Child-Parent Relationship Therapy

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Play-Based Approach to Strengthen the Relationship Between You & Your Child

Black EMDR trained therapist and marriage counselor in San Antonio and Schertz that offers trauma therapy, relationship counseling and play therapy in San Antonio and Schertz, TX

Latasha Teamer, MS, LPC-S, LMFT-S Lead Child-Parent Relationship Therapist & Clinical Director

Sometimes parenting starts to feel like one long cycle of correcting, redirecting, arguing, and trying to prevent the next meltdown.

Your child may be having intense emotions, struggling to follow limits, becoming more anxious or withdrawn, or reacting in ways you simply do not understand. You have tried different parenting strategies, but nothing seems to change the pattern for very long.

Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) offers a different approach.

Rather than focusing only on stopping unwanted behavior, CPRT helps you better understand what your child is communicating through their emotions and actions while teaching you practical ways to strengthen connection, respond more effectively, and maintain appropriate limits.

What Is Child-Parent Relationship Therapy?

Child-Parent Relationship Therapy, or CPRT, is a structured, play-based counseling approach originally developed for parents and caregivers of children ages 3–8.

What makes CPRT different is that the parent becomes an active part of the therapeutic process.

Instead of your child doing all of the work with a therapist, you learn specific therapeutic play skills that you practice with your child. These interactions help you become more attuned to what your child is communicating, respond to emotions differently, and establish limits without losing connection.

CPRT may be helpful when children are experiencing:

  • Family transitions or stressful experiences

  • Parent-child conflict or disconnection

  • Difficulty with boundaries and limits

  • Social, emotional, or behavioral concerns

  • Frequent tantrums or emotional outbursts

  • Defiance and repeated power struggles

  • Anxiety or withdrawal

  • Difficulty communicating emotions

 

What Does the CPRT Process Look Like?

This is a photo of a women with her child. Their noses are touching and the woman is smiling which shows an increased connection with her child that she learned through child-parent relationship therapy.

  • Your counselor first teaches you specific ways of responding during therapeutic play, including how to recognize emotions, communicate understanding, encourage your child's problem-solving, and set effective limits.

  • You begin having structured play sessions with your child where you practice what you are learning.

    These sessions allow your child to communicate through play while giving you opportunities to respond differently than you might during everyday conflicts

  • Your counselor helps you identify what is working, where you may be getting stuck, and how to strengthen the skills you are practicing.

    The goal is not to grade your parenting. It is to help these responses become more comfortable and natural over time.

  • The skills you learn during CPRT are designed to influence more than the play session.

    Over time, parents often become better able to recognize what is happening underneath behavior, respond with greater consistency, set limits more effectively, and communicate in ways that support both connection and accountability.

 

You Are Not Learning How to Let Your Child Run the House

Connection does not mean removing boundaries.

CPRT teaches parents how to communicate acceptance of a child's emotions while still setting limits on behavior.

Your child can be angry, disappointed, frustrated, or upset. You can understand those emotions without changing every boundary because your child does not like it.

That balance between connection and appropriate limits is an important part of the work.

 

Is CPRT the Same as Parent Coaching?

Not exactly.

Parent coaching may address a broad range of parenting concerns, routines, discipline strategies, communication, and family structure. CPRT is a specific therapeutic model that uses the parent-child relationship and structured play as the primary method of intervention.

For some families, CPRT is the better fit. For others, traditional parent coaching, play therapy, family counseling, or another service may make more sense. We can help you determine which approach best matches what is happening in your family.

Build a Different Pattern With Your Child

You do not need to become a perfect parent.

The goal is to understand your child more clearly, respond more intentionally, and build a relationship where connection and boundaries can exist at the same time.

If repeated conflict, big emotions, anxiety, or disconnection are affecting your relationship with your child, schedule a free 15-minute consultation to learn whether Child-Parent Relationship Therapy may be a good fit for your family.

Schedule your free consult