Why Take a Parenting Course? Why Positive Discipline?
I often run into parents who feel that there is a stigma attached to attending a parent workshop. The thought is that you only attend a parenting class if your kids are out of control or if you are an incompetent parent. This is puzzling in light of the fact that parenting is the most important job on the planet and yet we do not have to have any special training, license or degree to become a parent!
When I reflect on my earlier parenting years, I wish I’d had more of a conscious plan. And as I say in almost all my Positive Discipline workshops, if I had to do it over again it would definitely be the Positive Discipline way! I’ll tell you more about that in a moment. But first let me address some of the reasons people need parent education and a parenting plan:
- Having children doesn’t make an effective parent.
- Parents often fall back on the way they were raised. Your parents may have done great, but it definitely warrants examination before you adopt those methods.
- Any new venture we take on takes knowledge & practice. Think of all that’s involved in learning to play a new musical instrument or play a new sport.
- And the sobering reality is that you are dealing with what is the most precious to you! Your children deserve the best!
Naturally, by what I do, I believe Positive Discipline is the best parenting approach! But why? There are far too many reasons to talk about in this newsletter. But here are a few:
- Positive Discipline starts with “the end in mind”. What is it you want long term for your children? What qualities do you want them to develop? All Positive Discipline methods and tools contribute to the long term development of important life skills!
- Positive Discipline is respectful – to both adults and children! The approach is “Kind and Firm.” Kindness offers respect for the child, and firmness offers respect for the adults and the situation involved.
- Positive Discipline focuses on solutions – not punishment! The child is still held accountable, but the emphasis is on learning from mistakes vs. paying for mistakes.
- Through a Positive Discipline approach, children (and adults) are empowered! Responsibility is gradually turned over to the child according to developmental readiness. This helps children develop a sense of capability, hence increasing their self esteem.
- Positive Discipline offers solutions to daily parenting challenges such as bedtime issues, tattling, sibling rivalry, backtalk and so many more!
Several parents that have attended my workshops and use Positive Discipline in their homes put it this way:
“When I discovered Positive Discipline, it resonated with me. It’s a kind and compassionate approach, yet a firm and fair way to parent our kids. Implementing Positive Discipline in our home is helping our children develop a sense that they are capable of making good choices and that they are responsible for choices that do not turn out the way that they had hoped. I believe that we are well on the way to helping our children become the capable and contributing men that we know they can be.”
Michelle, Mother of 2 preschoolers
“Positive Discipline methods have turned our chaotic home into a home where everyone contributes! There is so much less yelling! The kids don’t fight as much because they know they can discuss their differences at family meetings. What a difference!”
S & M, Parents of 3
Keeping you posted,
Ruth