Please try to come a few minutes early before your child’s session starts.
This helps your child orient to the lobby and space. Children often enjoy using the fidgets or books in the lobby as they ease into the space. Also, this time gives children practice at stop and wait skills, as they wait for the therapist to take them back to the playroom.
If you are running late, model calm for your child.
As a parent, take a breath for yourself and then say something like, “Ms. or Mr. (play therapist’s name) knows we are running a few minutes behind. It is ok, she understands that this happens sometimes. She is looking forward to seeing you. We will just try to leave a bit earlier next time.”
Therapists and parents will only say positive things about your child in their presence.
If you have things you want to inform your child’s play therapist about before the child walks into the playroom, please send this in an email. We realize things may come up since your last parent session, or things may have even occurred on the car ride over, but we want to be sensitive to the child.
Your child will get a coin to trade in for their prize in the lobby. This helps to positively reinforce their work from the session. It also acts as a transition object from the therapy office to back home.
- If your child gets upset about what prize they get, please know this is very common. This can just signal that flexibly, or managing big feelings like disappointment, may be areas to work on.
- Reflect your child’s feelings and give them an option if they are unhappy about their prize. Your child’s therapist can help you do this. Say, “It is disappointing when you don’t get the prize you want. You can choose to keep the prize, or you can choose to put it back and wait until next week. What do you choose?”
- Sometimes our coin machine acts up and may drop two prizes out. If this happens say, “Look how lucky. You now have a choice to make. We are only allowed to keep one prize, so we have to choose. You can choose to keep one and put the other back.” Allow your child a moment to think. If they are unable to make a choice, then you as a parent may need to make the choice for them with a gentle warning.
- Therapists know that sometimes parents feel embarrassed about their child’s behavior. Parents may worry that it is a reflection on their parenting, or worry that the child has disrespected or been rude to the therapist. We can assure you that we won’t judge you or your child. Again, the child is learning how to navigate their feelings. As time goes on, and the child’s ability to cope and process feelings increases, prize selection gets easier.
If parents tell a therapist (or vice versa) that, “Ok, I’ll talk to you later in the week,” but the child has not been informed that parents and therapist talk, this can be very alarming for the child.
Inform their child that, “I will be meeting with (play therapist’s name) because I have some things, I want to work on to be a better parent.” This helps eliminate an unknown for the child. This can also reduce a child’s possible fear about being talked about.
It can be tempting for parents to ask about how their child’s session went. Please avoid using “good” and “bad” language, as this is not helpful. Even though the child is engaging in play, it is not always fun. It is not about having a good or bad session, rather it is about an exploration within their healing process.
- Avoid the following: “Ok, go have fun;” “Enjoy your play time;” “Did you have fun?” or especially, “Did you do a good job?”
- Instead try: “I’m so proud of your hard work” Or, simply, “We’ll see you next week.”
Feel free to refer back to these tips to help facilitate your child’s successful transition in and out of the therapy space. These tips also help parents side step unintentional triggers for children in the lobby. We are here to support you and your child in these sometimes-overlooked aspects of the therapeutic process!