INSECURITY FEELINGS

 

INSECURITY FEELING  

        A person who is insecure lacks confidence in their own value, and one or more of their capabilities, lacks trust in themselves or others, or has fears that a present positive state is temporary, and will let them down and cause them loss or distress by "going wrong" in the future. This is a common trait, which only differs in degree between people.
       This is not to be confused with humility,which involves recognizing one's shortcomings but still maintaining a healthy dose of self-confidence. Insecurity is not an objective evaluation of one's ability but an emotional interpretation, as two people with the same capabilities may have entirely different levels of insecurity.
        Insecurity may contribute to the development of shyness,paranoia and social withdrawal, or alternatively it may encourage compensatory behaviors such as arrogance,aggression,or bullying , in some cases.
        The fact that the majority of human beings are emotionally vulnerable, and have the capacity to be hurt, implies that emotional insecurity could merely be a difference in awareness.
Insecurity has many effects in a person's life. There are several levels of it. It nearly always causes some degree of isolation as a typically insecure person withdraws from people to some extent. The greater the insecurity, the higher the degree of isolation becomes. Insecurity is often rooted in a person's childhood years. Like offense and bitterness, it grows in layered fashion, often becoming an immobilizing force that sets a limiting factor in the person's life. Insecurity robs by degrees; the degree to which it is entrenched equals the degree of power it has in the person's life. As insecurity can be distressing and feel threatening to the psyche, it can often be accompanied by a controlling personality type or avoidance, as psychological defense mechanisms.
           Insecurity can be overcome. It takes time, patience and a gradual realization that one's own worth is purely a matter of perspective (or subjective opinion of oneself), and so while it may be true that insecurity can follow from concerns relating to objective reality, this is by no means a necessity, but more a tendency.The first of Erikson's stages of psychosocial development details the challenge of finding security and learning to trust oneself and one's environment.

IMAGINATION

                                                                                 
                                                                     IMAGINATION
                                                                           

  
                             Imagination, also called the faculty of imagination, is the ability to form new images and sensations that are not perceived through senses such as sight, hearing, or other senses. Imagination helps make knowledge applicable in solving problems and is fundamental to integrating experience and the learning process. A basic training for imagination is listening to story telling (narrative), in which the exactness of the chosen words is the fundamental factor to "evoke worlds", It is a whole cycle of image formation or any sensation which may be described as "hidden" as it takes place without anyone else's knowledge.A person may imagine according to his mood, it may be good or bad depending on the situation.
                Memory and imagination have been shown to be affected by one another. "Images made by functional magnetic resonance imaging technology show that remembering and imagining sends blood to identical parts of the brain." An optimal balance of intrinsic, extraneous, and germane form of information processing can heighten the chance of the brain to retain information as long term memories, rather than short term, memories. This is significant because experiences stored as long term memories are easier to be recalled, as they are ingrained deeper in the mind. Each of these forms require information to be taught in a specific manner so as to use various regions of the brain when being processed. This information can potentially help develop programs for young students to cultivate or further enhance their creative abilities from a young age. The Neocortex and Thalamus are responsible for controlling the brain's imagination, along with many of the brain's other functions such as consciousness and abstract thought. Since imagination involves many different brain functions, such as emotions, memory, thoughts etc., portions of the brain where multiple functions occur—such as the Thalamus and Neocortex—are the main regions where imaginative processing has been documented. The understanding of how memory and imagination are linked in the brain, paves the way to better understand one's ability to link significant past experiences with their imagination.

HEREDITY

                                                                    
                                                           HEREDITY
       Heredity is the passing of traits to offspring from its parents or ancestor.This is the process by which an offspring cell or organism acquires or becomes predisposed to the characteristics of its parent cell or organism. Through heredity, variations exhibited by individuals can accumulate and cause some species to evolve.The study of heredity in biology is called genetics,which includes the field of  epigenetics.

            eye color is an example of an inherited characteristic: an individual might inherit the "brown-eye trait" from one of the parents.Inherited traits are controlled by genes  and the complete set of genes within an organism's genome is called its genotype.

