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Educating Others About Your Challenging Child

Has your child's school assumed that your child's behaviors are due to poor parenting? Have you stopped going to church because other parishioners think you're "mean" to your child? Has a police officer undermined your parental authority? If so, you're probably parenting a child with behavioral, emotional, or mental health issues.

Individuals who have not parented a challenging child, or are uneducated about the special interventions required to parent obstreperous children, often make incorrect assumptions about the needs of the child and the parent.

Depending on the situation, there are some things that you can do to help educate people as to your child's needs:

Provide written documentation to back up the information you're verbally providing.
Use an expert's (therapist, counselor, author, parenting specialist) advise to support your recommendations.
Be offensive whenever possible by providing information before your parenting approaches are questioned or your child has inappropriately endeared themselves to a teacher, administrator, or pastor.
Regularly remind yourself that most people are acting out of ignorance rather than intentionally trying to undermine your parenting approaches.
Avoid or reduce your interactions with individuals and situations that exacerbate issues about your child's choices and behaviors, and your parenting approach.
Be a continual advocate for yourself and your child's needs by being assertive yet calm.
Remember that educating others about behavioral, emotional, and mental health issues is on ongoing process.

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