It has been said that being the parent of a teenager is similar to that of being a parent of a child from Mars. They look different than you, act differently from you, and speak another language. Yet the parent’s … Continue reading
Dealing with Teenagers: Communication with Teenagers and Raising Teenagers Tips for Parents
April 29th, 2012Parenting Teenagers: Understanding Teenagers and Setting Boundaries For Teenagers While Increasing Their Freedoms
April 14th, 2012“Sink or Swim.” If you have teenagers you know what I am talking about. When children reach the ages of 15-17 parents begin to wonder whether or not it is time to let them make their own decisions. Parenting teenagers … Continue reading
The “Normal Family” – What Makes a Strong Family, and Attributes of Strong Families
April 7th, 2012As a counselor for over 15 years, I often hear the need for a normal family. Normal is defined as conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern. The thought of a conforming teenager may appear humorous, yet the need … Continue reading
Explosive Anger: Managing Anger Outbursts and Anger Issues in Children
March 31st, 2012Being the parent of a child with explosive anger is not easy. You try bribes, compromises, and strategies to avoid triggers. Too often, because of their anger outbursts, these children also end up with serious discipline problems at school. All … Continue reading
Blended Family Counseling: Using the Developmental Model for Addressing Blended Family Issues
March 21st, 2012In order to assist blended families, counselors can use the Developmental Model by Patricia Papernow (1993) as a means to understand the specific issues that a blended family encounters. This model allows for movement back and forth through the stages … Continue reading
Family Therapy Services: Good Family Therapy Techniques are Instructed by Family Traditions and Rituals
March 14th, 2012When providing family therapy services, it is important to understand how a family system functions. An important assessment of this is the presence or absence of rituals. Rituals in families have many purposes. They can tell us how people … Continue reading
Stages of Grief and Loss Counseling Techniques: Ritual in the Grief Cycle
March 7th, 2012Researchers (Holmes and Rahe, 1967 ) have studied grief cycle processes and assigned stress levels to items. Loss of a spouse and loss of a child are the highest stress levels. Others that we may not often think about are … Continue reading
Bipolar Symptoms in Children: Signs of Bipolar Disorder and Responding to Bipolar Behavior
February 29th, 2012Parents are often terrified by the notion their child suffers from bipolar disorder and information can be difficult to find. Bipolar disorder is a chronic brain disorder. Bipolar Symptoms in Children Signs of bipolar disorder may include bouts of extreme … Continue reading
Marriage After an Affair: Ending an Affair and Beginning Marriage and Family Counseling
February 22nd, 2012An affair is survivable. Millions of couples choose to stay together for many reasons. More often than not there is still love and a longing for the marriage to continue and this is what brings couples to marriage and family … Continue reading