Parenting Panel: FAQ’s
We asked 4 parenting pros in the community some of our burning questions.
Today’s Question:
In your work, what question do you get asked most often by parents?
Cori Stern, MA, OCT, BCBA
Cori is a Learning Specialist and Behaviour Therapist, and business owner. She’s also a Mother of a 6 & 4 year old.
“I most often get asked: “why is my child behaving this way?!”.
I spend a lot of time working with parents to help them understand their child’s developmental needs at each age and stage of development. Each stage comes with different needs that help us understand why we see certain behaviours along the way. It’s important for parents to understand that every behaviour happens for a reason. Once we understand the triggers and the context of the behaviour we can approach them from both a proactive and reactive way to help move towards more functional behaviour. ”
Dr. Jill Shuster, Ph.D., C.Psych.
Dr. Shuster is a Clinical and School Psychologist who works with children and adolescents in private practice at The Possibilities Clinic and at the Toronto District School Board. Dr. Shuster is a mother to two young children.
“Some parents ask about whether a behaviour or skills development is ‘normal’ or not. This is often a hard question to answer, but I always encourage parents to follow-up with their doctor or pediatrician if something does not feel ‘right’.
Early intervention, whether it be for language, fine motor skills, or emotion regulation can be so helpful and empowering for children and their parents! Often, just a few sessions can give parents or a child a boost in their skills and the confidence to feel more successful.”
Tia Slightham
Tia is a teacher, business owner (Tia Slightham Parenting Solutions), best selling author (You’ve Got This Mama, Too) and “most importantly a mom” to two boys.
“Are you sure we can fix the issues we are having with my child?”
Parents so often feel that their child is just won’t be able to change. They are filled with self-doubt and fear that change won’t happen for them. But like I just said above, everything is fixable! With small, simple solutions you will have huge results. It’s one step at a time and as you move one foot in front of the other you will begin to see the magic unfold. Progress being made and you soon realize that yes, we can fix the issues we are having. Everything is fixable!”
Dr. Jemma Helfman, PsyD, C.Psych.
Dr. Helfman is a mother and clinical psychologist working in private practice at Kidcrew in Toronto, Ontario.
“Is it normal?” ….and often what they mean is “is my child going to have significant problems when they get older?”.
When things are not going well, our minds often take over with our wildest fears. We truly can’t predict anybody’s future but I tell parents that young children’s brains are still developing and that even though things are hard, through maturation and parent modelling (e.g. staying calm as much as possible, problem-solving difficulties with the child) and shaping things in the right direction then over time brain connections will be made that allow the child to think more flexibly and self-regulate more easily on their own. ”
Check back here as we ask the experts our burning parenting questions!
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