Parent Therapy at Creative Sky Psychology

Creative Sky Psychology works with parents at all stages of their child's development. This can involve discussions around various parenting practices, or how to support your child or teens needs. Often parents may be experiencing their own challenges, which in turn, make parenting difficult. Parenting comes with unique challenges that aren’t always straight forward. Sometimes the best thing a parent can do for a child is the hardest thing and can seem counter intuitive. This may make you feel like you are taking a step back and creating a "holding space" for your child or teen. Learning your own tools and strategies to parent during emotionally challenging times is something parents can do to support their child. Children learn best when they are calm. If the moment is “hot” try taking a step back, and coming back to the issue later. Children benefit from different parenting strategies as they develop, however finding ways to build problem solving skills and develop resiliency from a young age will translate to confidence and willingness to try new things later.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Healthy Parenting?

Healthy parenting involves setting clear and consistent expectations for children and teens. Healthy parenting involves allowing children to problem solve, make mistakes, and learn from the consequences. Setting boundaries helps children learn self-regulation skills and long-term coping strategies. When parents are feeling emotionally healthy, they are better able to cope with parenting challenges and model problem solving and emotion regulation strategies. When we learn healthy parenting strategies, we can help build resilience and strength in our children. Some strategies that have been shown to be effective for many parents include:

Positive reinforcement: Reinforce positive behavior by acknowledging and praising your child when they follow your rules and expectations.
Consistent and clear boundaries: Set clear and consistent boundaries for your child and enforce them in a predictable and consistent manner.
Active listening: Practice active listening to understand your child's perspective and to build a strong, trusting relationship.
Empathy: Show empathy towards your child's feelings and experiences to foster emotional regulation and to build a strong connection.
Problem-solving: Encourage your child to develop problem-solving skills by giving them opportunities to find solutions to problems on their own.
Positive discipline: Use positive discipline techniques, such as natural consequences and positive reinforcement, instead of punishment to promote good behavior.
Encouragement and support: Encourage and support your child's interests and goals, and help them build self-esteem and confidence.
Flexibility: Be flexible and adaptable in your parenting approach, and be willing to modify your strategies as your child grows and develops.

How to set boundaries with your child or teen?

Setting healthy boundaries with children is an important part of good parenting. Some general guidelines for boundary setting include:

Communicate clearly: Clearly communicate your expectations and boundaries to your children in a way that they can understand. Explain the reasons behind your rules and the consequences of breaking them.
Be consistent: Consistently enforce your boundaries and consequences. Children need predictable, consistent rules to feel secure and to understand what is expected of them.
Use natural consequences: Whenever possible, allow natural consequences to occur as a result of your child's actions. For example, if your child doesn't clean up their toys, they may not be able to play with them the next day.
Offer choices: Give your child choices within the boundaries you have set. For example, you can ask them to choose between two healthy snacks or two activities that are acceptable to you.
Be flexible: Be open to adjusting your boundaries as your child grows and develops. Children's needs and abilities change over time, and your boundaries should reflect that.
Provide positive reinforcement: Reinforce positive behavior by acknowledging and praising your child when they follow your rules and boundaries.

By setting healthy boundaries and consistently enforcing them, you can help your children feel safe, secure, and respected, and can promote their emotional, social, and intellectual development

What will a parent therapy session look like?

Our goal at Creative Sky Psychology is to address your challenges and concerns that you and/or your spouse have with your children. Parenting is difficult, and we want to provide you and/or your spouse with tools and strategies to make this process easier. You will spend sessions with your therapist talking about the difficulties you experience and what you can do to foster a healthier environment for your children.

As parents, why should you see a Therapist?

If you are feeling burnt out, overwhelmed and exhausted, we want to help you understand the importance of taking care of yourself emotionally, mentally and physically as parents. Sometimes it is hard to realise how our current emotional, mental and physical state affect our children. This way, you are able to speak with a professional who can support you and provide guidance without concern of judgement or reprisal.

Creative Sky Psychology

Creative Sky Psychology supports children, teens, adults, and parents. Our Child, Teen and Adult Psychologists are located in Calgary and offer dedicated parent support. Psychologists at Creative Sky Psychology help children, teens, and adults with ADHD, ASD, Anxiety, OCD, and Depression. We provide assessments for individuals of all ages at Creative Sky Psychology. Our Assessment Psychologists provide both Clinical and Educational assessments. Additionally, our Psychologists support individuals from a strength-based model and provide unique coping strategies. Please call for an initial consultation or book online.

Creative Sky Psychology

Providing Specialized Psychology Services in Child Psychology, Teen Psychology, Adult Psychology, Parent Support and Assessments