The relationship between the parents and children can be sweet and beautiful. Chaos doesn't have to be a dominant theme in your house, but often times it’s what takes over! Lots of parents who make their way to us feel like they’ve read the books, they’ve done all the google searches, and they’re still having trouble enjoying their children. That’s ok.

Too much information, not enough practice.

All the information that we sometimes consume as parents can helpful to the parenting process; sometimes it is not.  Sometimes we don’t know what we don’t know, but other times we don’t do what we know - but haven’t practiced. If you’ve ever said, “I know I’m not supposed to yell at my kids, but I just can’t stop myself,” you may be one of the Moms that has the information, but isn’t quite sure what to do instead of yell or hasn’t practiced enough for it to become habit. You haven’t created those pathways in your brain yet! That’s ok!

Kids need practice too.

Pressures and expectations of society are beyond what we encountered as children, and their developing brains are not always developed enough to process the struggles in a healthy way. Most kids between the ages of 5 to 8 can understand the words coming out of your mouth, but will have trouble formulating an action plan for change. Parents may feel like they’ve got a hard job, but kids share some of these same feelings at times; that it is hard being a kid. 

Professional Guidance

Our therapists have been in the field for a long time, and strongly believe that parents do the best they can with the information they have at the time.   We wouldn’t argue that parenting can be hard.  Some days, it feels as though our kids seek out every last button within us for the sole purpose of pushing it! 

The reality, though, is that our kids are a gift. It was deemed that YOU were the best person to parent your child.  There can be joy in parenting.

We want to introduce to you the new group we are starting for Moms and Kids (affectionately known as Coffee and Juice Boxes).  We invite you to join us at The Hope Place, where we will offer concepts, skills, and practice that make the jobs of parenting- and “kidding”- easier. 

This unique group concept includes both child and mother to learn the concepts with individual therapists in a group setting of peers and then at times coming together to practice them. Jessica Barber, LCSW-S will run the group of Moms while Rachel Nauss, LCSW-S, RPT will run the group of children at the same time.