   In humans , The complete set of observable traits of the structure and behavior of an organism is called its phenotype.These traits arise from the interaction of its genotype with the environment.As a result, many aspects of an organism's phenotype are not inherited. For example,suntanned skin comes from the interaction between a person's phenotype and sunlight;thus, suntans are not passed on to people's children. However, some people tan more easily than others, due to differences in their genotype: a striking example is people with the inherited trait of albinism. who do not tan at all and are very sensitive to sunburn.

Heritable traits are known to be passed from one generation to the next via DNA, a molecule that encodes genetic information. DNA is a long polymer that incorporates four types of bases , which are interchangeable. The sequence of bases along a particular DNA molecule specifies the genetic information: this is comparable to a sequence of letters spelling out a passage of text.Before a cell divides through mitosis , the DNA is copied, so that each of the resulting two cells will inherit the DNA sequence. A portion of a DNA molecule that specifies a single functional unit is called a gene ; different genes have different sequences of bases. Within cells,the long strands of DNA form condensed structures called chromosomes.Organisms inherit genetic material from their parents in the form of homologous chromosomes,containing a unique combination of DNA sequences that code for genes. The specific location of a DNA sequence within a chromosome is known as a locus.If the DNA sequence at a particular locus varies between individuals, the different forms of this sequence are called alleles.DNA sequences can change through mutations,producing new alleles. If a mutation occurs within a gene, the new allele may affect the trait that the gene controls, altering the phenotype of the organism.

         However, while this simple correspondence between an allele and a trait works in some cases, most traits are more complex and are controlled by multiple interacting genes within and among organisms. Developmental biologists suggest that complex interactions in genetic networks and communication among cells can lead to heritable variations that may underlay some of the mechanics indevelopmental plasticity and canalization.
        Recent findings have confirmed important examples of heritable changes that cannot be explained by direct agency of the DNA molecule. These phenomena are classed as epigenetic inheritance systems that are causally or independently evolving over genes. Research into modes and mechanisms of epigenetic inheritance is still in its scientific infancy, however, this area of research has attracted much recent activity as it broadens the scope of heritability and evolutionary biology in general.DNA methylation  marking chromatin, self-sustaining metabolic loops, gene silencing by RNA interference, and the three dimensional conformation of proteins (such as prions) are areas where epigenetic inheritance systems have been discovered at the organismic level. Heritability may also occur at even larger scales. For example, ecological inheritance through the process of niche construction is defined by the regular and repeated activities of organisms in their environment. This generates a legacy of effect that modifies and feeds back into the selection regime of subsequent generations. Descendants inherit genes plus environmental characteristics generated by the ecological actions of ancestors. other examples of heritability in evolution that are not under the direct control of genes include the inheritance of cultural traits,group heritability,and symbiogenesis.These examples of heritability that operate above the gene are covered broadly under the title of multilevel or hierarchical selection,which has been a subject of intense debate in the history of evolutionary science.

MENTAL ILLNESS

MENTAL ILLNESS Mental disorders in children are quite common, occurring in about one-quarter of this age group in any given year. The most common childhood mental disorders are anxiety disorders,depression, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Although less common, developmental disorders and psychotic disorders in children can have a lifelong impact on the child and his or her family. As in any age group, there tends to be no single cause for mental illness in children. In addition to the specific symptoms of each mental disorder, children with a psychiatric illness can exhibit signs that are specific to their age and developmental status. Establishing the diagnosis of a mental illness in children usually involves the combination of comprehensive medical, developmental, and mental-health assessments. There are a variety of treatments available for managing mental illness in children, including several effective medications, educational or occupational interventions, as well as specific forms of psychotherapy.  Children with mental-health problems can have lower educational achievement, greater involvement with the criminal justice system, and fewer stable placements in the child welfare system than their peers. Attempts at prevention of childhood mental illness tend to address both specific and nonspecific risk factors, strengthen protective factors, and use an approach that is appropriate for the child's developmental level. Research on mental illness in children is focused on a number of issues, including increasing the understanding of how often these illnesses occur, the risk factors, most effective treatments, and how to improve the access that children have to those treatments.

