What is PARENT EDUCATION?
Question: What is the difference between a parent and a psychologist?
Answer: The primary difference is how much a psychologist gets paid.
In essence they both deal daily with the human psyche. They try to work out how to reach the person that they are working with and help them navigate the difficulties that they encounter and, in the end, be the best people they can be.
Oh, and the other small difference is that a psychologist receives 6 years of training before they can do their job and a parent receives ……………… NONE!!!
No wonder we struggle with parenting at times! The thing is – you are dealing with a young human whose brain is developing faster than at any other time of their lives, who is very impressionable and will be affected by every experience they have, only some of which you will be aware. They will be affected by their siblings and their extended families and their friends and kids who are not their friends and their experiences of school and their perceptions of all of those things (which, like everybody, can be a long way from reality) and what they see on TV and hear on the radio and all the interactions and influences that the internet provides. If it wasn’t already difficult enough, due to the influences of technology, experts are virtually unanimous – parenting has never been more demanding.
Experts also agree that no other person or group of people has anywhere near as much influence over how a child develops as their parents. Parents can set their child up to be the best person that they can be or be the reason that they will struggle throughout their life. That’s why I believe annual Parent Education classes should be as compulsory as we can make them for every parent in Australia. In these classes parents would be taught about the key developmental milestones that their child will face in the next 12 months and what to do to assist that development in order that their children become the most mindful, well-rounded, resilient, grateful, healthy and happy individuals that they can be.
I truly believe those classes will happen eventually. Unfortunately, currently, that time is a long way off. Till then, there is me. I do exactly what I believe the government should and help parents understand the incredible complexities of what their child is going through developmentally and the incredibly important but relatively simple steps that you can take to optimise that development and set your child up to be able to encounter all that life will offer and thrive while doing it. Critical for that to happen is that your family all get along as well as possible, so focussing on optimising those relationships is where everything begins.
If you would like to find out more, take advantage of our free introductory chats by making an appointment through our on-line booking system or simply call 0411430733 and leave your contact details and we will get back to you directly.