As a parent, you know your child better than anyone. You notice the subtle shifts when they happen—low or manic moods that linger, behaviors that feel out of character, or normal struggles that don’t seem to resolve with time. Still, you might hesitate to consider therapy, wondering if your child is too young or if what you’re seeing is a normal phase.
At Summer Counseling, we work with children aged 3 and up. We’re often reassuring families that therapy for children isn’t something to save until things have taken a turn for the worse. Therapy is an invaluable tool to be used at any age, offering opportunities for support, emotional growth, and a better understanding of yourself and the world around you. In this article, we’ll cover a few of the common reasons parents come to us about family therapy or child therapy. If you have doubts, we’ll set you straight.
Signs That Therapy May Help Your Child
Keep an eye out for these signs and/or situations:
Big or Persistent Emotional Reactions
Frequent meltdowns, intense anxiety, excessive fears, or prolonged sadness can indicate that your child is overwhelmed by something and doesn’t yet have the tools to communicate what that is or effectively cope with these feelings. Therapy can help when those feelings start to interfere with daily life.
Behavioral Changes
Increased aggression, defiance, withdrawal, sleep issues, or regression (such as bedwetting or clinginess after being independent) can be a child’s way of communicating distress. These behaviors often signal unmet emotional needs rather than “bad behavior.”
Major Life Changes
Just as these are stressful for you, they’re stressful for your children as well. Divorce, a move, adding a new sibling to the family, grief, medical experiences, or school challenges can all impact a child’s sense of safety and security. Even when changes seem manageable to adults, children may struggle to process them, so the support of therapy is helpful.
Issues With Social Skills or Relationships
You might also consider therapy if your child has difficulty with social skills or relationships. Ongoing conflict with peers, trouble making friends, or extreme reactions to social situations can impact self-esteem and emotional development. Therapy can help children practice communication, boundaries, and emotional regulation in a supportive setting.
For some families, concerns arise around attention, sensory processing, or neurodivergence, such as ADHD or autism. Therapy in these cases doesn’t aim to change who your child is—rather, it helps them understand themselves, build confidence, and develop strategies that work with how their brain functions.
Something Just Feels “Off”
Perhaps the most important sign is your own instinct. If something feels off, or if you find yourself wondering whether extra support could help, that’s reason enough to speak with a child therapist. Therapy for children often looks very different from adult therapy. Through play, art, movement, and light conversation, children learn to express feelings, build resilience, and feel understood—sometimes before they even have the words. It’s not something to be afraid of; in fact, our young patients often look forward to sessions!
Child Therapy Options at Summer Counseling
At Summer Counseling, we offer several forms of therapy for children at our office in Oakdale. By partnering with parents, our child and adolescent therapists support healthy emotional growth and help families understand their child’s inner world. If you’re unsure whether therapy is right for your child, we’re here to help you explore. Schedule a consultation today and take this step for the sake of your child’s well-being!