

Day 1
Finding Joy in Parenting Your Complex Child
Today's lineup:

Rabbi, Dr. Akiva Tatz
What is Joy, Really?
How do we live in the reality of the world today and feel happiness? “Happiness is the response of the soul to doing what it needs to be doing…” This definition of happiness is not mutually exclusive with pain. R. Tatz shares his articulate view of the hashkafa of happiness, his compassion and understanding of parenthood to offer parents a very real and challenging perspective of what it means to find joy in parenting complex children.

Rabbi Shais Taub
Rigid? Controlling? Manipulative?:
A deeper understanding of difficult behaviour
Many of our children can appear rigid, controlling and manipulative. Why are these behaviors so common among complex kids and how we can understand the root cause of them? R. Shais Taub walks us through what he calls the obligation to understand our children. He starts with a deep understanding of these 3 behaviors. You will never look at your child’s rigid responses the same way.

Rebbitzen Dina Schoonmaker
The role of Joy in Chinuch
Rebbitzin Dina Schoonmaker takes us through the core of R. Yechiel Yaakovson’s (author of Spare the Child) mehalech in chinuch. She addresses the role of joy in Chinuch and differentiates between hafala (getting things done), control and real chinuch. She emphasizes the importance of giving our child choices for the good of the child’s education, self-esteem and our relationship with our child.

Rebbetzin Yehudis Golshevsky
Growth and Joy in Nisayon
Parenting complex kids is hard; sometimes it’s even painful. In this vulnerable conversation, Rebbitzin Golshevsky addresses the nisiyonos and opportunities for tikun inherent in our journey with our kids. She discusses clues for identifying where your tikun is and emphasizes the necessity to find joy, sometimes even the ridiculousness of what we are going through with our challenging children. This interview is packed with beautiful hashkafa, stories and a very refreshing perspective on the parenting journey.

Rebbetzin Attara Waxman
Judging Ourselves and Our Children Favorably
Rebbitzin Waxman shares her personal journey with a child with an unknown genetic syndrome and developmental delays. Through this experience she came to the DIR/Floortime model that allowed her to more deeply understand not only her daughter’s unique sensory, emotional and cognitive profile but her own. Rebbitzin Waxmans talks about how we can use an understanding of our own profiles to judge ourselves and our children favorably in a powerful way.
