I first ‘read’ The Complete Guide to Therapeutic Parenting: A Helpful Guide to the Theory, Research and What it Means for Everyday Life (Therapeutic Parenting Books) by Jane Mitchell and Sarah Naish on Audibles last year. Since then, I’ve listened to it two more times. I even bought the paper copy and am currently going through it a fourth time. Oh, and I’m annotating it as I go along. Yes, it really is that good. Especially if you have an invested interest in parenting in general, and therapeutic parenting specifically.
Using Therapeutic Parenting as a Basis for my Master’s
As most of you know, I’m currently studying for a master’s in childhood and youth studies. I just completed my second year, although I won’t hear how I’ve done until December sometime. My final year will be spent on a thesis which personally interests me. I have chosen to focus on therapeutic parenting.
However, my mum has just heard some horrible news regarding her health. Also, Abigail is taking some of her GCSEs this year, and Becs still needs quite a lot of input school-wise. These factors contributed to my decision to hold off my final year for the time being. I am studying with the Open University. This means that so long as I complete it by 2027, I am able to pick up and drop off as I need. For me, family always comes first, and I am particularly aware that mum might need me over the coming months.
All this to say, I will be preparing for my final year by doing some reading this year and making some notes. It is these notes I hope to share each week
A Series of Therapeutic Parenting Books
This book is part of a series of parenting books all focused on the topic of therapeutic parenting. Other books in the series are:
· Therapeutic Parenting Essentials: Moving From Trauma to Trust
· A Quick Guide to Therapeutic Parenting: A Visual Introduction
· The A to Z of Therapeutic Parenting Professional Companion: Tools for Proactive Practice
· The A to Z of Survival Strategies for Therapeutic Parents: From Chaos to Cake
· Therapeutic Parenting Jumbo Cards
The Complete Guide to Therapeutic Parenting is for parents and professionals who care for traumatised children. Essentially a parenting book, Therapeutic Parenting is backed up by the latest research and so it could be a great addition to the professional’s tool kit.
The Complete Guide to Therapeutic Parenting: My Thoughts
It’s rare to find a book that makes you cry and laugh in equal measure, but The Complete Guide to Therapeutic Parenting manages both. It is a book which should come with a warning. It will break your heart into a thousand pieces. It’s saving grace is that it meticulously guides you to pick up each piece and put your heart back together again so that it is a warmer, fuller place than before. And in doing so, you learn to help your child do the same.
Parenting is arguably the most exhilarating yet potentially devastating calling a person can have for their life. Add trauma, particularly trauma you were not present to witness, as is the case with a lot of fostered and adopted children, and that parenting is on a whole new level. The highs may be higher, but the lows can be excruciatingly painful, and very, very lonely.
So, How Can This Book Help?
This book addresses everything you are likely to experience in a professional, research-based way. But this is science with heart: a practical application of the research, giving a smorgasbord of suggestions which will help you to feel less alone and, most importantly, give you hope. It is peppered throughout with analogies and metaphors which simplify the complexities of trauma-based behaviours, making therapeutic parenting accessible for all.
It is not, however, an iron clad method to produce the child of your dreams. I suspect such a method does not exist. Children, their trauma and their own personal reactions to such trauma is far too diverse to give a one-answer-fits-all approach. If you’re looking for an easy answer, this is not the book for you. If you are looking to understand the pain your child is in and from where the resulting behaviour comes, this could be perfect.
One last thought before I end. Whilst not Christian, it struck me how similar therapeutic parenting is to the way God parents us. That small quiet voice, insistent without being harsh. The generous ‘all-in’ love poured out over each of us, regardless of how low we fall. The absence of guilt. And most importantly, the soft place to fall, amongst all the jagged edges life tosses at each and every one of us.
Therapeutic parenting is about loving when it is hard to do so, being consistent and unchangeable when the ugly face of trauma threatens to overwhelm both you and your child. Reading this book is like having a close friend nearby cheering you on so that you feel you can keep on keeping on. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is looking after children with trauma.
Star rating:
5 star: Thoroughly recommend
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
£19.61
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