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If you are headed in the wrong direction as a parent - you are allowed to make a U-turn.

Parents are the external regulator for kids who cannot regulate themselves.

"Unexpressed feeling never die. They are buried alive and come back later in ugly ways." (Stephen Covey)

A tantruming toddler is a little ball of writhing muscle and incredible strength. It's like trying to carry a greased pig past a slop bucket.

Criticism is not a motivator.

Parenting style matters - a lot!

Children today are under enormous pressures rarely experienced by their parents or grandparents. Many of today's children are being enticed to grow up too quickly and are encountering challenges for which they are totally unprepared.

Whining and crying are employed by kids for the purpose of getting something. If it works, then it was worth the effort and will be repeated.

Removing a child from a traumatic environment does not remove the trauma from the child's memory.

If you (parents) tend to overreact to your child's misbehaviour - your child learns that he can't trust you. Mom, Dad, stay regulated!

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Encourage Playtime

    Play is widespread throughout the animal kingdom suggesting that it must serve some vital function.  One way to find out what play is good for is to take it away from animals and see how they fare. The problem is that this experiment is nearly impossible to do. Animals (including children) are irrepressible; they play under the most adverse conditions. The only way to get an animal to stop playing is to restrain […]

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4 Stages of Development

At each of the four stages of development, from birth to age eleven, there is virtually a different being inhabiting your home. To get a flavour of each stage, it may be useful to keep these different creatures in mind: Infant: a small, squawking, hungry little bird, all mouth and unable to fly on its own Toddler: a curious monkey, a veritable natural scientist bent on actively exploring the world Early Childhood/Preschooler: a fanciful, talkative […]

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Separating from Parents

    Being a parent of a teen can cure a person of narcissism. When your child was born, you were the center of  his/her universe. You were special . Now that you have an adolescent, you have become less central. No matter what you do, your teen continues to invest in the outside world more than at home. This is how it should be. Teens slowly move away from their parents physically and  emotionally. […]

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Workshops

+ Behaviour Management (now available online)

This full day or 2 evening workshop will introduce you […]

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+ Lick Your Kids

  “Lick Your Kids” (figuratively not literally) (2 hours) First […]

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+ A Parent’s Guide to the Teenage Brain

  A teenager’s brain is not just an adult brain […]

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+ Reading Rescue

A program for children with reading problems

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+ Taming a Toddler

Many parents wonder what hit them when their sweet little baby turns into an unreasonable toddler – ideas for dealing with mealtime, bedtime, temper tanturms, toilet training, noncompliance, etc.

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Contact

2720 Rath Street, Putnam, Ontario
NOL 2BO

Phone: (519) 485-4678
Fax: (519) 485-0281

Email: info@rickharper.ca

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Parents' Comments

“We are foster parents who took in a 13 year old girl (going on 18!) and she ran us through the wringer. Rick helped us learn how to set limits that made the difference.”

(G.E. – Strathroy)