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

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.

"Unexpressed feeling never die. They are buried alive and come back later in ugly ways." (Stephen Covey)

Setting limits teaches your children valuable skills they will use the rest of their lives. One day, they will report to a job where their ability to follow rules will dictate their success.

Simple rules adhered to when children are young can prevent more serious problems later.

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

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

Removing a child from a traumatic environment does not remove the trauma from the child's memory.

Children mimic well. They catch what they see better than they follow what they hear.

Learn more.

Upcoming Workshop (Teenage Brain)

I will be presenting a workshop open to the public on October 22, 6:30-9:30 at the Woodstock campus of Fanshawe College. The title of the workshop is “A Parent’s Guide to the Teenage Brain”

A teenager’s brain is not just an adult brain with fewer kilometres on it. It is a brain that is not fully developed. It is a work in progress and has stymied parents for centuries. Modern science is now explaining biological reason why:

– teens can seem so mature one minute and so maddening the next

– some struggle and some bloom

– they engage in risky behaviour (booze, drugs, sex, etc.)

– they can’t get out of bed before noon on the weekend

– he/she won’t talk to you anymore

– they slam doors

Science is tiptoeing on the edge of understanding the teenage brain and the science is changing fast. Understanding the teen brain can lead to smoother relationships between parents and their kids.

Contact Fanshawe College Woodstock by phone (519) 421-0144 or online (fanshawec.ca/oxford) to register. The cost is $41.50

 

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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

“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)