The Blogspot of Beth Grosshans: November 2017

Friday, November 17, 2017

Identifying the Pushover Parent

While practicing as a clinical psychologist in New Jersey, Beth Grosshans, PhD, guided a practice that met the complex needs of families, including those dealing with out-of-control children. In her book Beyond Time-Out: From Chaos to Calm, Beth Grosshans, PhD, details corrective strategies that help parents halt the transfer of power to their children and develop effective leadership skills.

One type of parent Dr. Grosshans defines is the “pushover parent,” who takes personally their children’s protests, such as, "You're unfair!” or “You're so mean.” These and more subtle forms of resistance can result in parents ultimately giving up and telling themselves, “There’s nothing more that I can do," as they give in to their children’s demands.

Lacking an internalized power structure, parents scrabble for authority through stock phrases such as, "Santa won't give you any toys this year.” Alternatively, they may provide children with a long list of the bad things that may befall them if they don’t heed their directives, such as “Wash your hands, germs will make you sick.” Dr. Grosshans’ book provides concrete ways in which parents can use the language and behavior that is effective in rebalancing the parent-child relationship.

Monday, November 6, 2017

An Overview of the Metropolitan Opera's 2017-2018 Season

A retired clinical child psychologist, Dr. Beth Grosshans worked with children and families for more than 25 years. Since retiring from her New Jersey-based practice, Dr. Beth Grosshans has focused on writing, speaking, and supporting community and arts organizations. She currently serves as an advisory board member of the Metropolitan Opera.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2017-2018 season kicked off on October 2 with the season premiere of Puccini's La Boheme, which features a cast led by Angel Blue, Anita Hartig, and Sonya Yoncheva. La Boheme will run at the Met through March 10, 2018.

Other highlights of the 2017-2018 season include productions of Puccini's Madame Butterfly, Mozart's The Magic Flute, and Verdi's Requiem. On April 29, 2018, the Met will also host the National Council Grand Finals Concert featuring some of opera's rising stars.

In addition to offering regular showings of 25 operas this season, the Met will host gala premieres of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte and Massenet's Cendrillon in 2018. The gala events will feature cocktails and dinner prior to the shows and will give attendees the opportunity to support the Metropolitan Opera's programming. More information about the Met's 2017-2018 season is posted online at www.metopera.org/season.

About Beth Grosshans

After establishing her Flemington, New Jersey-based private practice in 1994, licensed clinical psychologist Beth Grosshans, PhD, assisted children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families with psychological assessments and interventions for over 15 years. Concurrently she worked as a private consultant, providing clinical training and seminars on child development issues for faculty members at local schools. Also serving as an instructor for the Princeton Center for Teacher Education during this period, Dr. Beth Grosshans taught the course Child Development: Infant, Toddler, and through the Elementary Years at the Princeton Montessori School.

Since retiring from clinical practice, Dr. Beth Grosshans has concentrated on writing for and speaking to parents and educators about child development issues and discipline. She co-wrote the book Beyond Time-Out: From Chaos to Calm, in which she introduced the concept of imbalanced family power, contradicting prevailing child-centric notions of effective parenting and emphasizing the importance of exerting parental leadership and authority to prevent unruliness and anxiety in children.

Dr. Beth Grosshans received a BA in psychology from the University of Cincinnati and earned both an MA in psychology and a PhD in clinical child psychology from Ohio State University. Under Habib Davanloo, MD, she has also completed several intensive professional training courses in Intensive Short Term Dynamic Therapy. She is a retired member of the board of directors of the New Jersey Psychological Association Foundation and of the American Psychological Association.