The Innovative Parent

Erica Curtis is a board-certified art therapist, licensed marriage and family therapist, and internationally cited expert on parenting, relationships, and mental health, specializing in creative and cutting-edge approaches to psychotherapy and teaching. She lives in southern California with her husband and three children. Ping Ho is founder and director of UCLArts & Healing, which offers training and community education in the use of creative expression for self-discovery, connection, and empowerment. She has master's degrees in counseling psychology and public health, and an extensive background in the performing arts. She and her husband have raised two children and now have two young grandchildren.

"With this wonderful guide you will find a fun and effective way to make your connections with your kids more fulfilling, while cultivating resilience and joy in their lives. Erica Curtis and Ping Ho provide artistic activities involving music, visual images, and dance for deep enrichment and enhancing our relationships with our children as they grow-with innovation, collaboration, and resilience front and center. Bravo, and thank you!" "I salute your effort to bring art therapy principles to new parents. Thank you for your important work!" (Happiest Baby, Inc.) "The Innovative Parent manages to avoid the pitfalls of countless parenting books and tools. It offers sensitive, creative, and mindful parenting techniques that are specific yet flexible. While no child comes with an instruction manual, this book is the closest I've found to one in anchoring me-both as a parent and as a creative person-in what I know." "Erica Curtis and Ping Ho have condensed decades of experience into a lively must-read. It provides compelling and easily digestible instruction for any parent, but also for educators, clinicians, researchers, program administrators and community health practitioners. Designed for use by both novice and expert, the book's deep insights into the child-learner's mind and heart provides a path forward for anyone intrigued by the ability of the arts to engage, activate, inspire and teach." "What adult wouldn't benefit from a creative approach to connecting with and engaging kids-theirs or not? Parents and professionals will find ways to promote cooperation, further social-emotional growth, and facilitate fun in the process. Grounded in studies from a variety of disciplines, as well as arts therapy practice, this book will introduce readers to practical techniques for use with people of all ages and challenges, also making it a guide to self-parenting." "This book is a must-read for all parents. It is based in both the authors' experience and the science of creative child development....This marvelous book talks about the process of children's use of art with many wonderful examples. It is further enriched by examples of other creative expressions such as music and dance. I strongly recommend it."