The program of art therapy classes for the correction of child-parent relations

Novikova Kseniya Vladimirovna PhD in Psychology Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Pacific National University 680017, Russia, g. Khabarovsk, ul. Karla Marksa, 68 kv_novikova@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Zhevtun Irina Fedorovna Senior Lecturer, Department of Motor Transport Operation, Pacific State University 680035, Russia, Khabarovskii krai, g. Khabarovsk, ul. Tikhookeanskaya, 135 004666@pnu.edu.ru

Currently, the problems of identifying the effects of the use of art-therapeutic techniques in the psychological correction of various disorders are of particular research interest ^{[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]}. It should be noted that there is a shortage of scientific and applied research devoted to the use of art therapy methods in working with families to correct child-parent relations.

The child-parent relationship in this work is understood as a whole system of parental attitudes, expectations determined by communication and joint activities of parents and children ^{[7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]}. Child-parent relations include structural links, including the style of family education, and parental attitude, etc. We understand that it is not possible to correct the child-parent relations of all links of this phenomenon through the implementation of short-term work. Therefore, our task was to create conditions for the correction of child-parent relations, through the implementation of a set of classes.

Art therapy, according to the analysis of psychological literature ^{[13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18]}, as a method of psychocorrective and psychotherapeutic work aimed at activating a person's personal growth, it can be used both for the purposes of psychodiagnostics and psychoprophylaxis of people of different ages and social strata. Art therapy methods are universal and can be adapted to various tasks, ranging from solving problems of social and psychological maladaptation to developing personal potential, improving mental and spiritual health.

According to the resolution of the Russian Art Therapy Association, art therapy is understood as a system of psychological and psychophysical therapeutic and correctional effects based on visual activities, the construction and development of therapeutic relationships ^{[19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24]}. Of particular importance in this case are scientific studies reflecting the effects of the use of art-therapeutic techniques that use the potential of the child, actualizing his speech, motor, sensory development, social and gaming skills, as well as contributing to the correction of child-parent relations in the family ^{[25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31]}.

Our research among families has shown that there are certain problems in the field of child-parent relations, in particular, the low level of cooperation between children and parents; parents feel the need for psychological and pedagogical knowledge and practical skills to establish contact with the child; parents often do not perceive their child as an assistant and employee, do not share responsibility with him when when performing household duties and do not feel a sense of unity during joint activities; parents are ready for creative activities with children, but do not always find time for this.

The experimental study was conducted on the basis of the Center for Comprehensive Support of the population of Khabarovsk. The study involved 9 families (the sample consisted of 25 people, including 12 parents aged 43 to 63 years) and 13 children aged 8 to 17 years.

The diagnostic methods of the study were:

– The scale of the degree of rejection of the child in the family (A.I. Barkan).

–        Methodology of "Strategies of family education" (S.S. Stepanov in the modification of I.I. Mahonina).

–        Methods of diagnosis of parental relationship (A.Ya. Varga, V.V. Stolin).

–        Questionnaire of the relationship with the child (N.A. Kochetova).

–        Methodology "Analysis of family relationships" (E. G. Eidemiller, V. V. Justitskis).

–        The methodology of studying parental attitudes (RARI) by E.S. Schaefer and R.K. Bell, adapted by T.V. Neshcheret.

At the stage of primary psychodiagnostics, the main difficulties of parents in raising a child were identified. To the questionnaire question, "What difficulties do you face when raising a child?" the following answers were received from parents (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Difficulties of parents

 As individual characteristics of the child, parents in particular noted the emotional characteristics of the child (anxiety, aggressiveness, conflict, etc.). According to the results of the study, parents believe that quarrels occur "often" between him and the child, while children were more inclined to answer "sometimes". Children, to some extent, have a greater sense of mutual understanding with the parent and helping him than parents. Parents have a more subjective feeling that they consult with each other and spend time together than children.

Parents were also asked to list their main parental qualities. The parents' answers to the question of this questionnaire are shown in Fig.2.

Figure 2. Self-assessment of parental qualities

 The qualities listed by parents significantly characterize the sample of our study, reflecting the overall positive vector of parental qualities (caring, loving, responsible). At the same time, it should be noted that not all parents have written their qualities of a parent, experiencing significant difficulties in this matter.

