Parenting is not for the faint of heart! Ineffective approaches to parenting can be learned by one’s own parenting, but even in the best of circumstances, parenting can be a major challenge. Sometimes, undesired behaviors are inadvertently and unknowingly rewarded and therefore, they continue. Likewise, desired behaviors may extinguish due to the lack of adequate reinforcement or deliberate shaping. Therapy can provide exploration, identification, guidance, and support to parents in eliminating these possibilities. However, sometimes even good parenting fails to bring about desired behaviors because of an undiagnosed and untreated problem (see Psychological/Neuropsychological and Psychoeducational Evaluation). All behavior communicates something.
Step-parenting
Blending families can bring even more complexity and challenge to the already difficult task of parenting.