DISOBEDIENCE

                                                                    DISOBEDIENCE
                                                                                    

                          Most of a toddler's actions are aimed at attracting your attention. Thus, she may try speaking to you, crying, hitting you or annoying you. She is not particular whether the attention is positive or negative as long as she can catch your eye. Once you respond to her, she will smile or laugh at you. She will behave in an increasingly wilful manner in an attempt to assert her independence. Do not thwart her attempts at independence at every stage, although it may express itself as disobedience. This can lead to her developing a negative attitude in the future. Your baby will have frequent mood swings veering between extreme displays of affection and anger. The good news is that your child will become more participative in play and this is a good opportunity to teach them to share.

                 A naughty child is one who knows the difference between right and wrong, but lacks the maturity to exert self-control and do the right thing. They are usually apologetic and contrite when caught. However, often you will find that they are doing the exact same thing you had scolded them for doing just an hour ago. You have to be very patient with naughty children. Initially, you should try the sympathetic approach, speaking to them frequently. If this fails, punishment becomes necessary. Corporal punishment is not an option. Restricting or withdrawing privileges is much more effective. 


                     A disobedient child is one who deliberately flouts authority. Children like this really try your patience. A disobedient child is rarely contrite or apologetic. His defiance leads to confrontations. Remember that physical punishment is likely to lead to aggression and truculence on his part. A programme that is a combination of reasoning and positive reinforcement is recommended. Explain to the child that her activities are anti-social or dangerous and suggest how she should behave. 

HEAD-BANGING

HEAD-BANGING 

                                                                                                                                    

              Head banging usually begins during a baby's first year of life and most kids stop by the time they are about three to four years old. Unlike head banging that can sometimes be associated with autism and other neurological disorders, children with simple head banging typically only do it at night. On the other hand, when head banging or another rhythmic movement is a sign of autism,you can usually expect that the child will often do it during the day too.                                                                                      

Treatments for Head Banging

Since it is not harmful and typically goes away on its own, no treatment is usually required for head banging. Since may children do it as a form of comfort at bedtime, any efforts to try and make your child stop head banging may increase his anxiety and make him want to do it more.

If you think that the head banging is disrupting your child's sleep, your pediatrician or a pediatric sleep expert might offer some suggestions on decreasing this behavior, such as:

• making sure that you don't reinforce the head banging by providing negative reinforcement, such as nagging your child to stop.
• offering an alternative bedtime comfort object, such as a blanket or stuffed animal.
• sticking to fairly strict routines for bedtime and naps.
• make sure your child is in a safe environment when he goes to sleep and can't hurt himself while banging his head. Although this may mean padding his crib, this usually isn't necessary.

FRUSTRATION

FRUSTRATION

      

             Frustration could sound like an unimportant, short time thing that comes and goes on its own. This is way far from the truth. If not handled properly, it could become a monster of a problem and could go a really long way in hampering a proper growth of your child's personality. It is a very important lesson that we need to give to our children at a very early age - not just to handle and manage their own frustration but also to respond and cope with other people's frustration that could affect them.

      As early as birth and infancy, children use their frustration or anger (by screaming or crying) to get the proper attention from adults since they can not speak. Thus we deduce that it is an emotion that comes naturally to everybody. The key however, is to learn to control and manage it right from the beginning. Even though the emotion comes naturally, the ability to manage it well is really an art and is learnt through a very long time.

     If you notice, only children around an year display the ability to pretend emotions like fear, happiness, sadness. Meaning that they are not really feeling them but only pretending them as in a game. Which shows that it is fruitful to teach anger management only once the child is an year old and not before that.

     Once the child is in an age where he can understand the management of emotions, the first thing to make him understand is that there is nothing wrong in feeling any kind of emotion. The only thing that's important is to learn to control the emotions and their expression. If you're feeling angry, it does not mean that you have to express it by yelling, crying or creating a huge scene about it. To learn that, is the key to anger management.

     When a toddler learns to walk, he wants to explore the whole world and we adults keep him from doing this. It could be the first example of frustrating the child and it is from right here that we need to teach him to control his anger and learn to behave in a good manner instead of throwing a fit.