  In order to create conditions for strengthening child-parent relations, we have developed and tested an art therapy program of classes.

Program objectives:

– development of non-verbal means of communication;

– development of reflection, the ability to hear and listen to each other;

– developing the ability to cooperate with each other;

– consolidation of the parent-child dyad;

– search and updating of personal resources;

– relief of muscle and mental tension;

– development of imagination and creative imagination.

Content components of the program.

The program consisted of 10 classes.

Form of work: group.

Duration of classes: 2 times a week for 120 minutes.

Table 1.

The content of the lesson program

 The structure of each lesson:

1.      Introductory part (greeting, determination of the emotional state of each group member, expectations from the lesson).

2. Warming up (the mood for work, an art exercise for the interaction of parent and child with each other).

3. The creative part (performing one, rarely two art therapy techniques).

4.      Discussion of created iso-products, presentation of works.

5. Completion (summing up the lesson, farewell).

 Evaluation of the effectiveness of the implementation of the program provides for primary and secondary psychodiagnostics using the following diagnostic techniques: The methodology of "Strategies of family education" (S.S. Stepanov modified by I.I. Mahonina); Methods for diagnosing parental attitudes (A.Ya. Varga, V.V. Stolin); Questionnaire of relationships with a child (N.A. Kochetova); Methodology "Analysis of family relationships" (E.G. Eidemiller, V.V. Justitskis); Methodology for studying parental attitudes (E.S. Schaefer and R.K. Bell, in the adaptation of T.V. Neshcheret); The scale of the degree of rejection of a child in the family (A.I. Barkan).

Next, we will present the main art-therapeutic techniques used by us in the training program.

Art technique "My family" (K.V. Novikova).

Materials: colored paper, scissors, glue, A4 sheets, markers.

There are sets of colored paper on the table, participants are invited, using various geometric shapes cut out of their colored paper, to create a composition on the theme "My family". After completing the work, participants need to come up with a name for their work.

Below are the drawings created by the participating families of the parent-child group. Art technique "My family" (Fig. 3 – 4).

Figure 3. Joint application on the theme "My family" of a 9-year-old girl with her mother.

Figure 4. Joint application on the theme "My family" of a 17-year-old young man with his mother.

Questions for discussion:

–      Who was the "generator" of the idea of composition?

–      What is the name of your composition?

–      What kind of family is this?

–      Who is where?

– What do they do?

–      What difficulties arose in the course of the work, how were they resolved?

 Art technique "Pitcher of emotions" (K.V. Novikova), allows you to realize the reasons for your experiences.

Materials: A4 and A3 sheets, jug templates, various iso materials (simple pencil, eraser, colored pencils, crayons, watercolor and gouache paints), various decor (bows, glue-based rhinestones, etc.), scissors, glue.

Participants (both parent and child) are invited to draw a jug, and then fill the contents of this jug with color, correlating it with their emotions and feelings. It is important to understand that a jug is a vessel that is filled with various emotions and feelings that we carry in ourselves.

If the participant says that he cannot / cannot draw a jug, then you can offer him to use the jug templates (Fig.5) (printed on an A4 sheet).

Figure 5. Templates for coloring to the "Pitcher of emotions" technique

After each of the band members has painted and painted his jug, it is suggested to decorate it with decor, if he wants.

The use of decor in art therapy technique gives a sense of resource, the metaphorical meaning of decorating a jug is the ability to express emotions and feelings more, the ability to fill your emotional state with new content.

Next, each family glues its jugs onto an A3 sheet, thereby placing them on one sheet, forming a family of jugs. Figure 6 shows the drawings created by the participating families of the parent-child group in the "Pitcher of Emotions" technique.

 Figure 6. Jugs of emotions A. (13-year-old girl), E. (10-year-old boy) and their mothers.

 Discussion.

Questions for discussion:

–        What emotions and feelings did you experience before, during and after the work?

– Tell us about the drawing. What did you call your drawing?

– What do you feel when you look at your drawing?

–        What emotions and feelings fill your jug?

–        Where is the jug? What surrounds him?

–        What is this jug made of?

