I have talked many times in the past about the awesome Beech Acres Parenting Center classes I have attended. I have received so much great information from these classes that I have used to parent my boys. I LOVE what they teach and how they explain it to the every day parent!
They teach off 3 basic principles:
Intentional: Envision and plan for the kind of parent you want to be and the adult you hope your child will become. So thinking about how your child will be as an adult and how you will parent them to reach those hopes you have. Also thinking about what you want them to say about you as they are adults.
Mindfulness: Be fully present and leverage the many teachable parenting moments presented each day. Instead of putting out fires all day, which is totally part of the job description :), be mindful in those moments. This is good for me because it serves as a reminder that even though I feel worn out, exhausted and my patience runs thin, I can TRY to restrain from yelling about the same things the 100th time and really teach my kids in those moments. Now, I am certainly not saying we can be perfect in this, but it serves as a good reminder!
Strength Based: Approaches that identify and nurture parents’ and children’s strengths to achieve family visions and resolve parenting issues. Instead of focusing on the negative or downfalls of ourselves, our children and our family, we focus on the strengths we possess and really nurture those into existence.
Beech Acres offers so many family services including group parenting classes, marital classes, and even parent coaching for a more personal approach. I recently had a parent coaching session and wanted to share my experience with you, since it is much different from the group classes I have attended in the past.
Coaching is a one-on-one intervention to assess parent need and provide parenting information. It’s purpose is to help you define parenting issues and address it through parent education. Although we don’t have any major specific parenting issues at the moment, it was nice to meet with a social worker and just discuss my kids and resources she has to parent my kids ages. I also liked that we met now, while my kids are young and now I am comfortable with her and will be able to call her in the future for any major parenting issues or concerns I have with my boys.
One thing she mentioned that stuck in my mind and something I think is a realistic goal is to give 5 minutes a day of uninterrupted one on one time with each child. This doesn’t include being plugged in, like watching the T.V. with them or playing on the iPad, but could include tucking them into bed at night, reading them a book, playing a board game, wrestling with them or just chatting about their day in the car. This can allow for the relationship between you and your child to become stronger and flourish. I liked this recommendation because I think we have SO many responsibilities as parents and you can read all the parenting books, go to a million classes and leave feeling overwhelmed! So in my opinion, 5 minutes a day of QT with my child should be easy for me in comparison!
Overall, I think this is a great resource for parents and grandparents who are raising children these days. Parenting doesn’t come with a book and it is HARD! I like that Beech Acres has this service because you can dive deeper into your parenting concerns and get some great advice, resources and suggestions to help you be the best parent you can be.
The cost of one parenting session can cost around $100. If you live in Warren or Clinton County the sessions are FREE of charge! If you do not live in those counties, Beech Acres does receive grant money that will usually cover at least half of the cost per session so I would definitely call them to find out what would be right for you and your family! Best of all, they can come to you! We weren’t able to find a good time to come to their offices so the social worker came to our house. It doesn’t get much easier than that!
I would highly recommend checking out Beech Acres and everything they have to offer families! They really are a wonderful resource!
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