Interpersonal Parenting Tips Worksheet
Use the Interpersonal Parenting Tips Worksheet to learn strategies regarding interacting with your child, and write down the best times for you to practice these tips.
Fact Checked by RJ Gumban.
What is an Interpersonal Parenting Tips Worksheet?
Before we discuss the worksheet properly, let’s briefly introduce Interpersonal Therapy.
Interpersonal Therapy, or ITP for short, is a form of therapy that focuses on addressing mental health-related problems, like depression, by examining the current relationships that a client has. This therapy operates on the belief that a client’s relationships impact their mental well-being.
Therapists who practice Interpersonal Therapy will look into the following aspects of their client’s life:
- If there are any conflicts in their current relationships
- If they are going through or have gone through significant life changes, like becoming a parent, getting fired from a job, etc.
- If they are experiencing difficulties maintaining current relationships and establishing new ones
- If they are experiencing grief and loss, whether they lost someone just recently or haven’t worked through older grief
If you’re issuing the Interpersonal Parenting Tips Worksheet to a client, they are likely working through mental health problems that sprang from their relationship with their child. Parenting is difficult, especially if the child is in their teenage years.
The Interpersonal Parenting Tips worksheet will provide the client with directives to consider when interacting with their child and will have writing exercise portions for the client to think about when it is best to follow the directives given.
Printable Interpersonal Parenting Tips Worksheet
Download this Interpersonal Parenting Tips Worksheet to help parents manage difficult conversations with their children.
How does the Interpersonal Parenting Tips Worksheet work?
The Interpersonal Parenting Tips Worksheet was developed by Dr. Jeremy Stutton in 2021. This worksheet provides four tips for parents having difficulties with their children. These tips are:
- Finding the right time to talk
There’s a time and place for everything, including talking to your child, especially if they aren’t in the mood or are going through something. This general tip comes with directives like avoiding talking to the child about what is bothering them while they are incensed and giving them the time and space they need to cool down first.
- Consider the intention, not the outcome
If your child tries to do something, but things don’t go their way, a parent should avoid pointing out why their child failed. While pointing things out might be beneficial if done constructively and with empathy, this isn’t always what the child needs to hear. The best thing you can do is praise the effort they’ve made and assure them that things will get better.
- Find the balance in how you talk and respond
There’s no doubt that parents will become frustrated with their children at different points in their lives, especially during their teenage years. If they are doing something the parent doesn’t like, the parent must take the high road because they are the adults and they know better, so as much as possible, they shouldn’t give in to responding negatively. One way for the parent to communicate to a child that’s frustrating them is to use “I feel” statements in a neutral tone.
- Practice self-care
Parenting is a difficult job, so it’s best for the parent to cut themselves some slack and take care of themselves as well. They are encouraged to get a support system, like their partner, friends, and relatives. They are also encouraged to do things that count as “looking after themselves.”
The worksheet is divided into four sections based on these four tips. Each section comes with directives and writing exercises. These writing exercises are similar.
- For Finding the right time to talk, the client needs to list the appropriate times to talk to their children. These times must work for both the parent and the child.
- For Consider the intention, not the outcome, they list the times their child might need assurance.
- For Find the balance in how you talk and respond, they will list “I feel” statements that are appropriate to their current relationship with their child.
- For Practice self-care, the client will list down how they can take better care of themselves.
Interpersonal Parenting Tips Worksheet Example
Now that you have a general idea of what Interpersonal Therapy is and how an Interpersonal Parenting Tips Worksheet works, it’s time to see what it looks like.
The template that we have was adapted from the Interpersonal Parenting Tips Worksheet by Dr. Jeremy Stutton. You will see all four tips divided into sections. We added an additional section, which is called Share Positive Stories. This “tip” tells parents to find the time to share positive stories they believe may inspire their child, instill positivity, and teach them to share stories to establish connections. The writing exercise for that is to list down the possible stories that they can share with their child. These can’t be bedtime stories. These stories must be something they can discuss in a casual conversation on a couch, while walking, or while at the dinner table.