When discussing drawings, pay attention to the color used. The color in the drawing conveys emotions and feelings, it is necessary to ask participants to name which color is associated with which emotion. When interpreting a color in a drawing, you need to pay attention, first of all, to those colors whose presence is exaggerated or unjustified.

 Art technique "Joint drawing" (in pairs with one felt-tip pen).

Materials: markers, A4 sheet.

Instruction manual. The child-parent dyad is invited to choose one felt-tip pen for two, take it with one hand so that someone's hand will be over the partner's hand. On an A4 sheet, it is proposed to put a felt-tip pen in the center of the sheet and create a drawing, holding the felt-tip pen at the same time.

It is undesirable to agree in advance on what kind of drawing it will be, it is undesirable to talk in the process of work. The instruction does not contain a clarification that it should be some kind of integral composition, thereby diagnostics of relationships in a couple is available.

Questions for discussion:

–        What is the name of your drawing?

–        What emotions and feelings did you have before, during and after the work was completed?

–        Do you like working with your partner?

–        Comment on the parts of the image. Who started drawing first, who picked up? Why didn't you want to start drawing first?

–        Did you initially understand the idea of your partner's drawing?

–        Is it possible to tell from your drawing that one person drew it?

–        How did you manage to achieve image integrity?

 If it can be said from the drawing that one person drew, if not, details unrelated to the general theme of the drawing, then probably the parent-child dyad manages to achieve mutual understanding. In any case, in order to diagnose the relationship, the integrity of the image, the degree of integration of the details of the drawing, the content of the drawing, the theme and name of the drawing, the color of the marker, etc. are evaluated.

 Art technique "Two mirrors".

Materials: for each participant of the group, an A4 sheet, on which two ovals are depicted (Fig. 7) are mirrors; various iso materials (a simple pencil, an eraser, colored pencils, wax crayons, pastels, watercolor and gouache paints, felt–tip pens, etc.).

Instructions for the child: "The sheet shows two mirrors. Imagine that one of them reflects what upsets you when you communicate with your mother, and the other reflects what makes you happy. Picture it."

Instructions for the parent: "The sheet shows two mirrors. Imagine that one of them reflects what upsets you when you communicate with a child, and the other reflects what pleases you. Picture it."

This technique will help parents to see themselves through the eyes of a child; to understand what causes negative feelings in a child in communication with a parent and how it looks in the child's mind.

Figure 7. Template for the art technique "Two mirrors".

  Questions for discussion:

–        Which of the two drawings would I like to tell you about?

– What upsets you when you communicate with your mother?

– What makes you happy in communicating with your mother?

– What upsets you when you communicate with a child?

– What makes you happy when communicating with your child?

–        Comment on the parts of the image.

–        What emotions and feelings do both drawings evoke?

            -      What difficulties arose during the creation of the drawing?

On

Figure 8. Drawing of a girl (13 years old)

Figure 9. Drawing of the girl's mother

Art technique "Family of flowers" (K.V. Novikova).

Materials: whatman or A3 sheets, various iso materials (colored pencils, wax crayons, watercolor and gouache paints, pastels, felt-tip pens).

Before starting the creative process, it is recommended to read the story about the magic flower.

"In a magical forest, in a protected place, where not everyone could enter, a Kind sorceress planted magic Flowers. Time passed, and small buds appeared. The sun warmed them, and the Good Sorceress watered the Flowers with living water. One day the Magic Flowers bloomed. Their beauty was amazing. All the inhabitants of the magic forest came to see the Magic Flowers. After all, the Good Sorceress endowed Flowers with amazing power. There was so much goodness and beauty in them that they could give joy to anyone who looked at them. As time passed, the Flowers became more and more beautiful, and their strength increased. So beautiful Magical Flowers appeared in the magical forest, which gave joy and kindness to everyone who could pass into this protected place."

Next, the children are invited to squat down and imagine themselves as buds, and the parents are Good sorceresses / ki. For 3-5 minutes, the sorceresses take care of the flowers until they bloom.

After completing the exercise, it is important to discuss ways to "take care of flowers", what kind of technique allowed the bud to bloom?

 After discussing this part of the technique, you can proceed to the direct execution of the drawing.

Instruction manual. Create a drawing on the theme "Family of Flowers" on a single sheet of paper using any means together.

