All parents want the same things for their children Everybody wants their children to succeed
We are all in this together, and we all have the same struggles, and all of us have cell phones now and can get distracted, and all of us have got crazy, busy lives Beginning to understand what do quality parent-child or adult-child interactions look like is something that we all need to work on Ready for Routines is a workshop to help families improve their engagement with their children, and also to improve their children's executive functioning skills The idea was to teach parents the peer mantra, which is pause, engage, encourage, reflect, and of course the silent E, which is extend We've started to think about what would it look like to take some of the work that we were already doing on our programs, and actually make that work more intentional around what the research is telling us about how you promote adult and child executive function
Take a moment Close your eyes Really feel what it is like to breathe I have three children And some of the biggest challenges for me, as a mom, is sometimes I feel as though I don't spend enough time with my children
Feeling, at the end of the day, that I spent enough time with each one of my kids I was really going through a tough time with getting up one time, and being on time, time management, and just getting my life together, just pulling myself together Because I just had a baby, and it could be depressing when you're used to just having two kids and then you go from having two kids to having three It was just overwhelming me I was so tired
I felt like I need more skills on my parenting skills, and I was like well maybe if I do the program you know then it will probably better me and my kids' situation I live right in the middle of the drug infested area And when I first moved in 2009, it was a crossfire between our building and outside The thing that I find most challenging with my neighborhood is that everybody's not on the same path Everybody is not looking for the better of the neighborhood
And looking for the the safety of the children The neighborhood is not too safe What about you, Miss Crystal? I think, for me, the PEERE card that worked good for me was the tantrum re-direction Unlike some of the historical executive function interventions that are out there, which are kind of game based, the idea was to actually see could we help parents to build the kinds of interactions that we know now actually support the develop of executive function into the things that they do every day Before I started Ready for Routine's workshop, I used to pick out my daughter– I used to pick out her clothes and it was like what I picked out was set in stone
But as I started coming to the workshop and I noticed that I had to allow some change, because it wasn't working Me and my daughter were always getting into some type of confrontation So once I started allowing her to pick out her own clothes, my mornings went smoother Let me help you My one parent, Miss Crystal, I remember when I was recruiting her for the workshop
It's interesting because I didn't think she would come Seeing how she was from the beginning with not really engaging with the other parents or the families in our centers, and just seeing that transformation, now she's telling me how we can improve the classes, and she's bringing resources for me to hang up for the parents I just see such a difference in her It's almost like night and day Can you make my lunch? I'm hungry
It's done I would say my kids got a better mom out of this, a calmer mom Maybe more understanding And they've gotten quality time I used to think that when you have quality time with your child, it had to be an hour or two hours
But, from me taken this training, I learned that every minute counts even if it is five minutes Y'all color, and then you go on and do what it is that you need to do I've learned that every minute counts when it comes to quality time with your child
Parenting Styles
