Perhaps you have found yourself asking some of these questions as a parent:
- What do I do when I can’t manage the behavior of my child?
- How do I find time to parent my children when I don’t even have time for myself?
- How can I make my spouse understand that I have needs as well as our children?
- How can I work through the anger I have about the lack of responsibility my spouse takes with our children?
- How shall we deal with our children when we are facing a separation or a divorce?
What can I do to instill faith in my children? - Sometimes I feel like I am going crazy. I don’t have time for anything and everything is falling apart. Am I really going crazy?
- My child has special needs and has been diagnosed as having major adjustment problems what do I do and who do I turn to for help?
- My kids are approaching middle school age and I want them to know how to respect themselves and not give in to the passions of teenage hormones. How can I help them understand?
- We have a blended family and I don’t know how to make everyone work together. We seem to take sides and are divided on every issue. What can we do to change this?
- Our family has just experienced the death of a loved one. What do I do about the grief we all feel and how is this grief affecting my child?
These are just a few of the questions about which we have worked with parents and children. Each family is unique. As we have counseled with parents, we have worked on the behavioral issues that parents face, not only as adults, but also with their children. It is helpful to have the entire family present when we are working on parent-child issues. As the family grows in understanding how the family unit is a living, breathing network of relationships, the aspects of concern can be addressed more profoundly and the solutions to the struggles may be implemented with the entire family working together – a much better alternative than expecting all the changes to be made by one member of the family.
No matter what the issues families face, having someone who can help give direction, encouragement, and support is an important ingredient in resolving the problems. Counseling with families on their journey to healing is a joy we find most rewarding in our work as counselors.