Reflections on Parenting from a Gestalt Therapist-Father

This book explores the early father-child experience from an intimate, first-person perspective, through the lens of a Gestalt therapist and his family. Describing and reflecting upon several of his own experiences, author Vikram Kolmannskog shares how the knowledge gained from Gestalt therapy influences his parenting, and how his parenting experiences enrich his practice and understanding of Gestalt therapy. Spanning a five-year time period from 2020 to 2025, which includes the first three years of his son Leo's life, the book covers several different aspects of parenting: queer, emotional, conflicting, playful, and ecological. An important and unique addition to the growing body of work on fatherhood and queer parenting, this book will be of benefit to practitioners and researchers within the fields of Gestalt psychotherapy, psychotherapy more generally, parenthood and early childhood. Parents and caregivers in all forms of families will also find this book of interest for the way it approaches the topic of parenting.

Vikram Kolmannskog is a full professor at the Norwegian Gestalt Institute and a Gestalt therapist with a private therapy and supervision practice near Oslo. He is the author of several books, including The Empty Chair (2018), and co-editor of Queering Gestalt Therapy (2023).

Dedication Acknowledgments Introduction 'I'll Be a Girl This Morning.' Queer Parenting 'Hello, Jealousy! Hello, Anger!' Emotional Parenting 'Papa Dee And Papa Da Are Arguing.' Conflicting Parenting 'It's Fun!' Playful Parenting 'Please Help Us, Grandma Willow.' Eco-Parenting 'How Could I Write About Him?' Researcher-Parenting Index