Source: PsychCentral
Author: By Marie Hartwell-Walker, Ed.D.
Parents are more alike than different. Most of us want to do a good job. Most of us love our children to death. Whether married, divorced, or single, most of our kids have at least one other parent or parent-figure in their lives who is also, in their own way, trying hard and who also cares. Why is it that it seems so hard sometimes for us to give our kids the attention they need to grow into emotionally secure and happy adults?
When family educator and psychologist Rudolf Dreikurs said, “You have to look at the total situation,” he was not only talking about the child. Total means just that: Total. Parents are in the situation too. Sometimes it’s the parents’ situation that is the problem. Internal issues and external pressures on us also get in the way.
When that is the case, coming up with new and different ways to discipline the child are beside the point. We need to get our own act together first. It’s our situation, not the child’s, that needs to be understood, changed, or managed.
Look at the total situation from the adults’ perspective…
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