     It a very good and essential habit to learn and must be taught right from the beginning. Once your child is able to learn it he is sure to grow into a calm, matured and rational adult.

FIGHTING

FEAR

                Why is fighting on the rise for both boys and girls these days? In fact, why are so many child behavior problems increasing? It's not only fighting; many kids also have a much harder time showing respect for authority, following parental structure, responding to simple directions and completing tasks. It seems like on all levels of measurable behavior, kids are falling further and further behind.

In my experience, all of these behaviors are part of the same larger issue. For one reason or another, many children are not learning the problem-solving skills they need in order to avoid getting into a physical fight. As a result, they develop ineffective coping skills.

                                                                             

                  If your child uses fighting as a coping skill, you may naturally feel frustrated and unsure about how to handle this issue. Often, parents panic when they start to wake up to the fact that things are getting worse with their child’s behavior. They react by using the same tools they used in the past, only they use them harder or louder or more punitively. The problem is that if your child isn't responding to your parenting methods in the first place, doing it louder or stronger probably isn’t going to change that. In my opinion, it's not that parents need to use their skills more intensely—it's that they need to develop more intense skills.

     The Three Types of Fighting
When we think of fighting, we think typically of two people getting angry at each other and coming to physical blows. But certainly, kids fight in many ways and for different reasons.

1.    Oppositional and Defiant Fighting: One form of fighting is being oppositional and defiant toward everything. These are kids who fight and don't even know why. And the more we try to explore the “why” with them, the more they act defiantly. These are the kids to whom parents are most prone to unwittingly teach excuses.

2.    Verbal Abuse and Temper Tantrums: Kids often fight by being verbally abusive; that’s how they strike out at you. The goal when you intervene with kids who are being verbally abusive is to teach them how to do things differently next time—the same as if they were fighting or hitting.

3.    Angry and Antagonistic Behavior: Sometimes kids get angry or antagonized by another child and hit them. Or two or more kids will have an argument that escalates until they come to blows. Some children are easily antagonized, and will often use a fist in place of other coping skills.

FORCED FEEDING

                                                        

                                                        FORCED FEEDING

                            Forced feeding is the act of open another's mouth, placing food inside, and getting them to swallow when they clearly do not wish to do so. With children it is rarely  needed - a child with a normal,healthy body will learn what it feels like to be hungry, associate that with eating, and take nourishment as their body requires.

In the USA there are three culturally acceptable reasons to force a child to eat when they are not hungry:

         1) The kid wants to do something else (or is distracted by something else) and the parent knows they haven't had enough to eat. In this case the child may be hungry, but does not want to admit it because they are involved mentally or physically with something else. In such circumstances the child will complain later on that they are hungry. Our culture does not accept or accomodate frequent micro-meals so it is better for the child to learn that in our society people eat three main meals a day and that skipping or eating too lightly at one is going to result in hunger which cannot be satisfied later when it occurs.

2) For nutritional and physical purposes. When one has a child and they understand/know the child they will be able to determine whether said child is eating enough of the right foods, and whether the child will be hungry later. This can be due to the child's inability to sense or understand their own hunger.

3) For punishment and/or teaching of cultural values.Many parents don't want their children to take more than they will eat and punish their children for taking more by forcing them to eat more of what's on their plate. This may be a result, however, of the parents preparing too much food. Americans, on average, prepare and present more food than we need to consume.A child who is trying to be like daddy or mommy may help themselves to as big a serving as they see on their parents plate. The parents then force the child to eat what they've taken, perhaps to teach them to take less. It would be better in this case to prepare less food (or only put on the table what is likely to be eaten) and for the parents themselves to take smaller portions, simply eating more servings rather than filling their plate once. The cultural value of leaving a 'clean plate' is fairly strong in some households, and it can be quite a insult to the prepare of the food if food is left on the plate uneaten.

There are other reasons children are force fed, but the three above outline the most culturally acceptable in the USA. Eating is such a complex human behavior that it would be difficult to pick out force feeding as a significant or primary cause of later eating problems, but they are related since one learns lifelong eating habits as a child.

