ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the Child-Centered Play Therapy skills, concepts, and attitudes taught in Child-Parent Relationship Therapy to provide the filial therapist with a theoretical framework and a deeper understanding of the principles and procedures. Through the process of accepting the child’s attitudes, feelings, and thoughts, the parent enters the child’s world. Responding to children in a way that communicates sensitivity, understanding, and acceptance and conveys freedom and responsibility is for many parents like learning a foreign language and requires a drastic shift in attitude and a restructuring of words used in responses. A major goal for the parent-child play session is to help parents learn how to facilitate this kind of relationship with their children. The typical approach in parent-child interactions is characterized by an attitude of evaluation of the child based on what is known about the child and previous circumstances.
