Parents and Children

Few things challenge a person quite like becoming a parent. Some people appear to ease into the role while others struggle with it. Whether you started out confident and excited or reluctantly and a little anxious, a newborn can create doubt, anxiety and frustration in any parent. Each child is born into a different family, and whether it’s your first time or fifth time around, I can provide a safe, nonjudmental space to explore causes and solutions to help you and your family function more smoothly.

Newborns:

I remember visiting my first friends who had children. Sitting in their apartment I'd been to many times, but this time with a baby in a basket on the couch, I distinctly remember wondering when the baby's parents would be back.
When my own children were born, I attended a parenting circle at Soho Parenting Center offering guidance on infant development, parenting identity, support for the new marital balance, and the community of other parents. I think every new parent should be able to get this kind of support.

Toddlers:

Three years old was my favorite age because at three my children could get on and off the bus without being carried - my back seemed saved and we seemed headed for a bright future of independence. With that growing autonomy, however, came challenges all parents face: battles over routines like bedtime and leaving for school, sibling conflict, and sometimes troubling behavior like hitting, resistance to potty-training, and distressing separation anxiety. I work with parents directly on parenting issues by building communication skills, helping to set expectations and consequences, and supporting parents in finding a voice to foster loving and respectful patterns that will support you in years to come.

School Age:

At around the age of 8, children sometimes begin having fears and anxieties that parents and teachers struggle to help them with, These feelings can affect their behavior in school and at home, causing tantrums, social isolation and worries about their development. I work with children using play therapy to help express and process these feelings, while I also work with parents to help with strategies on managing these fears.

Teens:

The difference between tweens and teens is that while teenagers often think I'm funny, tweens, who are hyper-focused on their peer group, only find each other funny. I see teens whose growing independence is in conflict with continued dependence on their parents: Teens who resist their parents' authority, experiment with risky behaviors, or who have given up the struggle and sink into depression or resort to anxious behaviors like self-harming.