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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.

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

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

Whining and crying are employed by kids for the purpose of getting something. If it works, then it was worth the effort and will be repeated.

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.

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

The mistake that Sharon and I both made is we never set any boundaries.  (Ozzy Osbourne)

Wouldn't it be nice if children would simply listen and learn.

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.

We should not medicate the boys so they fit the school; we should change the school to fit the boy. (Leonard Sax, M.D. Ph.D)

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What Does a Parent of a Child With ADHD Look Like ?

Sometimes like this:   frustrated stressed out frightened angry exhausted discouraged burned out Parents often feel blame, guilt and shame. They frequently believe that they have somehow “messed up” their child

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FASD – Late Adolescence (17 – 22)

The main goals : move out of home establish his own life learn to cope with societal rules – increase personal expectation with diminishing parental support (lots of teens without FASD have trouble with this) Trouble Areas: undereducated poor money management loneliness lack of boundaries poor judgement He may lack the emotional and / or the educational maturity to embark on an independent life but he still has the internal and societal programming that makes […]

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FASD- Early Adolescence – guidelines for teachers

the FASD adolescent still requires consistency, strong academic supports, and patience hormones are present but without the boundaries & social skills the teen may appear to be functioning higher than he really is sequencing problems may still persist teen will require immediate feedback other emotional problems may coexist – depression – eating disorder – suicide ideation – emotional alienation outrageous behaviours may continue (eg. temper tantrums) school suspensions

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FASD – Late Childhood (aged 8 – 12)

The main developmental task for children of this age is to develop a sense of industry. Family stresses are likely to increase as FASD children can be exhausting. Caregivers will benefit from counselling and respite care may become necessary. Peer and sibling relationships can become more difficult because the child may have legitimate  difficulty with following the rules, turn taking, cheating, stealing, breaking things and being unpredictable. Children with FASD do not understand the feelings […]

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Teen Issues # 4 – Boundaries

    All teenagers want the freedom to do what they want when they want. They need to learn that freedom is earned and that they can gain freedom by demonstrating responsibility. Adolescence is the time in life when kids are supposed to learn this lesson. By the same token, parents need to be able to recognize when they are being over controlling and when they are being responsible and appropriate about saying “no”. They […]

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Workshops

+ Behaviour Management (now available online)

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

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+ Lick Your Kids

  “Lick Your Kids” (figuratively not literally) (2 hours) First […]

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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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+ Taming a Toddler

Many parents wonder what hit them when their sweet little baby turns into an unreasonable toddler – ideas for dealing with mealtime, bedtime, temper tanturms, toilet training, noncompliance, etc.

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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

“I am no longer overwhelmed with a child who has unending discipline and behaviour problems.”

(P.S. – London)