Parenting Counseling NYC
© Lauren Puglisi
Parenting is uncharted territory for everyone. I offer parenting counseling in NYC to guide you through with compassion, humor, and skill.
Questions new parents ask
How do I cope with sleep deprivation?
How do I balance my baby’s needs, my spouse’s needs, and my needs?
My partner has changed dramatically. Where’s the person I fell in love with?
Will I ever have a sex life again?
I love my baby, but I can’t stop crying. What’s wrong?
Do I accommodate myself to my baby, or does my baby accommodate him/herself to my life?
When do we put the baby on a schedule?
What about sleep training?
How do I raise my baby so s/he will be happy?
How long should we wait before we have another baby?
Where’s the owner’s manual?!
These are some of the questions you may have as you deal with being a new parent. It can be wonderful or overwhelming, or wonderful and overwhelming at the same time. You’ll find that everyone from your family and friends to perfect strangers will offer conflicting advice—without being asked!
Parenting support in NYC to deal with conflicts
Maybe you and your partner have very different ideas about parenting. Tensions can be heightened when you’re doing something new, you’re more exhausted than you’ve ever been, and you’re both trying to do your best for this brand-new little person. Now throw in differences of opinion on everything from scheduling to sex, and there’s a recipe for stress.
Discover your parenting style
It can be a tremendous relief to come by yourself, with your baby, with your partner and your baby—whatever combination works!—and talk with a trained professional and experienced parent about your concerns. We’ll look at how your experiences with your families shaped your ideas about parenting and partnership, so you can make your relationship stronger and closer. I can help you think through parenting decisions and develop your parenting style. You’ll learn how to be there for your baby in ways that will feel good to you as parents and help your baby develop good self-esteem from the beginning.
Questions parents of older children ask
How do we manage screen time and other technology?
How involved should we be in our child’s schoolwork?
We have a new baby on the way. How do we help our older child deal with being a big sister or brother?
My child is worried about terrorism. How do I explain world events? How do I calm my child’s fears?
My child is very different from me. What does that mean?
My spouse thinks I’m spoiling our child. I think my spouse is too strict. What do we do?
Our child spends most of the time shut away in his or her room. What can we do?
Our child’s grades are dropping. How can we help?
How do we help our child cope with the pressures of standardized tests and the NYC high school admissions process?
How do we manage our expectations and help our child focus and not freak out during the college admissions process?
How do we deal with our child’s alcohol and/or drug use?
What about sex?
You want your child to have the best possible experience growing up to set the stage for a successful life going forward. But how do you measure success? Is it by the number of sports trophies, academic awards, student body leadership positions; or is it by being more popular than you were growing up; or is it by getting into an Ivy League school? Is it about community service? Is it by being well rounded? Thin enough? Beautiful or handsome? Funny?
How do you get through the “wars” of adolescence? When do you step back? What does attachment parenting look like in middle school, high school, college?
Therapy can be incredibly helpful in dealing with all these questions and more. It can help you chart a course through unfamiliar territory, figure out how to manage your anxiety, anger, or hurt feelings and help your adolescent child through his or her hormonally-fueled anxiety, anger, and hurt feelings. The “hormonal stew” can be challenging and coming out on the other side can be a time of closeness and enjoyment of each other that is rewarding and wonderful. I’ll help you navigate through the challenges so you can launch a young adult who has good self-esteem, a solid work ethic, an appreciation of connection, a warm disposition toward life and other people, has a good sense of humor, has a reasonable respect for reasonable authority, and is a responsible and engaged world citizen. These attributes happen through you working on yourself to model and instill these qualities in your child.
You may have more questions about parenting counseling
What if my partner doesn’t want parenting support?
If your partner doesn’t want to come to therapy, you can still come and learn about yourself, and how to deal with what gets in the way of being the kind of parent you want to be to your child or children. Sometimes when only one person gets help, the parenting relationship becomes more satisfying, and the family dynamic improves.
It’s too expensive
What’s the cost of not addressing your parenting issues? If you ignore the problems or continue the same ineffective ways of trying to deal with the problems, the cost in unhappiness for yourselves and your children is huge and can last for the rest of your life, and into the following generations. Think of it as a lifetime hockey penalty box. There’s nothing more painful than watching your child of whatever age suffer, knowing you contributed to the suffering. And there’s the potential for loss of productivity and missed work, as you’re dealing with problems that have grown over the years.
What’s parenting counseling like?
I foster a safe, compassionate environment, which allows you to discuss your concerns. I don’t tell parents what to do, but help you look at the things that have influenced your parenting style and your thinking about parents and children, and help you understand child development and the importance of nurturing your empathy toward your child, so that you can make decisions that are right for your family. After all, you and your family will be living with the consequences of those decisions. My job is to help you think through the likely consequences of the options, but how you raise your child or children is your ultimately your decision. I’ll help you with your thought process, communication, and whether or not your expectations of yourself, your parenting partner, and your child or children are age-appropriate and realistic.
How do we get started?
If you’d like to set up an appointment, give me a call at 212-353-0296 or send an email. I look forward to hearing from you. Compassionate parenting support is here.
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