Parenting Archives - Real Life Counseling

Teaching and Modeling Resilience to Our Children in Tough Times

September 2

We are going through a monumentally strange time in our lives right now. This is maybe the only thing that is utterly true at all times because everything else is shifting. A global pandemic has put it’s thumb on daily life and changed things we have taken for granted – face-to-face time with friends, family and acquaintances, work, school and now school sports. It’s all changing, stopping, or both, and it is hard. Potentially losing a year of team sports is going to be a challenge that we never planned to face.

While this is a … Read more

Tips for the Transition Back To School

August 14

We hope you’ve had a great summer. It hasn’t been as hot as past Kansas summers (fingers crossed!), so hopefully you and your kids have been able to enjoy the outdoors and the swimming pool or whatever you like to do! Now it’s time for kids to go back to school. This is one of the biggest transitions in the year for families with kids of all ages, and it is important to keep in mind stress is higher around this time. To help with the back to school stress, our Real Life Counseling clinicians have compiled a list of … Read more

“Because I Said So”: Instilling Confidence and Healthy Decision-Making in Our Children

June 12

By Seth Hock, LMFT

We have all been there, on both sides of the conversation – the ongoing negotiation between parents and children, when parents are asking children to do something they may not want to do. As parents, we can be exasperated from the arguments, power struggles, and the constant reminders to do something. The voice, oh so familiar, broadcasts the same tired message. It reverberates through our headspace like an ancient echo: “How many times do I have to ask or tell them to listen?”

Children, at times in innocent ignorance and at other times in stubborn defiance, … Read more

Mass Shootings: How to Talk to Our Children

February 7

By Krista Reed, LSCSW

On October 13, 2017, I was in Las Vegas for a training that was across the street from the Mandalay Bay. Approximately one week prior, a man opened fire on country festival, Route 91 Harvest, from a broken window at Mandalay Bay. 58 people were killed, 422 people suffered injuries from gunfire, and another 851 individuals had injuries as a result of the attack (Andone & Sidner, 2018) During my lunch break, I decided to walk over to the hotel and pay my respects. I briefly spoke with a police officer who appeared exhausted and was … Read more