Focusing on the Whole Child
Thursday, February 4, 2010Watch as Dr. Karyn Purvis talks about the need for parents to focus on every aspect of their child’s wellbeing in order to help them heal and overcome their challenges.
Watch as Dr. Karyn Purvis talks about the need for parents to focus on every aspect of their child’s wellbeing in order to help them heal and overcome their challenges.
As part of our ongoing Common Questions & Concerns series, we address behavior and discipline issues that many children from hard places often encounter at school:
Question: My child is struggling in the classroom and is being sent to the principal’s office on a regular basis. He refuses to do some of the art class activities, has melt-downs in music class and withdraws during some class activities. To make things worse, standing in the school lunch line today he punched a child in the stomach and was sent to the prinicipal’s office to sit for the rest of the afternoon (nearly 3 hours!). What can I do?
Watch The Connecting Link: What Parents Need to Bring Healing to Their Children, delivered at the 2009 Tapestry Adoption & Foster Care Conference.
We were made to connect – with each other, with creation and with our Creator. As a result, one of the greatest gifts that parents can give to their children is a strong and lasting sense of connection. In The Connecting Link: What Parents Need to Bring Healing to Their Children, delivered at the 2009 Tapestry Adoption & Foster Care Conference, Dr. Purvis focuses on this important topic.
In this talk, Dr. Purvis provides parents with a better understanding of why children from hard places use distancing strategies, and how they can help their children replace those strategies by giving them voice, empowering them to make choices and helping them rediscover their inherent preciousness. In addition, Dr. Purvis challenges parents to better understand what they bring to the relationship, and to look at their own past hurts and loss with honesty and forgiveness.
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Dr. Karyn Purvis explains the I.D.E.A.L. response for parents when dealing with their children in various situations, especially those involving poor choices or misbehavior by a child.
Finding the Real Child, from the Spring 2006 issue of The TCU Magazine, details the remarkable story of Kristen. This story of hope illustrates well the healing power of parent/child connections. The article also offers a brief history of TCU’s Institute of Child Development, and provides an overview of the Institute’s work to help children and parents.
“Children from Hard Places.” This is the phrase used by Dr. Purvis and others to describe children that have experienced some type of abuse, neglect or trauma during their lives (including prenatal exposure to substances or high levels stress, difficult labor or birth before or medical trauma). Obviously, this phrase applies to most children who were adopted or spent time in foster care.
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Listen to Dr. Purvis’ 2007 interview on Think (KERA) about her book, The Connected Child, and the interventions and practical approaches that have helped countless parents create healthy and healing connections with their children. audio recording of this presentation (mp3 file)
In the process of walking with adoptive families through the years, we have come to realize that there are six words which identify some of the most effective mechanisms for building strong relationships between parents and children. Our six important words for adoptive parents to live by are: Be Compassionate! Be Firm! Be Proactive!
Most Americans who adopt children from other countries find joy. But others aren’t prepared for the risks—and may find themselves overwhelmed.
Pat Wingert of Newsweek takes a look at some of the often unfairly-told hardships Americans sometimes face when adopting. Read the full article on Newsweek’s website.