Opinion

No quick fixes

Viewpoint
Unhappy children need to be understood and supported, rather than their carers resorting to short-term solutions
Rachel Melville-Thomas, child and adolescent psychotherapist and spokesperson, Association of Child Pyschotherapists
Rachel Melville-Thomas, child and adolescent psychotherapist and spokesperson, Association of Child Pyschotherapists

When your toddler won't sleep, or your three-year-old is screaming if he doesn't get what he wants, most parents understandably become annoyed, exhausted and in need of help.

Often the media try to help by offering the quickest fix possible. Channel 4 did just this in its recent Train Your Baby Like A Dog programme, which invited a dog trainer to try operant conditioning techniques such as clicker training and verbal rewards on two very unhappy young children.

It is true, there were some improvements, but what the show did not address was, first, why the toddler, Dulcie, and the three-year-old, Greydon, were behaving as they did and, secondly, how the simple encouraging presence of the trainer gave the parents new confidence, and possibly insight into what their children needed.

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