by Harper West | Jun 27, 2021 | Parenting
I met the mother, father, and daughter in my waiting room for their second therapy appointment. (This case is a fictionalized composite.) In the 20 seconds it took the family to walk from my waiting room to my office, I heard the mother say all of this to the child:...
by Harper West | Jan 19, 2021 | ADHD, Parenting, Trauma
I’m sharing this fascinating article on a study about the impact of a father’s trauma history on a child’s mental health. “New research from Romania has demonstrated a clear correlation between adverse childhood experiences in fathers’ lives...
by Harper West | Oct 1, 2019 | Parenting
So much of my time in family therapy is spent on parenting education about the inadvertent ways parents create anxiety in a child. As this article explains, through their communication and disciplining methods parents can make a child fearful. Most parents come to...
by Harper West | Apr 8, 2019 | Parenting
A number of years ago I read a blog by psychologist Shefali Tsabary, PhD, and liked it enough to include it on one of my parenting handouts on Reflective Listening. Just recently I stumbled upon Dr. Tsabary’s work again and realized she now has three bestselling books...
by Harper West | Feb 19, 2019 | Parenting, Shame
Not to brag — because I had nothing to do with it — but in elementary school I was considered smart enough that I skipped second grade. (This must have been based largely on my precocious ability to read, because my math skills have always been incredibly...
by Harper West | May 30, 2018 | Parenting
A new book about parenting styles asks parents: Are you a “carpenter” or a “gardener? And which style is best for raising kids? In her book “The Gardener and the Carpenter,” Alison Gopnik, a psychology and philosophy professor at University of California...
