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Relationships matter:  change comes through forming trusting relationships. People, not programs change people.

Children do not develop on their own - they only develop within relationships.

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

Good parenting requires sacrifice. Childhood lasts for only a few brief years , but it should be given priority while it is passing before your eyes

If it  was going to be easy to raise kids, it never would have started with something called "labour".

Children fare better when expectations on them are clear and firm.

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

There has been an explosion in the prescribing of medication for very young children, particularly preschool and kindergarten boys (Juli Zito , Univ. of Maryland)

If you (parents) tend to overreact to your child's misbehaviour - your child learns that he can't trust you. Mom, Dad, stay regulated!

Don't wait for him to turn 10 before you reveal that you are not in fact the hired help whose job it is to clean up after him.

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Encourage Playtime

 

 

Play is widespread throughout the animal kingdom suggesting that it must serve some vital function.  One way to find out what play is good for is to take it away from animals and see how they fare. The problem is that this experiment is nearly impossible to do. Animals (including children) are irrepressible; they play under the most adverse conditions. The only way to get an animal to stop playing is to restrain its mobility. This reverse restriction leads to decreases in physical activity and increases in stress, as measured by the amount of the stress hormone cortisol in saliva. Play, exercise and stress are closely linked. Play is crucial for the development of children as it is necessary for forming normal social connections.

Think of it this way: play is the work of children. It is perhaps the most effective way for them to learn life skills.

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Workshops

+ Behaviour Management (now available online)

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

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+ A Parent’s Guide to the Teenage Brain

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

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+ Reading Rescue

A program for children with reading problems

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+ A Guided Tour of ADHD (now available online)

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

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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

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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)