FEAR

       

                                                                            FEAR

                    Childhood fears are often divided into four groups. As mentioned earlier, some of these fears are integral for the cognitive and affective development of the child. Unless a child carries any of these fears throughout his adulthood, his parents do not really have anything to "fear".

1. Specific animal phobias.

This fear usually occurs within three to five years of age. Some examples of this fear are ailurophobia (fear of cats), arachnophobia (fear of spiders) and pyrophobia (fear of snakes).

2. Specific situational phobias.

During the first six months of infancy, a child fears loud noises. On the onset of the seventh month until before his first year, a child is usually afraid of heights (achrophobia) and even unexpected looming objects. Some other examples of this phobia are aichmophobia (fear of sharp and pointed objects), brontophobia (fear of thunder), menophobia (fear of being alone) and nyctophobia (fear of darkness).

3. Social anxieties.

During the eighth month of infancy, a child develops fear of strangers (xenophobia) and even of people in general (anthropophobia). Due to parents' over protection of their children, some eventually develop fear of growing up. The most prominent phobia of this type is the school phobia. Psychologists found that teen- angers who suffer from school phobia are often afraid of leaving their home and being separated from their family.

4. Agoraphobia.

This is a fear of open places and it usually happens when a child is in between two to four years old. It can clearly be seen on children who are afraid to go out of their house or are afraid to attend parties and other celebrations outside the "security" of their home.

Overcoming the Fear

               When a child grows up and he is not able to cope with his fear that it even controls his life at some point, something must be done to at least alleviate the condition. One way for the child to overcome the fear is through modeling. When the child observes that most people are not afraid of the thing that he fears, he may somehow think about his situation and begin to work out his phobia. In a study conducted by Bandura, Grusec, & Menlove (1967), "preschoolers who feared dogs took part in eight brief sessions in which they watched an unafraid child play happily with a dog. Later, two thirds of the fearful children were able to climb into playpen with the dog." Another way is through systematic desensitization where a child is gradually exposed to the feared object.

             Morris and Kratoch will wrote in their book Treating Children's Fears and Phobias that during these therapeutic treatments, it is assumed that (1) the fear is not learned, (2) an insight is not necessary to alleviate the phobia (since during therapies, the fear is already considered an irrational phobia and so an irrational phobia can't possibly be "rationalized"), (3) fears and phobias are samples of child's behavior and are situation-specific, (4) emphasis of treatment is on the present, and (5) the goals of therapy are specific. Since the fear is object/situation-specific, the objective of the treatment must also be focused on the specific unique case.

FRIENDSHIP

FRIENDSHIP

         In childhood, friendships are often based on the sharing of toys, and the enjoyment received from performing activities together. These friendships are maintained through affection, sharing, and creative playtime. While sharing is difficult for children at this age, they are more likely to share with someone they consider to be a friend (Newman & Newman, 2012). As children mature, they become less individualized and more aware of others. They begin to see their friends' points of view, and enjoy playing in groups. 
       They also experience peer rejection as they move through the middle childhood years. Establishing good friendships at a young age helps a child to be better acclimated in society later on in their life (Newman & Newman, 2012). In a 1975 study, Bigelow and La Gaipa found that expectations for a "best friend" become increasingly complex as a child gets older. The study investigated such criteria in a sample of 480 children between the ages of six and fourteen. Their findings highlighted three stages of development in friendship expectations.
          In the first stage, children emphasized shared activities and the importance of geographical closeness. In the second, they emphasized sharing, loyalty and commitment. In the final stage, they increasingly desired similar attitudes, values and interests. According to Berndt, children prize friendships that are high in prosocial behavior, intimacy, and other positive features; they are troubled by friendships that are high in conflict, dominance, rivalry, and other negative features. High-quality friendships have often been assumed to have positive effects on many aspects of children's social development. Perceived benefits from such friendships include enhanced social success, but they apparently do not include an effect on children's general self-esteem.Numerous studies with adults suggest that friendships and other supportive relationships do enhance self-esteem (Berndt, 2002).
          Other potential benefits of friendship include the opportunity to learn about empathy and problem solving. Coaching from parents can be useful in helping children to make friends.Eileen Kennedy-Moore describes three key ingredients of children's friendship formation: (1) openness, (2) similarity, and (3) shared fun.Parents can also help children understand social guidelines they haven't learned on their own. Drawing from research by Robert Selman and others, Kennedy-Moore outlines developmental stages in children's friendship, reflecting an increasing capacity to understand others' perspectives: "I Want It My Way", "What's In It For Me?", "By the Rules", "Caring and Sharing", and "Friends Through Thick and Thin."

