welcome image

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

You cannot reason with someone who is being unreasonable.

Many clinicians find it easier to tell parents their child has a brain-based disorder than suggest parenting changes. Jennifer Harris (psychiatrist)

The challenge of adolescence is to balance the right of the parents to feel they are in charge with the need of the adolescent to gain independence.

Children fare better when expectations on them are clear and firm.

Setting limits teaches your children valuable skills they will use the rest of their lives. One day, they will report to a job where their ability to follow rules will dictate their success.

It is what we say and do when we're angry that creates the very model our children will follow when dealing with their own frustrations.

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

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.

Adolescence can be the cruelest place on earth. It can really be heartless.  ( Tori Amos)

Learn more.

A Parent’s Guide to the Teenage Brain



 

A teenager’s brain is not just an adult brain with fewer kilometres on it. It is a brain that has not fully developed. It is a work in progress and has stymied parents for centuries. Modern neuroscience is now explaining biological reasons why:

1. teens can seem so mature one minute and so maddening the next

2. some struggle and some bloom

3. they engage in risky behaviour (drinking, drugs, sex, etc.)

4. they can’t get out of bed before noon on Saturday

5. he / she won’t talk to you anymore

6. they slam doors

Science is tiptoeing on the edge of understanding the teenage brain and the science is changing fast. Understanding the teen brain can lead to smoother relationships between parents and their kids.

 

Back to Top

Workshops

+ Behaviour Management (now available online)

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

Learn more

+ Lick Your Kids

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

Learn more

+ A Parent’s Guide to the Teenage Brain

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

Learn more

+ Reading Rescue

A program for children with reading problems

Learn more

+ 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.

Learn more

See more of our workshops


Contact

2720 Rath Street, Putnam, Ontario
NOL 2BO

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

Email: info@rickharper.ca

Archive


Parents' Comments

“Rick’s approach is so logical. He helped us clearly define the problem, analyze what has happened and select the best strategy. We now feel empowered to do something positive for our kid”

(A.N. – Tillsonburg)