Raise Children Who Know Their Worth, Respect Your Limits, and Come to You When It Matters
Relational Parenting doesn’t just teach you what to do – it helps you understand why you react the way you do, so you can stop repeating the patterns you inherited and start raising happy, emotionally healthy children who thrive.
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100% Money-Back Guarantee
— Gwyneth Paltrow,
Terry Real has spent nearly 40 years helping families transform the way they relate – to each other, and to themselves.
If You Feel Like the Harder You Try, the Less You Seem to Get Through to Your Children...
You make a reasonable request and your child ignores it. So you give the warning. You count to three, sit them down and explain – again – why this matters. Then they blow up, or burst into tears… or go quiet in that way that stays with you long after the moment has passed.
So you try harder: stricter consequences, firmer limits. Or you swing the other way and try to soften things, stay calm, be more understanding.
But nothing seems to work.
And somewhere in the middle of all that effort, the worries creep in: Am I getting this wrong? Am I driving them away? Am I becoming the parent I swore I’d never be?
And then there's your partner or co-parent:
Maybe you’ve fallen into different roles without meaning to. One of you holds the line, the other softens it, and you find yourselves fighting about who’s right most days.
Or perhaps you've stopped discussing it altogether and started parenting in parallel – two different strategies constantly undercutting each other.
Whether your kids seem to run the show, you’re tired of always being the “bad guy,” or you just can’t shake the feeling that you’re missing something – it can start to feel exhausting and confusing.
Because most of what we’re taught about parenting assumes something that simply isn’t true: that we can control another human being.
We can’t.
And when that assumption doesn’t hold, it leaves a lot of good parents feeling like they’re failing… when in fact, they were never shown another way.
The good news is, there is another way to parent – one that tends to bring more connection and a lot less of that constant second-guessing.
Gain The Insights & Tools To Parent With Compassion – For Your Children and Yourself
For over 40 years, Terry Real has worked with families in crisis – parents on the verge of losing the bond with their children, couples tearing each other apart over how to raise them, adults still carrying the wounds their own parents left behind.
And what he’s learned is this: the ones who transform their families don’t do it by getting stricter or giving in more.
They do it by working on transforming their relationship: with their children, their partner, and themselves – into one centered in loving firmness, accountability, and compassion. And most importantly, letting go of the strain to “get everything right.”
Relational Parenting is a six-session, self-paced course where you’ll learn how to parent through connection—not control.
This course isn’t a host of parenting hacks you’ll struggle to implement effectively the minute your kids are testing your patience.
It’s a fundamentally different way of understanding what your child needs from you – and what you need from yourself to give it.
Over 300 families worldwide have already taken this journey. And unlike most parenting programs, this one is taught by Terry, a leading family therapist – and joined in part by his wife Belinda Berman-Real – a couple who practice what they teach in their own lives, with each other and their own children, every single day.
What Changes When You Complete Relational Parenting
Across six self-paced sessions with Terry Real, you’ll gain the insights and tools to build a deeper connection with your children—and raise them to be happy, healthy, whole human beings.
You’ll come away knowing how to:
Let go of being the "perfect parent"
And discover that your mistakes – handled well – are what helps raise secure children.
Build real self-esteem in your children
That isn’t attached to their achievements, status, or appearance.
Set limits your child respects
Without feeling guilt, losing your temper, or pushing them away.
Catch yourself when you're about to lose it
And understand where it’s coming from so you can choose a different response.
Feel confident in your parenting decisions
Knowing you’re doing the best you can and not just reacting in the moment.
Work as a team with your partner
So you’re not neglecting your relationship or undercutting each other.
Join Relational Parenting today and start building the deeply connected, respectful, and joyful relationship with your family you long for.
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Your Curriculum
Each session includes recorded Q&A and perspectives for single parents, blended families, and co-parents throughout.
Session 1: Permission to Be Whole
You’ll explore the question every parent carries: how do I give my children something better than what I had? You’ll discover how the culture we’re raised in shapes our approach to parenting – and how we can begin to move beyond those constraints to offer our children something different.
You’ll learn:
- What it means to be “whole” – how our culture splits children into “masculine” and “feminine” halves, and what it costs them when we let it.
- Why raising relational kids is revolutionary, counter-cultural work – and why it starts with you.
