Family Counseling

Parenting has always been a daunting task, but with the advent of social media platforms and hyper-connectivity changing the social landscape, parental guidelines are getting even blurrier. It has become imperative for parents to be vigilant regarding the challenges the younger generation faces each day online. Knowing the amount of time your child spends on social media According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, kids ages eight to eighteen spend, on average, a whopping seven and a half hours on a screen for entertainment each day, four and a half hours of which are spent watching TV. Over the course of a year, that adds up to 114 full days watching a screen for fun. In effect, this means that children spend almost half of their waking hours each year engaged in online activities. Networks like TikTok, X, Snapchat, Pinterest, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook are designed not only to grab your attention but also to maintain your continued interest. In these first few months of 2024, the American government has been up-in-arms with TikTok over its controversial new TikTok-Lite promotional incentive that seeks to reward its users with gift packs for spending more time on the site. That means people will be paid to spend more time online, with potentially catastrophic consequences for their mental health. Children spending even more time on leading social media platforms like TikTok means the problems caused by excessive use of the internet are only exacerbated. How social media platforms can endanger children’s well-being In this day and age, the long-held moral stance of simply forbidding kids from socially immoral places to keep them safe is no longer enough to keep them safe or protected. Con artists, criminals, and every form of predator are now just a click away each time your [...]

There are many reasons why a family might want to make use of counseling for children. A child may have experienced a traumatic event, such as death or divorce in the family; or been a victim of abuse or bullying. Other less serious circumstances can be perceived as traumatic for a child, for example, a move to a new school or another unexpected change. While children may be less equipped to verbalize their feelings than adults, it is important to bear in mind that counseling for children is not all that different from counseling adults. Children are people created in God’s image and sinners in a fallen world. The struggles and desires they face are not unique to those experienced by all people, and their only hope – as with adults – is the hope presented in Jesus Christ. This reality is encouraging when considering biblical counseling for children which can sometimes be deemed inappropriate or inaccessible for younger counselees. The following five principles are good to bear in mind. Involving parents in counseling for children is a priority. Where possible, it is important for parents as the primary caregivers of their children to be involved in the counseling process. In some circumstances, this might not be suitable. For example, if there is an incidence of abuse by a parent or if the relationship between parent and child is strained. It might be that the parents are immature in their faith. But if they are open to bringing their child to a Christian counselor, then it is a great opportunity for the whole family to be exposed to the redeeming power of God’s Word. Children can grasp wisdom from God’s Word. The Bible is accessible to every person, regardless of their education level or intellect, provided that they can [...]