If you like what you see and believe it benefits your Interpersonal Therapy program for parents, feel free to download it! You can choose to print it and hand them out in person, or you can send it to your client via email! The Interpersonal Parenting Tips Worksheet PDF has editable fields so they can write on it using a computer, laptop, or capable smartphone.
Download this Interpersonal Parenting Tips Worksheet Example (Sample) here:
When is it best to use the Interpersonal Parenting Tips Worksheet?
Since you’re reading this guide, you’ll likely be an Interpersonal Therapist looking for worksheets to add to your roster of therapeutic tools. If you have a client who happens to be a parent, and one of the reasons for their negatively impacted mental well-being is the difficulty of being a parent and dealing with their children, then you should issue the Interpersonal Parenting Tips Worksheet once you’ve identified specific problems related to their experiences.
As mentioned in the previous section, you can print and issue this worksheet in person or send it via email. Either way, the best time for the client to engage with the worksheet is during their own time (though answering it on the spot is also acceptable). It’s best to work on it during their own time because they will have enough space and time to think about what they want to write down. They will also be able to practice the tips and see if they are helpful.
Besides listing things for each section, they can also write if what they listed actually worked for them or not. These can serve as points for discussion in later Interpersonal Therapy sessions. If one, some, or all of the things they listed don’t seem to work, the client and the therapist can work together to determine other things they can try.
What are the benefits of using the Interpersonal Parenting Tips Worksheet?
It can remind parents what to do or not to do in certain situations.
Children are sensitive, especially when they become teenagers. A parent can say something in a way the child perceives to be antagonistic – even when this wasn’t the parent’s intention – and this can lead to unwanted interactions that can frustrate both parties.
Since this worksheet comes with tips, hence its name, parents can remind themselves to wait for their child to cool down when they’re currently upset, provide reassurance whenever their child fails to do something, and use “I feel” statements in a neutral tone whenever upset. These tips can go a long way in terms of helping the parent cool down, take a step back, and assess situations involving both them and their child.
It can help them develop a healthier and more positive relationship with their child.
Speaking of reminding parents on what to do or not to do in certain situations, the worksheet has the ability to help parents maintain a healthier relationship with their child. As we said earlier, these tips can go a long way for parents and their children, such as providing a kid with reassurance.
For example, criticism is only helpful when constructive, but even if it’s constructive criticism, a child may not see it that way because they are not old and mature enough to think of it as helpful. Instead, providing reassurance that things will get better might be best in the meantime. That way, children will realize that their parents have their back no matter what, and they can learn to trust their parents.
We even added a section for telling stories to bring the child and parent closer and teach the child to establish and maintain relationships.
It can remind parents to take care of themselves.
To reiterate: parenting is challenging and can be downright frustrating at times. Since the focus is on making sure the child is safe and helping them grow up, parents sometimes forget about themselves. They forget that they, too, need to be taken care of sometimes.
This worksheet can remind the parents that they also deserve a break occasionally. There’s a section about how the parent can take care of themselves. That section allows them to list down what they think is essential to them to take care of themselves. Who knows? The worksheet might remind them of things they love doing that give them joy!
Commonly asked questions
No. The writing prompt for all sections asks you to list things based on the tips, like how to take better care of yourself, when it is best to talk to a child, and when to provide reassurance to them.
This worksheet is designed to be worked on by a parent during their own time. There’s no time limit, technically. It can be accomplished in one sitting if the parent knows what to write, but it can take them longer if they want to think long and hard about what they want to list down and if they want to try them out. For the sake of a therapy program, it’s recommended that the client finish it before the next appointment. If a person is using this outside the therapy program, then they can write on it whenever they want.
By all means, use it! If you believe that it’ll help you, then you’re more than welcome to use it. However, don’t use it as a substitute for therapy. If your mental well-being is negatively impacted by your current relationship with your child or by parenting in general, it’s best to enroll yourself in an Interpersonal Therapy program so a therapist can help you work through your problems.
