As you’ll discover on the Next Steps page, there are lots of resources available to help you figure out what skills your child is lacking, what problems are precipitating his worst moments, and how to decide what to start working on first. And there are lots of resources to help you with what comes next.

You see, once you’ve identified the lagging skills and unsolved problems contributing to your child’s difficulties, you’re ready for Collaborative Problem Solving (we realize that’s a mouthful, so we’ll just call it CPS). CPS was first described in the book, The Explosive Child, and it’s how we help parents – a lot of parents – solve problems, teach skills, restore communication, and improve relationships. CPS is something you do with your child, not to him.

So how’s CPS work? Well, instead of helping adults get better at imposing their will and giving kids the incentive to comply, CPS helps kids and parents learn how to solve problems – homework, bedtime, teeth brushing, coming in from outside, waking up in the morning, turning off the computer or TV and coming in for dinner, interactions with certain people – together. CPS helps parents and kids figure out why these are problems in the first place. And CPS helps parents and kids work toward solutions that are mutually satisfactory. Along the way, kids – and sometimes adults, too – are learning how to be more flexible, better tolerate frustration, solve problems, and a whole bunch of other skills crucial for handling life’s challenges.

Interested in learning more? We were hoping you might be. You may not need a clinician to teach you CPS. In many cases, you can do it on your own. On the Next Steps page, you’ll find all kinds of resources to help you and your child begin to collaborate on solving the problems that have been causing conflict and acrimony for a long time. You’re on your way.