" We must look for the opportunity in every difficulty, instead of being paralyzed at the thought of the difficulty in every opportunity."
- Walter E. Cole
Webster's dictionary defines adolescence as the process or period of growth between childhood and maturity. I like to call it change! Changing from childhood to adulthood is an ardous journey fraught with many emotional and social challenges. By nature teenagers have mood swings, make poor choices, lack judgment, planning capabilities and are egocentric. This is normal and your child is not purposefully trying to make you crazy. Sometimes it makes more sense to ask your self "why" is my child acting this way rather than "what" will it take to get them to behave. The human brain does not fully develop until early adulthood and teenager's have a developmentally appropriate way of problem solving. Seeing life from the perspective of an adolescent requires that we stop and take a look at the context of what is going on, and understand that they are approaching life the only way they know how. Through the process of family therapy we try and re-establish communincation through understanding, dialogue, recognition, validation and mutual goal setting. We focus on the patterns of the relationship and problem solve in collaborative fashion how to change those patterns. Often times laying down what is in your heart is better than "laying down the law".
