CDC PARENTING SERIES

Beth has worked in various capacities here at CDC since 1984. She left her full time position as CDC's Associate Director in the spring of 2001 when her third child arrived. She has a duel degree in Psychology and Education from the University of Michigan. She has been a validator for the National Association for the Education of Young children and a frequent presenter - both locally for programs like U of M's brown bag lunch series and Child Care Network's Fall Conference, as well as for the Michigan AEYC and the Denver Department of Education - on many topics, including the creative curriculum, storytelling and a variety of parenting topics.

This series is based on the books by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish which are in turn based on the teaching of Dr. Haim Ginott. Recommended- though not necessary- reading is: How to Talk so Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk, Siblings Without Rivalry, Liberated Parents, Liberated Children all by Faber and Mazlish and Between Parent and Child : The Bestselling Classic That Revolutionized Parent-Child Communication by Dr. Haim Ginott. All these books are available on line at Amazon.com and locally at B & N and Borders.

For more information, please contact CDC at 761-7101

Dear Parents,

I wanted to take a moment to tell each of you - those who can attend and those who can't - just how important I think the job of parenting is.

I always brush up on my skills by re-reading the texts listed below as I prepare for the workshops. Last year I added Liberated Parents, Liberated Children to my reading list. There were two things in the book that really moved me as an educator, and more importantly, as a parent.

The first was the response of Dr. Haim Ginott gave to one of the parents in his workshop who was feeling frustrated about the need to correct her son over the same issue again and again. Even after one of her careful conversations with the child that seemed to inspire good behavior for several hours.

Dr. Ginott's response to her was: "If we knew the kind of actions that would help a child learn 'once and for all,' we would type up a list, publish it, and send it to parents all over the world. But we don't. When a parent says to himself, 'Once and for all I'm going to end this child's unacceptable behavior,' he's already defeated. Children don't learn in terms of 'once and for all.' They learn in terms of 'now and then again, and still again.'

This reminded me how important these periodic parenting boosters are - because it isn't just children that don't learn 'once and for all.' As parents we too need to brush up on our parenting skills and add some new tricks to our repertoire for clearly communicating with our children. These things can be done with workshops like the ones I'm conducting, but they can also be accomplished by spending a bit of time with parenting books and other parents and friends we know well.

The other quote from the book that really stayed with me and that I believe all parents should post and review at least once a week was this: "So many of the forces that shape our children's lives -temperament, intelligence, looks, health, the culture, the times, and just plain luck-are beyond our control. There's so little we can alter, so much we must accept. We do, however have the power to determine how we will communicate with our children. We can choose our words and we can choose our attitude. And sometimes those choices can change a child's destiny."

I'm very much looking forward to the workshops. They have been one of the highlights of my spring for the last 5 years and I'm sure this year will be no different. So come armed with your tales of woe and hilarity. I'll certainly have my share to contribute.

New this year will be an on line forum between workshops where you can share how things are going and I can offer up interim support. Details about the forum will be given at the first workshop.

Beth MeLampy