Session 2: Building Healthy Self-Esteem
With the foundations of our work set, we’ll move into a deeper exploration of how to build self-esteem in our children. We’ll also look at how to deal with the thing every parent dreads feeling (and admitting): when our children disappoint us.
You’ll learn:
- The three forms of unhealthy self-esteem – and how to build a sense of worth in children not attached to their grades, popularity, or possessions.
- The role of grief in parenting – how grieving the child you imagined is one of the most loving things you can do for the child you have.
Session 3: Setting Limits – Love With a Backbone
You’ve seen what wholeness looks like and what threatens it. Now comes the question every parent asks next: but what do I actually do when they won’t listen? In this session, you’ll learn that the answer isn’t more control – it’s a different kind of strength. We’ll also explore cultural intrusions and how to shelter your child with actions like screen time limits, monitoring, and building a relationship-cherishing culture around your family.
You’ll learn:
- How to let go of trying to control your child – and focus instead on controlling the environment around them.
- Why setting limits is an act of love – and why failing to set them harms your child just as much as being too harsh.
- What to do when you make a mistake – how to repair with your child when you lose it.
Session 4: How Your Childhood Affects Your Parenting
You’ve got the tools. So why do you keep losing it anyway? In this session, we go deeper – into the childhood patterns that hijack your parenting before you even know it’s happening
You’ll learn:
- Why you react the way you do when your children trigger you – understand where it actually comes from, and how to interrupt it.
- Why your urgent agenda for your child may be a healing wish from your own childhood – and how the drive to be a perfect parent is itself a form of transmitted pain.
- Why harmony isn’t the goal – conflict-free families leave children unequipped for real relationships. Your child needs to experience healthy conflict, not be shielded from it.
Session 5: Parenting as a Team Co-taught with Belinda Berman-Real
Your children learn about relationships by watching yours. In this session, Terry and Belinda teach together – drawing on their own marriage and their experience raising their two now-adult sons – to show what it looks like to parent as a united front, even when you disagree.
You’ll learn:
- What to do when one parent is about to lose it – a tag-team system for stepping in, and the power of literally restarting a moment that went wrong.
- Why pouring everything into your kids while ignoring your partnership backfires on everyone – and what to do about it.
Session 6: Parenting When It's Complicated
Not every family follows the traditional script – and the principles you’ve learned across the course apply to all of them. In this session, we get specific about what these tools look like when life is messy or unconventional.
You’ll learn:
- How to co-parent with someone difficult – holding your principles when you can’t control what happens in the other household.
- The unique dynamics of blended families – who handles discipline, how to earn trust without overstepping, and how to navigate two sets of norms under one roof.
- Why the best gift you can give your kids is your own recovery – and why your healing isn’t separate from your parenting, but central to it.
This Course Is for You If...
You grew up in a home you don't want to replicate
but you keep hearing your parents' words come out of your mouth
You're terrified that being firm means losing connection
so you back down, give in, and then resent it
You and your partner can't agree on how to handle things
and your kids have figured that out
You've read the parenting books, tried the strategies
and still find yourself losing it in the same moments over and over
You want to raise children who know their worth
not children who feel pressure to perform it
Whether you’re parenting with your partner in the same house, a single parent, or a blended family – the insights and tools contained within this course will help you understand why you get stuck in the same parenting loops and how you can break them to set your children up to thrive.
“Family dysfunction rolls from generation to generation like a fire in the woods, until one person in one generation has the courage to turn and face the flames.
If you come from a dysfunctional family, so do I. And if I can change, so can you.”
— Terry Real
Meet Your Teachers
Learn directly from a couple who have seen it all—in their own work, with their own children—and learned from their own mistakes. Terry and Belinda model what it means to be relational: to take accountability, to repair, and to show loving firmness.
In this course—where Belinda joins Terry for a special session on parenting as a team—you’ll learn from their combined clinical expertise and their own personal parenting challenges and breakthroughs.
Terry Real
LICSW & New York Times Bestselling Author
For nearly 40 years, Terry Real has worked with families in crisis to guide them back into loving connection. He’s a bestselling author, the founder of the Relational Life Institute, and the creator of Relational Life Therapy – an approach now practiced by thousands of therapists worldwide, known for producing real change quickly through direct, compassionate intervention. Terry is also a father of two. He doesn’t teach this material from a distance – he’s lived it, made the mistakes, done the repairs, and built a family alongside the work.
Belinda Berman-Real
M.A., M.F.T.
