WHY WE OFFER PARENTING CONSULTING

There is nothing more likely to improve a child's overall success than the way we interact, day-in and day-out, within our families. During these regular interactions, a variety of challenges pop-up - some are routine, others more complicated. The stresses and pressures of everyday life may cause us to let the "minor" issues slide by; we may ignore others because we feel they are not worth the hassle. But it is best to address each challenge as it occurs, before it escalates.

Parenting does not occur in a vacuum - it is a dynamic, interactive process. As such, parenting is affected by everyday stresses and the fact that both children and parents are continually growing and developing. Because parenting is a lifelong process, challenges can and do occur across the lifespan - challenges involving your kids, your adult children, and challenges involving your parents as their grandparents.

Allan Shedlin has spent thousands of hours interviewing kids, parents, and grandparents - in three countries. This research and experience has made a number of things clear:

• Parenting is a lifelong process.
• Becoming the kind of parent children want and need is within reach of every parent committed to trying.
• Most parents want to become the best parents they can be and are committed to doing so.
• Becoming the parent you want to be is often not as daunting as you may think - especially if you understand that you don't have to be perfect to be a successful parent.
• If the familiar, routine challenges of parenting are not addressed as they occur, they may escalate into serious problems.
• There is an overwhelming consensus about the qualities that kids want most in their parents. Those qualities are the very ones most parents want to cultivate, AND they are the same qualities that child development experts agree kids (and adults) need in order to lead fulfilled and fulfilling lives.
• There is a reciprocity of benefits to children and adults alike when parents and their kids are more positively involved in each other's lives.
• The principles of parenting are basically simple and simply basic - even though the contexts in which they occur are complex and often exhausting.