children-can-survive-and-thrive-during?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3111013/how-hong-kong-parents-and-children-can-survive-and-thrive-during?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Nov 2020 00:30:12 +0000 The fiery US presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden set the internet ablaze with criticism. The debate was described as chaotic, messy and a national embarrassment. CNN’s Jake Tapper summed up the debate in a colourful analogy: “That was a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a train wreck.” Negative reviews rained on Trump’s self-congratulating parade, criticising him as a bully for bulldozing Biden and steamrollering Chris Wallace, the moderator of the debate. The... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3103925/trumps-narcissism-betrays-fragile-ego-lashing-out-rage?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3103925/trumps-narcissism-betrays-fragile-ego-lashing-out-rage?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Oct 2020 17:00:17 +0000 Katherine Johnson’s death made waves last month. Many paid tribute to her success story. She was a Nasa scientist, which was no small feat. But what made her story more inspirational was her gender and race: she was a female African-American who broke the astronomical glass ceiling. We often applaud women who succeed in traditionally male domains. Do we hold a similar attitude towards men who hit a home run in traditionally female territories? It’s a tale as old as time that a common complaint... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3074209/women-have-feminism-do-men-need-equivalent-female?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3074209/women-have-feminism-do-men-need-equivalent-female?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Mar 2020 12:30:06 +0000 Whichever side you support, the repeated clashes between protesters and police officers – most recently last weekend in Sha Tin – have been very hard to watch, and the animosity reflects not only the division in Hong Kong society, but also how our minds too often split the world into good versus bad. First, let us acknowledge that the anti-extradition bill movement that has divided Hong Kong might be a misnomer. The opposition is not to the bill per se. What has moved many to action seems to be... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3018699/casting-hong-kong-protesters-and-police-either-angels-or-demons?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3018699/casting-hong-kong-protesters-and-police-either-angels-or-demons?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Jul 2019 02:30:13 +0000 In a video that recently surfaced online, a young man in a surgical mask is seen in Revenue Tower, repeatedly preventing lift doors from closing. Presumably, this was a follow-up to the anti-extradition protests outside the Legislative Council and police headquarters, another obstructionist tactic to put pressure on the government. A squabble breaks out in the video between an older man and the masked young man, who responds at one point: “I haven’t gone to school for a long time.” His tone... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3016343/whats-eating-hong-kongs-young-protesters-maybe-its-citys-elitist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3016343/whats-eating-hong-kongs-young-protesters-maybe-its-citys-elitist?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 28 Jun 2019 05:00:12 +0000 The massive turnout for the protest march on June 9 against the extradition bill seemed to mark a stormy new dawn for a movement powered by deeply-entrenched anti-Beijing sentiment in Hong Kong. Across the city, frustration and anger have galvanised different sectors of society into protests and strikes. The air is thick with dark urgency and an imminent threat, and the city is living on its nerve ends. On the evening of June 11, police were accused of abusing their authority when they were seen... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3014309/when-hong-kong-police-hurt-our-children-rather-protect-them-they?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3014309/when-hong-kong-police-hurt-our-children-rather-protect-them-they?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 13 Jun 2019 09:00:05 +0000 The iconic picture of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi applauding US President Donald Trump during his State of the Union address quickly launched thousands of highly entertaining memes online. For many, the exquisitely nuanced image of Pelosi clapping with her arms outstretched encapsulates the power dynamic between the two in ways that words could not. After all, only around two weeks ago, a high-profile showdown between Pelosi and Trump culminated in a win for the former, when the government... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2185382/what-trump-pelosi-dynamic-reveals-about-men?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2185382/what-trump-pelosi-dynamic-reveals-about-men?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Feb 2019 16:05:33 +0000 The world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, and his wife, MacKenzie, are breaking up – and joining the proverbial other half of the population whose marriages end in divorce. Clearly, when it comes to marital bliss, even have-it-alls like the Amazon billionaire couple can end up in the same place as many of us. My grandparents had an arranged marriage and did not part until death. When my grandma died, my grandpa was heartbroken. As a young child, I watched them bicker, but I also watched him cry,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2183578/even-have-it-alls-amazons-jeff-bezos-and-his?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2183578/even-have-it-alls-amazons-jeff-bezos-and-his?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Jan 2019 01:00:45 +0000 Since being elected US president, Donald Trump’s mental health has been under an unprecedented level of scrutiny. What seems to legitimise this flurry of media attention is the question, “Is he fit for office?” When it is within the reach of Trump’s erratic hands to press the button that fires nuclear missiles, we feel both the weight and urgency of that question.  However, to frame the ramifications of someone’s mental functioning strictly in either-or terms (“Is he mentally fit to serve as... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2144653/whether-its-donald-trump-or-our-children-mental-health?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2144653/whether-its-donald-trump-or-our-children-mental-health?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 May 2018 02:17:19 +0000 The nerve-racking season of school applications is upon us. The internet is abuzz with application-oriented attention-grabbers: from school fairs and campus visits to information sessions and bustling forum discussions around the question that launches a thousand threads: “Which school is the best?”  While the word “best” is oversimplified and requires much contextualised elucidation, it is not unusual for such discussions to turn into a heated debate on “academic schools” versus “happy... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2142886/how-frequent-domestic-helper-changes-might-be-destabilising?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2142886/how-frequent-domestic-helper-changes-might-be-destabilising?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Apr 2018 08:27:58 +0000