Quote Originally Posted by dogmom View Post
Remember, kids come to therapists for all kinds of reasons and there are all kinds of parents out there. There are many reasons, big and small, that children may need to keep things confidential. The idea is the confidentiality allows people to disclose without fear. We forget how important it was when we were young to please our parents and how scary and unfathomable adults are.

As far as sexual predators go, yes, that’s a risk. Which is why it’s important to discuss that with your child. But can you also understand how that confidentiality might allow a child to disclose to a therapist because an abuser threatened the family?
I totally understand why it may be necessary in some circumstances. But, we have a family member who is a child sexual predator and some members of the family refuse to acknowledge that and still think it's ok for him to be around kids. We have worked very hard to teach DS that if adult ever tells them something/does something and asks them to keep it a secret, that's a res flag. Even our pediatrician has discussed this with DS. Yet, here is another adult who repeatedly told DS that he doesn't have to tell his parents anything that happens in their meeting if he doesn't want to? I'm just a little surprised at that.