Relationships between children and parents – what does healthy contact between generations look like?

So, family relationships…

What makes this bond unique?

Why is it that in one family love and support become the ground of the relationship, while in another there are conflict and estrangement?

And how would Gestalt therapists and psychologists of other approaches put it?

Let us look at this through the prism of their thinking.

In Gestalt therapy, the relationship between children and parents is seen as a process of contact in which each side finds its own place at the boundary of its own experience.

Parents create an environment in which a child can explore the world while keeping their own autonomy.

These relationships rest not only on love, but also on freedom from prejudice, respect for the child’s individuality, and the parents’ readiness to meet their own fears and limitations.

WE HAVE PUT TOGETHER 10 IDEAS ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CHILDREN AND PARENTS IN THE STYLE OF WELL-KNOWN PSYCHOTHERAPISTS

— in the style of Fritz Perls

— in the style of Laura Perls

— in the style of Robert Resnick

— in the style of Erving Polster

— in the style of Violet Oaklander

— in the style of Gianni Francesetti

— in the style of Sigmund Freud

— in the style of Jean-Marie Robine

— in the style of Paul Goodman

— in the style of Joseph Zinker

The relationship between children and parents is not about being perfect – it is about meeting each other in openness. Sometimes it is hard, sometimes it is painful, but it is always a chance to come closer to yourself and to one another.