Therapist-written support for parents
What’s happening at home?
Start with what’s worrying you. Every subject we cover has a free page on what to do first, what helps and who else can help. Behind it is a library of chapters, quick tips and things to do together, written by the therapists at Kensington Square Therapy in London.
A short film
The Parent Book, in a minute.
The film in words
On screen: A chapter from the library, When They Stop Talking to You, for ages 11 to 18, with its plate, a pair of headphones.
For parents whose teenager hardly talks to them any more.
On screen: A second chapter, The Hour Before Bed, for ages 4 to 11, with a candle just blown out.
Whose child’s bedtime has turned into an hour of worries, questions and meltdowns.
On screen: A third, When the Best Friend Moves On, for ages 8 to 11, with an empty bench.
Whose child’s best friend has drifted away, with no falling-out to explain it.
On screen: The camera draws back to twelve of the library’s chapters, and over them comes the title: The Parent Book. From the therapists at Kensington Square Therapy, London.
The Parent Book is written by therapists who see these families every week.
On screen: A contents page lists the library’s subjects under the question “What’s happening at home?” Friendships and bullying is chosen.
Start with what’s worrying you.
On screen: The book opens at the chapter When the Best Friend Moves On.
There’s a chapter for when you have twenty minutes,
On screen: A quick tip is laid on it, When the Best Friend Drifts: two minutes, with two things to try.
a quick tip for when you have two,
On screen: Then an activity to do together, The last half-hour before bed: thirty minutes, with a sheet to print.
an activity to try together,
On screen: Then the card that is on every page, Where else to find help: your child’s school, your GP, and the charities that know their field best.
and on every page, where else to find help.
On screen: The book closes. Its navy cover fills the screen, and gold is laid into its mark.
It doesn’t replace your child’s school, or your GP. It sits alongside them, there whenever you need it. All of it written plainly, by people who know that you know your child better than anyone.
On screen: The end card: The Parent Book. Therapist-written support for parents. Read your first chapter free. Subscribe for the whole library. theparentbook.com. Written by qualified therapists registered with ethical bodies.
Read your first chapter free. If it helps, subscribe for the whole library, at theparentbook.com.
Find help by subject
Start with what’s happening.
41 subjects, grouped the way parents tend to describe them. Each group opens on its subjects, and every subject has a free page: what to do first, what helps and who else can help.
- Worry, mood and big feelingsAnxiety, low mood, anger and the moments a child can’t calm down.
- Friendships and bullyingFalling out, being left out, and what to do when it’s more than that.
- School and pressureHomework, exams, perfectionism, confidence and the move to a new school.
- ADHD, autism and learning differentlyAssessment, diagnosis, and getting school on side.
- Screens and online lifePhones, gaming, social media and what they come across online.
- Sleep, food and bodiesBedtime, eating, and how a child feels about their body.
- Growing up and identityEach stage of childhood, and who your child is becoming.
- Family life and behaviourBehaviour, siblings, the conversations you’ve been putting off, and a household under strain.
- When a family changesSeparation, two homes, and grief.
- Looking after yourselfYour own wellbeing, and the people who can help you.
If you’re worried about a child’s safetySafeguarding: what to do and who to tellUrgent help
A chapter, in fullRead before you decide
Anxiety, by Age.
For parents of a child whose worry has started to make decisions for them, with what helps at each age and when to ask for help.
In one sense, anxiety is the same thing all through childhood. It’s the body’s signal that it has decided something is dangerous, in a child who doesn’t yet have the experience or the words to switch that signal off again. What changes between four and eighteen is what the worry is about, and what the child has to get on with while it’s going on.
That’s why anxiety is so confusing for parents. The four-year-old who won’t be put down doesn’t look like the same problem as the fifteen-year-old who won’t get on the bus. They look entirely different, and the cause is entirely different. Strategies that helped at four can stop helping at ten, and the ones that help at fifteen would have terrified the four-year-old.
Who writes it
Written by therapists who see these families every week.
The Parent Book is written by the therapists at Kensington Square Therapy, a London practice that works with children, young people and their parents, much of it alongside the city’s independent schools. The questions in these pages are the ones parents bring to us, and the chapters are written the way we would answer them in the room: plainly, and knowing that you know your child better than anyone.
Every page says where else to get help, from the GP and the school to the charities that know their field best.
The Parent Book is written by qualified therapists registered with the BACP and NCPS.
The subscription
One subscription. The whole library, from the day you join.
£129a year
All 29 chapters, 236 quick tips, 54 activities, every sheet to print, 40 what-to-say cards and 9 self-care tools, and everything we add while you subscribe. Paid once a year by Direct Debit; cancel at any time. Two or three emails a term, which you can stop.
Subscribe for the yearYou can read one chapter free, and use the subject pages for as long as you like.
For schools, therapists and school counsellors
Some questions need a conversation.
A parent consultation is a private conversation with a therapist at the practice, about your child. Your child doesn’t need to be in therapy for you to ask, and one conversation is often enough.