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The teenage years require a delicate balance between the young person's need to gain independence, and the parent's need to retain authority.

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.

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.

The best inheritance  parents can give their children is a few minutes of their time each day.

We should not medicate the boys so they fit the school; we should change the school to fit the boy. (Leonard Sax, M.D. Ph.D)

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

Don't wait for him to turn 10 before you reveal that you are not in fact the hired help whose job it is to clean up after him.

"Cutting" is a visible sign to the world that you are hurting.

"The thing that impresses me most about North America is the way parents obey their children"    (King Edward VII , 1841-1910)

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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What Do The Young People Say Depression Was Like?

“It was like a dread inside, there all the time. When I was with my friends it would go away a bit, but it always came back.”
Jack – age 15
 
“I started worrying about everything, even things that never bothered me before. I was so worried about being asked a question in school that I used to feel sick in the mornings. Some days I just could not go to school.”    Lois age 13
 
 
“I was angry with everyone, they all annoyed me, particularly my mum who kept asking me what was wrong.                                                                                                                                                                         Laura age 14
 
 
“I couldn’t face anyone, I don’t know why. I wanted to be dead, it was in my mind all the time, I couldn’t stop thinking about my death and being dead. At least then I would stop feeling like this.”    Sue age 15
 
 
“Sometimes there’d be this feeling of being trapped, or perhaps overwhelmed. Other times there’d be a feeling of just being completely lost and not knowing what to do, and then the most frequent was probably one of complete and utter apathy for life, the universe and everything.”                                                                                                                                         David age 16
 
 
“I was very fatigued. I’d stay in bed for ever really. I just felt absolutely lousy and I got awful stomach pains as well, and awful headaches.”                           John age 15

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Workshops

+ Behaviour Management (now available online)

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

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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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+ A Guided Tour of ADHD (now available online)

This workshop will present the facts, myths, misconceptions, controversy and […]

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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

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Parents' Comments

“You have changed our life! Thanks, it needed changing!”

(T.N. – London)