Parenting Services in Bethlehem, PA

Children misbehave for a number of reasons. Parenting counseling is all about identifying the reasons and then resolving each one. 

Oftentimes young children misbehave because the world is opening up to them and they don’t yet have a map by which to navigate wisely, confidently, and safely. In expanding their horizons, they may get confused. As a parent, you may think your child knows, or should know, not to do this or that—after all, you’ve told them time after time. But the fact is, they really don’t…at least not yet. It’s not deep inside them enough to come out naturally…or consistently. 

Beyond that, children discover not only kindness in their hearts but hostility and jealousy as well—and they don’t know what to do with such powerful feelings. In venturing out where the world is now becoming their oyster shell, they may get disrespectfully aggressive—with the attitude that “you’d better not get in my way,” parent or not. 

Parenting Services in Bethlehem, PA

Children misbehave for a number of reasons. Parenting counseling is all about identifying the reasons and then resolving each one. 

Oftentimes young children misbehave because the world is opening up to them and they don’t yet have a map by which to navigate wisely, confidently, and safely. In expanding their horizons, they may get confused. As a parent, you may think your child knows, or should know, not to do this or that—after all, you’ve told them time after time. But the fact is, they really don’t…at least not yet. It’s not deep inside them enough to come out naturally…or consistently. 

Beyond that, children discover not only kindness in their hearts but hostility and jealousy as well—and they don’t know what to do with such powerful feelings. In venturing out where the world is now becoming their oyster shell, they may get disrespectfully aggressive—with the attitude that “you’d better not get in my way,” parent or not. 
Reading Time — Psychological Counseling in Bethlehem, PA
Father and Son — Psychological Counseling in Bethlehem, PA
Counseling a Family — Psychological Counseling in Bethlehem, PA
Early childhood gets repeated in the teen years when the hormones flow and the world is once again opening up…wide-open, with innumerable influences on their ways of thinking and conducting themselves in the broader community. The teen sees the parent as the “old world” order and she and her peers are the new, wiser, and more informed world order getting ready to put that world decidedly on their terms. Such transitional grandiosity can lead to many conflicts. 

Sometimes, a child “acts up,” or later in the teen years “acts out” with promiscuity or drug and alcohol abuse as a signal that something is desperately wrong with the family. No matter how educated we are, how well-meaning we are, or how careful we try to be, we as parents can nevertheless play out unhealthy patterns that unwittingly hurt ourselves, our spouses, and our children. Children are like dogs and bats; they are great at sensing things. They can sense when things are going wrong. Children’s bad behaviors can be a barometer of family health…or ill-health. They often act up or act out as a way to draw attention to the painful but unspoken dysfunction that is happening in the family. However, children are lousy interpreters of family dysfunction. They don’t have an adult mind by which to interpret what is really happening. Heck, most of the time most of us parents don’t even know what’s really happening to us. All we know is our own child is acting badly and, for some reason, we can’t seem to get control like we should—and are getting maddened trying to do so. 

One key reason parents can’t stop their child’s bad behavior is that they do not know how. Sounds simplistically commonsensical, doesn’t it? Like someone should say, “Duh!!” But the fact is, we train ourselves to do most things in life, like drive a car, fly a plane, do arithmetic, become an accountant or a teacher, but we do not train ourselves in parenting. We don’t. We rely on how we were raised. We ignore 21st century science of the mind. And in our ignorance, we struggle with our parenting. 

Another key reason parents lose control of the situation is that their child unconsciously reminds them of their own parent—a parent with whom they had an unresolved power struggle. Now the parent is reliving it with their own child. In extreme cases, that’s how some parents who mean well and are good people end up abusing their own child. It is tragic, but true. 
Reading Time — Psychological Counseling in Bethlehem, PA
Father and Son — Psychological Counseling in Bethlehem, PA
Counseling a Family — Psychological Counseling in Bethlehem, PA
Early childhood gets repeated in the teen years when the hormones flow and the world is once again opening up…wide-open, with innumerable influences on their ways of thinking and conducting themselves in the broader community. The teen sees the parent as the “old world” order and she and her peers are the new, wiser, and more informed world order getting ready to put that world decidedly on their terms. Such transitional grandiosity can lead to many conflicts. 

Sometimes, a child “acts up,” or later in the teen years “acts out” with promiscuity or drug and alcohol abuse as a signal that something is desperately wrong with the family. No matter how educated we are, how well-meaning we are, or how careful we try to be, we as parents can nevertheless play out unhealthy patterns that unwittingly hurt ourselves, our spouses, and our children. Children are like dogs and bats; they are great at sensing things. They can sense when things are going wrong. Children’s bad behaviors can be a barometer of family health…or ill-health. They often act up or act out as a way to draw attention to the painful but unspoken dysfunction that is happening in the family. However, children are lousy interpreters of family dysfunction. They don’t have an adult mind by which to interpret what is really happening. Heck, most of the time most of us parents don’t even know what’s really happening to us. All we know is our own child is acting badly and, for some reason, we can’t seem to get control like we should—and are getting maddened trying to do so. 

One key reason parents can’t stop their child’s bad behavior is that they do not know how. Sounds simplistically commonsensical, doesn’t it? Like someone should say, “Duh!!” But the fact is, we train ourselves to do most things in life, like drive a car, fly a plane, do arithmetic, become an accountant or a teacher, but we do not train ourselves in parenting. We don’t. We rely on how we were raised. We ignore 21st century science of the mind. And in our ignorance, we struggle with our parenting. 

Another key reason parents lose control of the situation is that their child unconsciously reminds them of their own parent—a parent with whom they had an unresolved power struggle. Now the parent is reliving it with their own child. In extreme cases, that’s how some parents who mean well and are good people end up abusing their own child. It is tragic, but true. 
Specializing in family relationships, we can help. 
Associations:
American Psychotherapy Association; Pennsylvania Psychological Association; American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy 

Board Licensed Psychologist; Clinical Fellow with American Association for Marriage & Family Therapy (AAMFT) 
Fellow, American Psychotherapy Association
Specializing in family relationships, we can help. 
Associations:
American Psychotherapy Association; Pennsylvania Psychological Association; American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy 

Board Licensed Psychologist; Clinical Fellow with American Association for Marriage & Family Therapy (AAMFT) 
Fellow, American Psychotherapy Association
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