When you’re shopping for groceries with your child, what do you do when he, or she, screams for you to buy something like candy? Do you succumb to her wailing cries or do you stand up and “be the parent?”

According to renowned child and family therapist Kersty Franklin, choosing the former is an indication of reacting to a situation, instead of being proactive about it. Today’s generation of children expect to receive most of what they ask for because parents now give in to their whims, she says.

Back in the day, this problem was usually limited to children ages 8 and below, now it’s up to 18, she adds.

While you might expect Franklin to tell you to discipline your child more effectively, she actually offers smarter and more practical advice.

She points out that parents must teach their kids how to think and solve problems they run into. Parents need to provide expectations for certain behavior, something that’s different from simply imposing one’s will as a parent. Franklin says that parents and children need to understand how to solve problems collaboratively, so that they know how to settle arguments amicably.

Kersty Franklin will be talking more about these points in a fundraising presentation titled, “Creating the Parent I’d Like to Be,” to be held on the 10^th of November, 7 in the evening, at the Dufferin Child and Family Services building along 655 Riddell Rd. here in Orangeville.

Admission is $15.00, with proceeds of the event going to the Dufferin Parent Support Network.