The Innovative Parent: Raising Connected, Happy, Successful Kids through Art

2019 National Parenting Products Award Winner

Even the best talk-based practices in parenting can be limiting. How can art help parents temper storms of emotion, defuse sibling conflicts, get teeth brushed, and raise happy, successful kids? In The Innovative Parent, Erica Curtis and Ping Ho integrate cutting-edge research, years of clinical expertise, and their own parenting experience into a revolutionary yet practical guide to creative parenting. Plentiful illustrations and anecdotes bring concepts to life and show art in action with kids and parents.

Together, Curtis and Ho let parents in on art therapy trade secrets to help children make sense of emotions, build connections with others, develop problem-solving skills, resolve day-to-day conflicts, process and retain information, confront fears and anxiety, and much more. These are complex tasks for something as seemingly simple as making art, yet therein lies the beauty of The Innovative Parent: its down-to-earth approach is simple, doable, and fun.

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.