Richard Hogan: Is your child tough enough for the real world?

Richard Hogan says you're doing your child a disservice if you don't teach them how to stand up for themselves

Richard Hogan: Compassion for others is a wonderful attribute to develop in your child. But you have to also teach them how to value themselves and how to stand up for themselves.

Working clinically with parents is one of the great privileges of being a family therapist. You gain such insights into families and their issues. Being a parent to three wonderful girls gives me further insights and helps me to formulate a lot of the interventions and theories I develop in relation to family therapy.

Something I see, time and time again, in my clinic, are families seeking out therapy for a child who is struggling with peer relationships. It can be incredibly disturbing to watch your child suffer at the hands of other children or find it difficult to connect with their peers. In my conversations with parents of a child who is struggling like this, I often hear the same story. The parents delineate their early desire to make their child compassionate, above all else.