Kids don’t come with instructions and the parenting books out there vary widely in their approach to just about everything.
Common Questions in parenting are:
Am I messing my kids up?
Why do my children act this way?
What is the “right” way to discipline my kids?
What age can they be left alone?
Is their behavior normal?
Will they grow out of this stage?
The answers to these questions and the many other questions you have is: IT DEPENDS. It depends on many many factors that a book and a “one-size-fits-all” approach cannot answer. Your child is a beautiful, complex person within the context of your beautiful complex family. You need a professional who will be willing to get to know your child and work with them as an individual.
I use Adlerian Play Therapy to do this. Play therapy is unique in that it helps children express themselves in a way that is comfortable to them. Children understand much more than they can verbally express and play gives them a medium in which to express themselves. Kids have fun in play therapy and gain a sense of confidence through this medium of self expression that puts them at ease.
“Play Therapy is based upon the fact that play is the child’s natural medium of self expression … It is an opportunity which is given to the child to ‘play out’ his feelings and problems just as in certain types of adult therapy an individual ‘talks out’ his difficulties.” Virginia Axline