Other Articles
Twelve Family Skills
Discipline Wheel
Time Out |
In my work with hundreds of families, I have discovered
something very interesting. I can spend
hours with parents talking about parenting.
I can spend hours with a child in individual therapy. But when I spend just one hour with an entire
family, I learn so much more than all the other hours put together, just by
observing family interactions. Here are some questions I ask as I watch family members interacting:
- Who is in charge in your family?
- Are there triangles?
- Are you a proactive or reactive parent?
- What relationship skills are your children learning during your everyday interactions?
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| I have identified twelve
important family skills that are present in families that are getting along
well. Each one of the twelve skills builds on
the previous one, so that each skill is, for the most part, learned in
sequence. Many families are not
teaching these skills on purpose, it just works out that these are the skills
practiced in day to day life from infancy through adolescence. When families are having trouble getting
along, it is usually because some of the skills are not in place. |
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