Figure 10 shows a drawing created by a family of a child-parent group in the technique of "Family of flowers".

Figure 10. "Family of Flowers" performed by one family

 Questions for discussion:

–       What is the name of your drawing?

– What kind of flowers are these?

–       How do these flowers feel?

– What is their character?

–       What do flowers dream about?

– What are these flowers afraid of?

– If flowers could talk, what kind of story would they tell?

–       How can you help a flower if it feels bad?

 Art technique "Drawing in contour".

Materials: human contour templates (Fig.11-13) printed on A4 sheet, various iso materials (simple pencil, eraser, colored pencils, wax crayons, watercolor and gouache paints, pastels, felt-tip pens).

Instructions for the parent. Think of what you would like to dress yourself and the child in. If you want, you can color the background or draw some landscape on your drawing.

Instructions for the child. Think of what you would like to dress yourself and mom in.

It is important that the number of children's contours on the sheet should be equal to the number of children in the family. You can also prepare contours equal to the number of family members or only those family members who attend classes (depending on the purpose of the work). If you want, you can color the background or draw some landscape on your drawing.

Figure 11. Human contour templates (a family of two)

Figure 12. Human contour Templates (family of three)

Figure 13. Human contour templates (family of four)

Questions for discussion:

– Tell me, what did you draw?

–        Why did you dress Mom in this particular color?

– What are you doing in the drawing?

–        What is the mood/state/emotions of both of you at the moment (in the picture)?

 Below are the drawings created by the participants of the parent-child group in the art technique "Drawing in contour" (Fig. 14-15).

Figure 14. Drawings of a young man I. (17 years old) and his mother

Figure 15. Drawings of the boy S. (8 years old) and his mom

The art technique "Drawing in contour" has diagnostic and psychotherapeutic potential. The psychotherapeutic potential of this technique lies in the possibility for a parent to see himself through the eyes of a child.

The following elements can serve as diagnostic indicators: whether all parts of the body are drawn; image features (smoothness of lines); color of clothing; orientation of legs (shoes) – to each other / from each other; facial expressions; elements of clothing; landscape/landscape; elements of encapsulation (shells around family members), etc.

 Art technique "Family mandala".

The technique has both diagnostic and psychotherapeutic potential and can characterize the family system:

–        From the point of view of its development, maturity, differentiation of subsystems of the whole.

–        From the point of view of homeostasis disorders.

–        From the point of view of energy.

For this technique, a circle was chosen as a symbol of harmony, because the drawing of a family in a circle unites, stabilizes, and contributes to the formation of favorable interpersonal relationships.

Materials: A3 sheets, various iso materials.

Instruction manual. Each family needs to fill the space of the circle the way they want.

Questions for discussion:

–      How did you work together?

–      Who was the "generator" of the drawing idea? Who drew what?

–      How did you manage to create a single composition in a circle?

–      What difficulties did you have in the process of drawing together?

–      Do you like your drawing?

– What would you like to change in the drawing?

  The drawing in the circle carries a lot of diagnostic information. As with the analysis of projective techniques, we pay attention to the size of the circle, its placement on the sheet, the thickness of the lines, the presence or absence of color, etc. However, the therapeutic approach assumes, first of all, not the interpretation of the drawing, but following the emotions and feelings of the client. It is important that he sees how he perceives his work, what he says about it.

When discussing family drawings, we pay attention to the color used, because it conveys the psychological atmosphere within the family.

Figure 16 shows one of the created family mandalas.

Figure 16. Family mandala, the work of A. (13 years old, dev), E. (10 years old, boy) and their mothers N.

Art technique "The House of my "I" (K.V.Novikova).

This art exercise has both diagnostic and psychotherapeutic potential:

– relieves nervous and mental tension, anxiety;

– actualizes personal resources;

– promotes awareness of yourself, your life, values;

– understanding your emotions and feelings, difficulties;

– promotes the restoration of personal boundaries;

– making plans for the future.

The metaphor of the house allows you to explore your inner mental organization and restore the boundaries of your own personality.

Materials: gypsum (if the house will be poured into the mold directly in the classroom), acrylic paints, plasticine, A4 or A3 paper, decorative elements (beads, rhinestones, etc., something you can decorate your house with).

