Parenting

Parenting is likely the most important job we do, if you think about it, but somehow we aren’t required to get a university degree or workplace internship to master the necessary skills before there is a baby in our laps! And once we master the baby, it is not a baby anymore and has changed into a toddler, or a preschooler, and flash – then we have a teenager! If you have more than one child, life grows in even more complexity and challenge as your family develops. And there are ALL kinds of parents and families these days, right? Blended families, stepfamilies, LGBTQIA parents, infertility and IVF families, intergenerational families, cross-cultural families, on and on we can go!

A first lesson in parenting is this: Have the courage to be imperfect! This lesson comes from psychiatrist Alfred Adler. Adler was a contemporary of Freud, and he was the first to do family and group counseling offered publicly to help everyone learn. I am Certified in Adlerian psychology and I teach Positive Discipline parenting classes. So, from these Adlerian ways of thinking about parenting a second lesson in parenting is this: Being respectful to kids invites respect back. It is funny but true when we are better parents our kids do better too! What we need as parents are the tools and skills to help our kids feel they belong, encourage their contribution and cooperation, and keep learning and growing together.

I would love to talk with you about how I can support you and your family with parenting tools and skills. I also hope to help you through IFS to learn about the parts of you who are involved in your parenting, maybe even what is triggered in you when your child pushes one of your buttons! I work with parents, I work with kids or teens and parents together, I work with teens, and I will be glad to teach a Positive Discipline class for your group of parents. Let me know how I can help!