GIFTED CHILD

GIFTED CHILD

        Intellectual giftedness is an intellectual ability significantly higher than average. It is a characteristic of children, variously defined, that motivates differences in school programming. It is thought to persist as a trait into adult life, with various consequences studied in longitudinal studies of giftedness over the last century. There is no generally agreed definition of giftedness for either children or adults, but most school placement decisions and most longitudinal studies over the course of individual lives have been based on IQ in the top 2 percent of the population, that is above IQ 130.

          The various definitions of intellectual giftedness include either general high ability or specific abilities. For example, by some definitions an intellectually gifted person may have a striking talent for mathematics without equally strong language skills. In particular, the relationship between artistic ability or musical ability and the high academic ability usually associated with high IQ scores is still being explored, with some authors referring to all of those forms of high ability as "giftedness," while other authors distinguish "giftedness" from "talent." There is still much controversy and much research on the topic of how adult performance unfolds from trait differences in childhood, and what educational and other supports best help the development of adult giftedness.

            Many schools use a variety of assessments of students' capability and potential when identifying gifted children.These may include portfolios of student work, classroom observations, achievement tests, and IQ test scores. Most educational professionals accept that no single criterion can be used in isolation to accurately identify a gifted child.

              One of the criteria used in identification may be an IQ test score. Until the late 1960 s, when “giftedness” was defined by an IQ score, a school district simply set an arbitrary score (usually in the 130 range) and a student either did or did not “make the cut”. It is no longer accepted today in academic circles; however, it's still used by many school districts because it is simple and not entirely without merit. Although a high IQ may have fallen out of favor as a measure to define giftedness, the fact remains that, if a student has a very high IQ, it is a significant indicator of a student’s academic potential (Gross, 2004). Correspondingly, if a student scores highly on an IQ test, but performs at an average or below average level academically, this warrants further investigation. 

               IQ classification varies from one publisher to another. IQ tests do not have validity for determining test-takers' rank order at higher IQ levels, and are perhaps only effective at determining whether a student is gifted rather than distinguishing among levels of giftedness. The Wechsler tests have a standard score ceiling of 150. Today, the Wechsler Intelligence Adult Scale or WAIS is used by most hospitals, government agencies, schools, and military. Someone with a 180 or more Stanford-Binet or Cattell IQ test may only score in lower to mid-140's on the WAIS. This has prompted some authors on identification of gifted children to promote the Stanford-Binet form L-M, which has long been obsolete, as the only test with a sufficient ceiling to identify the exceptionally and profoundly gifted, despite the Stanford-Binet L-M never having been normed on a representative national sample. Because the instrument is outdated, current results derived from the Stanford-Binet L-M generate inflated and inaccurate scores.

              The IQ assessment of younger children remains debated. Also, intelligence tests are generally designed to measure cognitive factors and may not identify as gifted individuals whose talents lie in other areas such as music or the arts. 

              While many people believe giftedness is a strictly quantitative difference, measurable by IQ tests, a number of people have described giftedness as a fundamentally different way of perceiving the world, which in turn affects every experience had by the gifted individual. This view is doubted by some scholars who have closely studied gifted children longitudinally.

CHILD DISCIPLINE

CHILD DISCIPLiNE

CHILD DISCIPLINE
 Because the values, beliefs, education, customs and cultures of people vary so widely, along with the age and temperament of the child, methods of child discipline vary widely. Child discipline is a topic that draws from a wide range of interested fields, such as parenting , the professional practice of behavior analysis, development psychology,social work, and various religious perspectives . In recent years, advances in the understanding of attachment parenting have provided a new background of theoretical understanding and advanced clinical and practical understanding of the effectiveness and outcome of parenting methods.