During the lesson in the parent-child group, we used the blanks of houses (Fig.17) due to lack of time. However, it should be noted that when the client himself "builds" his house, this has a greater psychotherapeutic effect on him. In order for the house to be stronger, it is necessary to add PVA glue to the plaster.

Figure 17. Blanks of houses for coloring

 Instruction manual. Participants are invited to choose a house, which then needs to be painted using acrylic paints.

The use of acrylic paints when working with gypsum is justified by the fact that acrylic has a number of advantages: durability; rich and bright color; the shade does not distort over time and remains the same as it is immediately after application; paints are easy to apply and stay on the surface of the figure for a long time. The dense structure of the paint does not allow it to soak into the plaster. It is better not to use watercolor paints for painting gypsum, because they are instantly absorbed into gypsum and do not dry out for a long time. In addition, they stick to your hands for a long time and interfere with the process. Gouache fades over time and loses its original color.

This technique can be modified by replacing gypsum with the construction of houses made of paper or clay. However, it should be noted that building a house out of paper has less therapeutic effect than working with plaster or clay.  The most profound impact on the client is the construction of a house made of natural clay.

 Questions for discussion of individual houses:

Tell me, what kind of house is this? What material is this house built of?

Who lives in it?

What did you mean by the color of your house?

What emotions and feelings do you have when you look at your house?

 After completing the coloring of the house, participants are invited to choose a place to place their house. At the same time, the presenter needs to prepare a space for building a city (village) – for this you can use several watmans or a sheet of wallpaper (depending on the number of participants).

Below are photos of houses created by families as part of this lesson.

Figure 17. Individual houses of the participants of the parent-child group

Art technique "City" (building a city/village/village).

 Instruction manual. The group members are offered a large sheet (you can use a paper or a roll of wallpaper) – a prototype of a city or village, you need to find a place for your house, place it in the place you want. Next, it is proposed to refine the place near your house, draw the landscape, rivers, lakes, plains, fields, meadows, buildings, whatever you want.

 Questions for collective discussion:

–      What emotions and feelings did you have in the process of working?

–      What is the name of this city?

–      What kind of residents live in it?

–      What is there in this city? How is it different from other cities?

–      How are houses connected to each other (are there roads, rivers, etc.).

–      What is the development perspective of this city?

 This technique is diagnostic in nature. The analysis takes into account the location of houses (in the center or on the outskirts); what surrounds the houses (other houses or some landscape); is there any fencing in the form of, for example, a fence, etc.

Figure 18 shows a Village created by families within the framework of this lesson.

Figure 18. The result of the creative process in the "City" technique

Art technique "Our friendly family" (K.V. Novikova).

The technique is a drawing with plasticine – plasticineography.

Materials: A3 sheets, a set of plasticine for each family, various iso materials (pencils, crayons, paints, pastels, markers), decor.

Instruction manual. Using plasticine, create together a drawing on the theme "Our friendly family".

 Questions for discussion:

– A friendly family in your view is

–        Who came up with the idea of the drawing?

–        Describe your drawing (what family members are doing, where they are, what is happening between them).

– What does your family lack to be friendly?

–        What steps can a family take to become friendly?

 Figures 19-21 show the iso-products created by the participating families of the parent-child group in the technique of plasticineography (drawing with plasticine) on the theme "Our friendly family".

Figure 19. Drawing with plasticine on the theme "Our friendly family" of the boy S. (8 years old) and his mom

Figure 20. Plasticine drawing on the theme "Our friendly family" of a young man I. (17 years old) and his mother

Figure 21. Plasticine drawing on the theme "Our friendly family" of the boy Zh. (8 years old), girls O. (13 years old)  and their grandmothers

Art technique "Family coat of arms".

Materials: whatman or A3 sheets, various iso materials (simple pencil, eraser, colored pencils, wax crayons, watercolor and gouache paints, pastels, felt-tip pens, etc.).

The "Family coat of Arms" technique has not only a diagnostic, but also a psychotherapeutic effect and consists in the fact that the family is invited to draw the family coat of arms, you can also come up with a motto.

