Why is play so important in terms of connecting with our children? I started writing down some episodes from my own life as a father and from families I worked with, and those writings evolved into my first book, Playful Parenting. With my new attitude, I had a different and more effective perspective on parenting and on family struggles. The job of a child therapist is not to rescue or fix the child, but to help the parents and children improve their relationship, and use that bond for healing.

When children struggle, parents suffer tremendously, and often feel helpless. Parenting is very difficult! Parents are not the enemy, they all try their hardest.

Once I became a parent everything became much clearer to me. As you can imagine, with this attitude I was not very helpful when I worked with children or parents or families together. The other message was that a therapist could “rescue” children from these problems. I felt that the message I received from my supervisors and professors was that most problems with children are the fault of the parents. When I trained as a psychologist, I was not a parent. How did you come to write Playful Parenting? His works have been translated into 14 languages. Published in 2001, Playful Parenting was his first book. His book Playful Parenting aims to show parents how to help their children work through their emotional blocks and handle their strong feelings, and deal with issues like sibling rivalry. Dr Lawrence J Cohen is a psychologist specialising in children’s play and play therapy.

Lawrence cohen playful parenting