“When a child is drowning, don’t try to teach them to swim”

May 13, 2021

One of the “Rules of Thumb” that we teach you in the In-Home Play Therapy program is this concept of “When a child is drowning, don’t try to teach them to swim.” In this podcast, I discuss why it is so important to remember that children don’t have abstract reasoning skill until starting about 12. So “teaching a lesson” in the middle of an emotional moment for your child is absolutely futile… you need to meet them in their emotion to de-escalate the situation.

References:
Cochran, N., Nordling, W., & Cochran, J. (2010). Child-Centered Play Therapy (1st ed.). Wiley.
VanFleet, R., Sywulak, A. E., & Sniscak, C. C. (2010). Child-centered play therapy. Guilford Press.
Landreth, G. L. (2002). Play therapy: The art of the relationship (2nd ed.). Brunner-Routledge.
Bratton, S. C., Landreth, G. L., Kellam, T., & Blackard, S. R. (2006). Child parent relationship therapy (CPRT) treatment manual: A 10-session filial therapy model for training parents. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
Benedict, Helen. Themes in Play Therapy. Used with permission to Heartland Play Therapy Institute.

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