This technique allows you to explore family values and attitudes, identify resources and problem points, determine the position that the family occupies in relation to the outside world. In particular, the coat of arms can express a defensive position or, conversely, an aggressive one. It also allows the group members to realize the family qualities that are important to them, conflicting family values and scenarios. It is good if a person understands as fully as possible what and why he depicts on his coat of arms.

The coat of arms usually consists of symbols, and each family decides which symbols to fill it with. When analyzing the drawings of the family coat of arms, it is important to take into account the client value of each symbol. It is also possible to symbolically interpret the color content of the coat of arms, especially if the participants painted it for a reason, but making a certain sense of it. This technique provides a large amount of material for analysis.

Questions for discussion:                   

–       Tell us about your work.

– Was it easy to create a family coat of arms?

–       How do you feel when you look at your work?

– What difficulties arose during the creation of the drawing?

–       Is there a desire to change something in the drawing?

 Below are drawings of family coats of arms created by families participating in the parent-child group (Fig. 22-24).

Figure 22. The "Family coat of arms" of O. (13 years old) and his mother. The name of the coat of arms "Roller coaster"

Figure 23. The "Family coat of arms" of the girl U. (9 years old) and her mom

Figure 24. "Family coat of arms" of a girl A. (13 years old), a boy E. (10 years old) and their mother

Thus, when developing the program of group art therapy classes, we relied on the following principles:

– systematic and purposeful nature of classes; interactive nature of classes (unity and complementarity of verbal and non-verbal communication);

– mandatory interaction of parent and child both verbally and at a non-verbal level (through drawing);

– orientation to the processes of therapeutic changes, taking into account their stages and levels;

– reliance on a complex of psychotherapeutic factors (creative activity, therapeutic and group relationships, facilitation techniques and techniques);

– the use of other elements of polymodality along with artistic practice.

       According to the results of repeated diagnostics, after the implementation of the program, the indicator of authoritative parenting style, which is a characteristic of parent-child cooperation, increased. Comparative results of the study of family education strategies according to the methodology of S.S. Stepanova's modification by I.I. Mahonina showed the dominance of the style of cooperation between parents and children in the study group.

Comparative results of the study of the types of parental attitude according to the method of diagnosis of parental attitude (A.Ya. Varga, V.V. Stolin) showed that after the implementation of classes, the level of positive attitude towards your child increased. Art therapy techniques enabled the parent to get to know the inner world of the child better, accept all the creative products of the child as they are, respect his inner world, recognize his individuality and interests. The indicators of the degree of rejection of a child in the family decreased from 77.55% to 56% according to the method "Scale of the degree of rejection of a child in the family" (A.I. Barkan). Comparative results of the study of family relationships using the method "Analysis of family relationships" (E.G. Eidemiller, V.V. Justitskis) showed that after the implementation of the program, there is a decrease in the types of improper upbringing.

Comparative results of a study of parental attitudes using the PARI method (E.S. Schaefer and R.K. Bell, adapted by T.V. Neshcheret) showed an improvement in indicators of partnership relations, activity of children; indicators of emotional distance decreased (irritability, excessive strictness, avoidance of contact with the child).

To assess the effects of the program, participants were also offered a questionnaire that allowed them to identify the effectiveness of classes in four areas: physical (Figure 25), psychological (Figure 26), social (Figure 27) effects, as well as effects related to the relationship with the child (Figure 28).

 Figure 25. Physical advantages and effects of participation in the program

Figure 26. Psychological advantages and effects

Figure 27. Social advantages and effects

 Figure 28. Advantages and effects related to the relationship

with a child

 At the end of the program of classes on the correction of child-parent relations, the following feedback was received from parents:

– I got a lot of experience, I missed all classes through myself, there is something to work on, there is something to strive for; I tried many art techniques for the first time, invaluable experience;

– I liked everything very much, I was often a little tired before the lesson, but after each lesson I came home full, I felt an inner filling of calmness, joy. I saw myself in a different way in relations with children, our relationship with children strengthened, we learned to negotiate, the children saw and understood that it is possible to negotiate and there is a result from this. I noticed that initially, when everyone came here, there were some scattered ones, but now there is a general unity, the group has become more harmonious and I will miss everyone;

