Where to begin looking for help
What options does a parent have when seeking help for their child’s behaviour problems?
Parents who ask for my help have usually experienced many of the following emotions:
- frustration
- misunderstood
- confused
- overwhelmed
- exhausted
- bewildered
- angry
- guilty
- inadequate
- isolated
- vulnerable
- trapped
- embarrassed
- helpless
- hopeless
This is not a fun place for a parent to be and not a healthy place for a child to grow. I am not usually the first person that parents ask to help. In fact there are lots of people that offer advice on how to deal with behaviour problems. So many people with so many ideas, that it can be mind blogging just to know where to begin looking for help. Often times the help one expert suggests is completely contradictory to another equally qualified expert. How is a parent to know where to begin ?
I offer the following suggestion:
Listen to the advice from everyone you can and then filter it through your knowledge of your own child and your understanding of your own particular strengths and weaknesses. Discard the advice that does not line up with your family’s needs, values and abilities and consider the advise that makes sense to you.
What parents need most are ideas, so they can look at their options and decide what is best for their own child.
Rick Harper has been providing ideas to parents for over 40 years !