About

The impetus for The Successful Parent comes from 60 years of combined experience in providing psychotherapy for parents, children, and families. Although we usually are dealing with specific problems when parents first come in to see us, we have found that what most parents actually need is a thorough education regarding the developmental stages of becoming a person, along with the intricacies of how to enhance that process in such a way that children develop into healthy adults with a solid sense of self and good self-esteem. "Success", in this sense, is not something that is characterized so much by outward achievement, but rather is concerned with the development of the inner person.

Over the course of a lifetime, and especially during the first eighteen years of life, we each form our own unique sense of self, or "identity", that encompasses both the way that we define ourselves as well as the platform from which we interact with others and the community at large. It is this sense of who we are and what we build within ourselves that is our concern here.

So when we talk about child rearing, what we are focusing on is how parents can guide their children through that inner process of development that not only gives them a sense of self-worth, but that also provides a base from which to relate well with others, negotiate problems and conflicts, and achieve personal expression through the identification and enhancement of talents.

What we hope to do is to give you the necessary tools to successfully guide your children through the stages of their personal development, so that they may gain the capacity to reach for their greatest aspirations.

Barbara & John Frazier

The Tools

The tools we are offering to assist you are:

Knowledge

Knowledge of how children normally develop, what defense mechanisms they need at different stages of this development, and what kinds of environments are best to enhance their optimum personal growth.

Information

Information on a wide range of specific subjects that can enhance your overall understanding of the many facets of children and adolescents. This may include such items as the latest findings in areas of developmental research, problem-oriented articles such as how to handle children with ADHD, the impact of social media, or new approaches to enhancing school performance.

Skills

Skills include the actual how-to's that show you ways to deal with enhancing development, while establishing the necessary structure at each stage for facilitating growth. Skills will also be offered in the area of conflict-resolution. The ability to successfully deal with conflicts is one of the most important skills we all need to learn. We will offer you strategies for dealing with conflicts between you and your children as well as strategies for helping your children learn to resolve conflicts with others.

Solutions

You will find solutions to the everyday problems posed in parenting your children successfully. The approach is one of problem-solving in which problems are concretely outlined, and suggestions for their solutions are provided. The ability to correctly perceive and assess a problematic situation, and then identify the steps to solve the problem, is a skill that is most important to you and your child. We will show you how developmental stages and tasks can be used to enhance the growth of problem-solving skills at each stage, to provide the solutions you need.