The word discipline is defined as imparting knowledge and skill, in other words to teach. Discipline is used by parents to teach their children about expectations, guidelines and principles. Children need to be given regular discipline to be taught right from wrong and to be maintained safe. Child discipline can involve rewards and punishments to teach self-control, increase desirable behaviors and decrease undesirable behaviors in children. In its most general sense,discipline refers to systematic instruction given to a disciple. To discipline thus means to instruct a person to follow a particular code of conduct.While the purpose of child discipline is to develop and entrench desirable social habits in children, the ultimate goal is to foster sound judgement and morals so the child develops and maintains self-discipline throughout the rest of his/her life.

In western society, there has been debate in recent years over the use of corporal punishment for children in general, and increased attention has been given to the concept of "positive parenting" where good behavior is encouraged and rewarded.

GRAND PARENTS

GRANDPARENTS

       

                         Grandparents are the parents of a person's father or mother - paternal or maternal.Every sexually-reproducing creature who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic grandparents, eight genetic great-grandparents, sixteen genetic great-great-grandparents, etc., though the numbers can be lower due to pedigree collapse. In the history of modern humanity, around 30,000 years ago, the number of modern humans who lived to be grandparents began to skyrocket. It is not known for certain what spurred this increase in longevity. But it is believed that a key consequence of three generations being alive together was the facilitation of the passing along of information that prior to that point would have been lost; an example of this important information might have been where to find water in times of drought.

In cases where parents are unwilling or unable to provide adequate care for their children (e.g., death of the parents), grandparents often take on the role of primary caregivers. Even when this is not the case, and particularly in traditional cultures, grandparents often have a direct and clear role in relation to the raising, care and nature of children. Grandparents are second-degree relatives and share 25% genetic overlap.

One can also be a step- grandparents. A step-grandparent can be one's parent's step-parent or one's step-parent's parent or one's step-parent's step-parent. The various words for grandparents at times may also be used to refer to any elderly person, especially the terms gramps, granny, grandfather, grandmother and even more types that most families make up themselves, like "cool ma" for younger step-grandparents.

GUILT FEELING

GUILT FEELING

           Guilt is an important factor in perpetuating obsessive - compulsive disorder symptoms. Guilt and its associated causes, merits, and demerits are common themes in psychology and psychiatry.Both in specialized and in ordinary language, guilt is an affective state in which one experiences conflict at having done something that one believes one should not have done (or conversely, having not done something one believes one should have done). It gives rise to a feeling which does not go away easily, driven by 'conscience'.Sigmund Freud described this as the result of a struggle between the ego and the superego – parental imprinting. Freud rejected the role of God as punisher in times of illness or rewarder in time of wellness. While removing one source of guilt from patients, he described another. This was the unconscious force within the individual that contributed to illness, Freud in fact coming to consider "the obstacle of an unconscious sense of guilt...as the most powerful of all obstacles to recovery.For his later explicator , Lacan , guilt was the inevitable companion of the signifying subject who acknowledged normality in the form of the symbolic order.

 Alice Miller claims that "many people suffer all their lives from this oppressive feeling of guilt, the sense of not having lived up to their parents' expectations....no argument can overcome these guilt feelings, for they have their beginnings in life's earliest period, and from that they derive their intensity." This may be linked to what Les Parrott has called "the disease of false guilt....At the root of false guilt is the idea that what you feel must be true." If you feel guilty, you must be guilty!

The philosopher Martin Buber underlined the difference between the Freudian  notion of guilt, based on internal conflicts, and existential guilt,based on actual harm done to others.

Guilt is often associated with anxiety. In mania , according to Otto Fenichel, the patient succeeds in applying to guilt "the defense mechanism of denial by overcompensation...re-enacts being a person without guilt feelings."

In psychological research, guilt can be measured by using questionnaires, such as the Differential Emotions Scale , or the Dutch Guilt Measurement Instrument.