Behavioral Parenting
What is behavioral parenting?
Behavioral parenting is all about understanding and managing children’s behavior. Little kids are primarily governed by emotion and learned behavior; trying to understand how this works and figuring out what to do about it are essential to parenting in the early years.
My approach to working with parents includes 3 key areas, which I believe are of equal importance. I strive to incorporate and balance these in our work together.
The first focus is on understanding how and why kids are behaving in challenging ways. This works to build your relationship with them and helps inform how you want to manage their behavior and the situation.
The second focus is practice and refinement. A huge benefit of working with a consultant, is that we can take concepts and strategies and actually put them into real-life practice. We also have the opportunity to make adjustments and refinements to things that aren’t working.
The third focus is on building your self-efficacy as a parent. The more empowered and confident you feel as a parent, the better able you are to manage challenges in the future. My goal is for you to walk away from our work together feeling empowered to navigate your next parenting challenge with greater confidence than before.
What kinds of behavioral and emotional challenges can we address together?
In our work together, we can address many common problems that parents experience. These include, but are not limited to:
Learning how to set boundaries and be consistent
Adjusting your parenting strategies to be more authentic
Managing tantrums & refusals
Responding to aggression (e.g., biting, hitting)
Routines
Developing strategies for situations that tend to be more difficult for your child (e.g., leaving the park, eating at a restaurant, playing with other kids)
Creating a strategy for going out in public (e.g., 1 parent with 1 or more kids, street safety)
Here’s one relevant specifically to families in Germany - help managing difficult Eingewöhnung situations. To be clear, this would not take place at the childcare facility, but would be consultation with parents about ways to improve the process.
Please note that I do not assess or treat mental health conditions of any kind. All of our work together will be limited to managing non-clinical child behavior and emotion.
What are some examples of ways we can partner together?
There are many ways we can work together to accomplish your behavioral parenting goals. Some involve simple consultation during online calls, while others could be more in-depth, including in-person coaching. Here are some examples to illustrate the possibilities:
Example: You would like some tips and strategies for managing your child’s tantrums.
Our partnership: We discuss options for managing tantrums during online calls. In between calls, you practice using the strategies discussed. During subsequent calls, we refine and readjust as needed. In-person coaching / practice can always be added.
Example: You would like to improve your relationship with your child, but aren’t really sure how to do that.
Our partnership: We have a call to understand the current relationship and what factors may be helpful to change. Depending on what is discussed, we develop strategies for meeting your relationship goals and you practice them. Subsequent calls are focused on any additional tips or refinement needed. In-person implementation of strategies and relationship building is also an option.
Example: Every time you go to the park, your child refuses to leave.
Our partnership: I conduct an in-person assessment of your time at the park and learn more about your parenting style through an assessment call. We discuss various strategies for changing this behavior, considering what might work best for you. You try these strategies and we talk afterwards to make adjustments as needed. If desired or necessary, I can support you in-person with your action plan to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of our work.
Example: You would like to be able to go out to eat with your family and / or friends, but you feel like that is currently impossible because of your child’s behavior.
Our partnership: I conduct an in-person assessment of how things go at a restaurant and we have online calls to talk about your parenting style and to discuss a plan of action for eating at a restaurant. You then practice the plan of action in a “low stakes” situation. I am available to come after your practice session to a restaurant with you and refine and further support your action plan.
I look forward to our partnership and helping you become the parent you want to be!