04/02/2026
”…the most, most, most important thing is that the child knows that you are on their team.” 🙌 The Occuplaytional Therapist
If I’m starting from square one, if I have only time to tell you one thing about PDA, this is what I would say. I would say that the most, most, most important thing is that the child knows that you are on their team.
That demands will come and they will exist and they will sometimes feel like they are right in your face, and that your grown-up is your team member when that happens.
Because you, grown-up, are going to be on a team with *somebody*.
You can be on a team with your kid, squaring off against the demand.
Or, you can be on a team with the demand, squaring off against your kid.
If you choose the latter, you choose to hold the demand’s hand, and cherish the demand. Cuddling up to a brick wall while your child stands alone and has to figure out how to fight their way through.
I’m not saying that it’s always easy to stay on your child’s team. To you, the demand they’re facing down might look like a tiny speck. Or, it might look huge but you’re simultaneously facing down your own huge demands and the thought of this little two-person team battling against overwhelming odds makes you want to quit before you’ve even begun.
But I’d rather be aligned with the underdog I love than holding hands with the demand.
