Positive Parenting

Your associates have multiple roles in life. In addition to their career with you, they have a role as a family member; many of them are raising or playing a key role in raising children. Challenges they face in this parenting role can affect their ability to be healthy, happy employees--- whether it's time spent on the phone with children or time away from work dealing with situations. Employees who have the opportunity to learn positive parenting skills value this benefit because a healthy, happy family life allows them to give their best to their employer.

CREATING A POSITIVE FOUNDATION

Positive Parenting can be achieved through the use of these three main sets of skills.

- Positive Communication
This seminar focuses on active listening, eliminating roadblocks, descriptive language, and encouragement. Use of these skills will result in: higher self-esteem, respectful conversations and children who want to share their joys and problems with parents throughout their lives.

- Setting Boundaries and Problem Solving
You will learn when and how to set rules and limits, the difference between discipline and punishment, and when and how to use problem solving to resolve conflict. Use of these skills will create a family environment that is harmonious rather than contentious.

- Stress Management
Even when other positive parenting skills are being used, stresses of everyday life make it easy to fall back into old habits. Stress affects children just as much as adults. This seminar will teach how to recognize signs of stress and how to manage it - for both parent and child.

POSITIVE PARENTING FOR SPECIFIC SITUATIONS

Positive parenting skills are helpful in day-to-day life; they are critical when dealing with specific challenges and situations. Learn how to turn the job of parenting into The Art of Positive Parenting.

- Understanding and Building Self-Esteem
The concept of building self-esteem in children is perhaps one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented parenting concepts today. Learn what it really is, why it's important, and how to foster it in your children.

- Preschool Challenges
Children begin to assert their independence as soon as they are able to express themselves with words and their physical activities. Brain research has shown that children learn a tremendous amount during the preschool years. The combination of learning and independence present many challenges for parents during these early years. Learn how to handle challenges involving bedtime, getting dressed, sharing, tantrum - and more!

- School-Age Challenges
During the elementary and middle school years, children begin to experience more "grown-up" problems, and this is an ideal time to begin teaching them skills that will help them understand boundaries, solve their own problems and make good life choices. It is also a time when parents will benefit from learning when to let go. Situations that can be addressed in this seminar include: school issues (homework, teachers, tardiness), social (friends, extra-curricular activities), and responsibility (chores, calling when late), and more!

- Teenage Challenges
The teenage years can be among the most stressful for both parent and child. Physical changes, adult responsibilities and privileges, and peer pressure can all throw a teen into confusion over who they are and who they want to be. Parents are still responsible for their teens, and see this as their last chance to teach their child how to be a healthy adult. Situations that can be addressed in this seminar include: rules for driving, combining school/home/work responsibilities, how to deal with children's friends, effort and decisions about school.

- Societal Challenges (for all ages)
Every generation is faced with new or changing societal issues; and every parent wonders how they can protect and guide their child through a world that is different than when they were young. This seminar can include topics such as: media exposure, dealing with change, technology, peer pressure, and more!

- Choosing Child Care
Choosing and creating the best environment for your children is one of the most important decisions a parent will make. From infancy into the teen years, many options are available: child care centers, preschools, family home providers, after-school programs. Learn about various types of care and learning environments and the considerations that are important to keep in mind when seeking a setting for children.

- Understanding Ages and Stages (Child Development)
It is very reassuring for parents when they understand the what and why of a child's development. It helps to ease many of the stresses and confusion about occurring behaviors and childhood needs. In this seminar, you will learn about physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development of children from birth into their teen years.

- Surviving the Back-To-School Transition
Families with elementary school-aged children have unique dynamics in regard to their children's schooling.  This workshop will help parents appreciate commonalities of these families, as well as identify their own personal family challenges, skills and perks.  Parents will leave this workshop with personalized idea lists, postive communication skills and a rejuvenated pride in themselves and their families.

- TEENAGERS: Time To Let Go . . . .of what
In the early years, parents control most aspects of the child's life.  As the child grows, the child takes on more and more of the decisions which affect him or her.  A healthy parent-child relationship depends on the parent allowing this process to happen naturally and gradually.  This workshop is designed to provide the opportunity to look at this process, especially as it relates to teenagers and the specific issues they face.