As a psychotherapist in private practice, I (too) often have the experience that parents lower and soften their voices when they ask in a session regarding their child,
“so what do we tell our child about coming to therapy?”
Why is this? Why do we communicate to our children that there must be something wrong with them in order to engage in a therapeutic process?
In a world of much poverty – on many levels – it is a privilege to have the opportunity to engage in a therapeutic way with a Psychotherapist.
How different would our world be when our children learn from young what Emotional Intelligence is: how to name what they feel and how to navigate these emotions in order to make healthy and wise choices for themselves.
I’m reminded of the quote:
One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again. – Abraham Maslow –
The above starts with us as parents, though….
Our children believe not what we say – they believe, and follow, what we do!