Like it or not, all parents have ambivalent feelings toward their children. Child development expert Joyce Catlett talks about where these feelings come from and how we can best deal with them in ourselves without hurting our children.
About the Author
Joyce Catlett, M.A.
Joyce Catlett, M.A., author and lecturer, has collaborated with Dr. Robert Firestone in writing 12 books and numerous professional articles. Most recently, she co-authored Sex and Love in Intimate Relationships (APA Books, 2005), Beyond Death Anxiety: Achieving Life-Affirming Death Awareness (Springer Publishing, 2009) and The Ethics of Interpersonal Relationships (Karnac Books, 2009), with Robert Firestone PhD. Ms. Catlett began her career in psychology in 1972, working with autistic children at the Camarillo State Hospital Children’s Treatment Center in Camarillo, CA. A founding member of Glendon Association, she has been a national lecturer and workshop facilitator in the areas of child abuse prevention and couple relations. With Glendon, she has co-produced 40 video documentaries on a wide range of mental health topics. Ms. Catlett was also instrumental in the development and training of instructors in the Compassionate Child Rearing Education Program and in training mental health professionals in Voice Therapy Methodology.
Nope, thank goodness! I’ve said it time and again, I love my kid to bits but some times he drives me up the wall so much that I wanna strangle him. I understand the feeling-ashamed bit, but especially for us single parents it’s important to realize and accept that yes, your child’s rearing is responsible for your life condition discomfort but not the child itself. It’s OK to hate not being able to go out anymore, but that doesn’t mean you hate your kid for it. You just hate “it”.
Nope, thank goodness! I’ve said it time and again, I love my kid to bits but some times he drives me up the wall so much that I wanna strangle him. I understand the feeling-ashamed bit, but especially for us single parents it’s important to realize and accept that yes, your child’s rearing is responsible for your life condition discomfort but not the child itself. It’s OK to hate not being able to go out anymore, but that doesn’t mean you hate your kid for it. You just hate “it”.