Belinda joins Terry for Session 5: Parenting as a Team. She has worked with couples and families for over 25 years and has practiced Relational Life Therapy alongside Terry for decades. She brings deep expertise in couples work, trauma recovery, and Internal Family Systems – and the lived experience of raising two sons with Terry.
What People Say About Terry’s Work and Approach to Relationships
“The dots’ are beginning to connect for me…
Attending a workshop like this and listening closely to TR et al, made the connections between those dots stronger and clearer, and assisted me to validate my interpretation of all of my readings to date.
My journey to understand my SELF and heal, to become a better person, husband, father etc has been a long road. I am cherishing every moment of this journey.”
— Jim MacDougall
on Terry’s Unstuck workshop
“So liberating for me when I realize that I am the one who can change.
I loved Terry’s emphasis that you can only change yourself, not your partner. I now understand how my journey towards healthy self esteem has provided me with the perfect foundation to become a loving partner and to create the intimate relationship I have always desired.”
— Elaine Van Melle
“It was a blessing to be with Terry and witness a master at work…
Terry’s loving presence, his journey to recovery, and his mastery of the skills he teaches are transformative, inspiring, and healing.”
— Leslie Sann
Give Your Children the Childhood You Wish You'd Had Join Relational Parenting Today
Start today
Whether you’re parenting as a couple, on your own, in a blended family, or navigating toddlers or teenagers, this self-paced course will help you build a deeper bond with your children and parent with the confidence and compassion you’ve been searching for.
Includes lifetime access to all six course sessions.
Choose your payment option:
Frequently Asked Questions
What ages of children is this course designed for?
The principles taught in this course apply whether your child is 3 or 17. Terry draws on examples across all ages, and the tools – setting limits, repair, understanding your own triggers – work at every stage. The course also addresses the unique dynamics of single parents, blended families, and co-parenting situations throughout.
Can one parent take the course on their own?
That’s completely fine. While Session 5 focuses on parenting as a team, the course is designed so one parent can take the material and apply it. Many single parents and parents whose partners aren’t available complete the course on their own.
I'm a single parent. Is this for me?
Yes – Terry will explore how the tools and principles he teaches translate to your situation. You will find the practical skills around setting limits and building healthy self-esteem as well as the guidance around working through your own childhood triggers and reactivity useful regardless of whether you have a partner or co-parent.
Can I take the course on my own schedule?
This is a self-paced course. You can work through all six sessions in your private learning platform on the schedule that works for you.
How long will I have access to the course?
Forever! You can access all the session recordings in your private learning platform to refer back to whenever you need to.
Will I learn practical parenting techniques and skills?
Yes – you’ll learn specific, actionable tools – from how to set limits without losing connection, to a step-by-step repair process for when you get it wrong. That said, this course takes you deeper than skills and toolkits alone. Because when our child – or our coparent – pushes our buttons, we tend to throw the very tools that will help out the window! Terry will teach you how to recognize when your own inner child is taking control of the present and how to reconnect to the wiser, adult part of you so you can reach for the tools you’ll learn.
Is this suitable for therapists and coaches?
Many practitioners take this course both for personal growth and for insight into how Relational Life Therapy principles translate to parenting. Therapists and coaches are welcome to join the course, whether seeking support for themselves or their clients – however, please note that the Q&As are designed to help parents, not clinical application.
Do RLT Certification and Alumni Members get a discount?
Yes – if you are enrolled in the Certification or a member of the official RLT Alumni Membership, your discounts are as follows:
RLT Certification students: you are entitled to a 50% discount on this course. Check your inbox for an email from us with your discount code. If you’re not yet enrolled and would like to learn more about the RLT Certification, please visit the information page.
RLT Alumni members: if you are part of the official alumni membership, you are entitled to 30% off this course. Please check your inbox for an email from us with your discount code. If you’re a certified RLT practitioner and would like to join the Alumni, learn more here.
Are Continuing Education credits included?
No – while therapists and coaches may find this course beneficial for their professional work, this is primarily designed for parents themselves.
What is your refund policy?
We’re confident you’ll love Relational Parenting, but we offer a 100% money-back guarantee for your peace of mind. If, for whatever reason, you’re not completely satisfied, please contact us at support@terryreal.com within 14 days of purchase and we’ll issue you a full refund, no questions asked.
I still have questions. Who should I speak to?
Please reach out to support@terryreal.com and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
