ABSTRACT
Parents have complex choices as they raise their children. There is major disagreement in the field regarding how to handle problems with children. One question is whether to involve the family or deal with the child individually. Another question is whether to interpret a child’s extreme misbehavior as the result of parental conflicts. Still another issue is whether parents should use their own instincts and rely on information they have been exposed to over the years to parent, or whether they need to be taught how to parent. The directive approach involves the family and not just an individual child. It accepts the idea that parents have good instincts on how to parent and do not need to be trained. The therapist’s task is not to teach parenting but to discuss the child’s relationship to the family members and other people. Unlike therapies in which clients are required to interpret why something is happening in order to understand one another, the directive approach is primarily concerned with action. When kids make the family miserable, there are steps the family can take.