– I came to the classes very consciously, there was an opportunity to find some answers to questions; after each lesson, understanding of many things came that I had not used before. It is a pity that many parents do not get such an opportunity to participate in these classes; these classes change the worldview; there were a lot of opportunities, because we discussed every job at home (who sees what); I managed to feel my roots (they were missing earlier), I found something in myself; I need to change myself, it has become much clearer and you start demanding less, because these are your internal dissatisfactions; classes have pushed you to creativity;

– wonderful classes, this is a godsend, what we really lacked, systematic classes, for me it was a resource, because there are crises in the family and it would be wonderful if there was an opportunity to continue such classes;

– for me, first of all, these classes are therapy, I realized that it's not the result that matters, but the process itself, you calm down, think, get distracted, get filled with a resource; I realized that there are a lot of "cockroaches" in me (the "should" attitude), I realized that maybe it's not necessary that's all, it's better to talk to your daughter, draw, go to the forest together and drink tea, and not demand. I realized that we have a lot of work and I need to learn how to build boundaries for myself;

– a lot that you have understood about your family.

Children's reviews:

– it was fun, but sometimes it was sad (when my mom and I didn't understand each other);

– classes helped me to understand my mother;

– in these classes we became one family;

– I really liked the classes, I liked to invent something, draw, sculpt, etc.;

– there was a lot of creativity, my mother bought me gouache, and now I started painting pictures.

 In order to detect statistically significant differences in the results obtained in the study, the Student's t-test was used, the results of which showed that statistically significant differences ("Before" and "After" the implementation of the training program) are detected by the following indicators (scales): "acceptance" (p<0.05), "cooperation" (p<0.05), "authoritative strategy of family education" (p<0.01), "hyperprotection" (p<0.05), "indulgence" (p<0.05), "excessive demands-responsibilities" (p<0.05), "insufficiency of requirements-duties" (p?0.05), "insufficiency of requirements-prohibitions" (p?0.05), "minimality of sanctions" (p?0.01), "educational uncertainty of the parent" (p?0.01), "projection of one's own undesirable qualities on the child" (p?0.01), "emotional contact" (p?0.01), "emotional distance with the child" (p?0.01).

Thus, according to the results obtained after the implementation of the art therapy program, there is an improvement in child-parent relations: a decrease in the degree of rejection of the child; an increase in the authoritative strategy of family education; an increase in the degree of acceptance as an indicator of parental attitude to the child, the degree of rejection of the child in the family has decreased; the manifestation of types of improper upbringing has decreased; there has been an optimization of parental attitudes (improved indicators of emotional contact, reduction of emotional distance).

It is important to note that the main focus in the process of implementing art therapy classes was on strengthening and developing therapeutic relationships between the group and the presenter. By themselves, art therapy techniques are only a tool in the hands of a specialist, only if trusting relationships are established, emotions and feelings are exchanged, facilitating questions are used, and support is provided to each participant of the group, one can count on positive dynamics of work. During the lessons, the psychologist not only supervised the process, assessing the features of interpersonal and group communication, but also influenced it, expanding the range of family communication and interpersonal capabilities of group members (offering the use of tactile exercises, interaction in child-parent dyads and triples, between families, etc.). The visual process during the implementation of the program had a staged character with the gradual complication of the proposed art-therapeutic techniques, stimulation of the use of a variety of iso-materials, as well as the creation of narrative texts to his works. The choice of specific techniques, iso-materials and topics of creative work was determined by the tactical, strategic objectives of the intervention, taking into account the current state of the group members, their requests.

Art therapy classes, according to the parents, brought great satisfaction, it was possible to establish contact with the child at first on a non-verbal level, then verbally, to understand the inner world of the child, receive positive emotions, relieve tension, be filled with a resource.

According to the results obtained, supported by methods of mathematical statistics (Student's t-criterion), after the implementation of a set of measures, there is an improvement in child-parent relations (p<0.05, p<0.01): a decrease in the degree of rejection of the child; an increase in the authoritative strategy of family education; an increase in the degree of acceptance as an indicator of parental attitude to the child, the degree of rejection of the child in the manifestation of the types of improper upbringing has decreased; there has been an optimization of parental attitudes (improved indicators of emotional contact, a decrease in emotional distance).

The results obtained in the study allow us to note the significant potential of using art-therapeutic techniques in the psychological correction of child-parent relations.