welcome image

Adolescence can be the cruelest place on earth. It can really be heartless.  ( Tori Amos)

Parents are the external regulator for kids who cannot regulate themselves.

Hurt people hurt people.

The challenge of adolescence is to balance the right of the parents to feel they are in charge with the need of the adolescent to gain independence.

Some hope their children will be like sponges soaking up the truth and wisdom imparted by their parents. However appealing this philosophy might be, it seldom seems to catch on with their children.

Children today are under enormous pressures rarely experienced by their parents or grandparents. Many of today's children are being enticed to grow up too quickly and are encountering challenges for which they are totally unprepared.

The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice. (Peggy O'Mara)

The quickest way to change your child’s behaviour is to first change your own.

"Cutting" is a visible sign to the world that you are hurting.

Early intervention is always better than crisis management - but it is never too late to do the right thing.

Learn more.

Behaviour Management

 

 

First the good news!

Children’s behaviour is strongly influenced by the positive and negative consequences that immediately follow from certain actions. If you can set appropriate expectations for behaviour and get the consequences right, your children will follow your household rules – most of the time anyway.

Now the bad news . . .  it’s the same news!

If whining or throwing tantrums gets your kids something they want, that’s what they’ll do. You may not think of nagging as a way of rewarding your child for misbehaving, but even yelling can actually encourage the behaviour you’re trying to stop, especially if that’s the best way for your child to get your attention. Completely ignoring the problem behaviour is usually the most effective way to get it to stop – if you can stick with it long enough.

Back to Top

Workshops

+ Behaviour Management (now available online)

This full day or 2 evening workshop will introduce you […]

Learn more

+ A Parent’s Guide to the Teenage Brain

  A teenager’s brain is not just an adult brain […]

Learn more

+ Reading Rescue

A program for children with reading problems

Learn more

+ A Guided Tour of ADHD (now available online)

This workshop will present the facts, myths, misconceptions, controversy and […]

Learn more

See more of our workshops


Contact

2720 Rath Street, Putnam, Ontario
NOL 2BO

Phone: (519) 485-4678
Fax: (519) 485-0281

Email: info@rickharper.ca

Archive


Parents' Comments

“We are foster parents who took in a 13 year old girl (going on 18!) and she ran us through the wringer. Rick helped us learn how to set limits that made the difference.”

(G.E. – Strathroy)