The Importance of Parent Coaching for Your Family and Sanity
Becoming a parent is one of the most rewarding jobs in people’s lives, but it also one of the most overwhelming and challenging journeys one can face. Oftentimes, parents face this journey alone, without the “village” that traditionally helped families to cope with the ups and downs of parenthood. Historically, most people in the world have lived in extended family groupings, with aunts, grandparents, cousins and siblings living close by, rather than in nuclear families. This was even true in Europe and in the early United States, where multiple generations often lived together for economic reasons. In the 20th century however, with the baby boom and the average income rose high enough that living seperate from the rest of the family became an attractive option for a lot of families. While this was great for the economy, many parents suffered from this isolation in the generations to come.
Many parents compromise their career opportunities to give their children what they think as happiness, joy and love and depend on what they think are their instincts. More often than not, parents have difficulties balancing their work, partners, relationships, finances and then adding children to the mix. Being without the “village” for support and guidance, they also struggle to make do with whatever resources they do have on hand to raise their families. Their frustration and unhappiness is reflected on their children’s behavior and state of mind, causing a cyclical conundrum of frustration and self-doubt. But what if there was a village accessible to parents, from the comfort of their own homes or offices?
Parent Coaching Can Help Parents Discover Within Themselves The Following:
Confidence – A coach helps parents improve self-confidence and boost self-belief. Parents have the ability to be a parent, and have faith in their daily decisions and choices.
Individual Parenting Style – Partners may have different parenting styles from each other, their friends or family. All parents are different and what may work for some people, may not work for another. A parent coach will be able to help decide what style of parenting feels right for each individual and give the right tools.
Life Events – Divorce, separation, remarriage, a family death, the addition of a new child in the family: sometimes things happen in life unexpectedly and we aren’t always prepared to deal with a certain situation. A parent coach will assist parents every step of the way, while understanding how to communicate with children.
Work/Life Balance – This is the number one problem in America. Lack of balance between our work roles and family life. A parent coach will help find a balance between career, social life, relationship and family time, and most importantly, keeping a sense of self-worth.
Stress Management – A parent coach can teach techniques to parents to manage stress and know how to cope when times get tough, because let’s face it, they will! Being a parent has its challenges and it is important to know which stress triggers affect strongly and how to manage expectations.
Other reasons others seek parent coaching may include:
Anxiety
Making decisions
Single parents
Step-families
Teenagers
Health and wellbeing.
It is important to remember that parent coaching is not the same as mental health therapy, but a network of support and community. Mental health services are most appropriate when the behavior or emotional distress rises to meet the criteria of a clinical diagnosis and a professional psychologist or psychiatrist needs to be seen. Parent coaching is best suited for families trying to navigate everyday demands and have found that their parenting strategies are leaving them feeling confused and powerless and overwhelmed. Parent coaching, however, can be an appropriate adjunct to mental health services and used simultaneously to better help families in a holistic coverage.
An orignal Circle 4 Parents blog.
To learn more about the parent coaching sessions we offer, please visit www.parentcirkle.com