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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 teenage years require a delicate balance between the young person's need to gain independence, and the parent's need to retain authority.

A tantruming toddler is a little ball of writhing muscle and incredible strength. It's like trying to carry a greased pig past a slop bucket.

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

It's more effective to reward your child for being "good" (appropriate) than to punish him for being "bad" (inappropriate).

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.

The best inheritance  parents can give their children is a few minutes of their time each day.

The more 2 parents differ in their approaches to discipline, the more likely it leads to trouble for the child.

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

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

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What Do The Young People Say Depression Was Like?

“It was like a dread inside, there all the time. When I was with my friends it would go away a bit, but it always came back.”
Jack – age 15
 
“I started worrying about everything, even things that never bothered me before. I was so worried about being asked a question in school that I used to feel sick in the mornings. Some days I just could not go to school.”    Lois age 13
 
 
“I was angry with everyone, they all annoyed me, particularly my mum who kept asking me what was wrong.                                                                                                                                                                         Laura age 14
 
 
“I couldn’t face anyone, I don’t know why. I wanted to be dead, it was in my mind all the time, I couldn’t stop thinking about my death and being dead. At least then I would stop feeling like this.”    Sue age 15
 
 
“Sometimes there’d be this feeling of being trapped, or perhaps overwhelmed. Other times there’d be a feeling of just being completely lost and not knowing what to do, and then the most frequent was probably one of complete and utter apathy for life, the universe and everything.”                                                                                                                                         David age 16
 
 
“I was very fatigued. I’d stay in bed for ever really. I just felt absolutely lousy and I got awful stomach pains as well, and awful headaches.”                           John age 15

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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

“Implementing Rick’s techniques and adhering to them is exhausting, but it is a healthy exhaustion rather than the detrimental exhaustion I used to experience.”

(B.F. – Woodstock)