Some of us hear “skills” and think of multiplication routines, spelling rules, and other dreary relics from fifth grade, but my favorite skills are the social and emotional ones. Yum. I did my research in graduate school on how classroom teachers can teach kids the skills they need to cooperate better with each other, and now, as a parent, I work with adults, mostly other parents, to help them learn concrete ways of getting along better with the kids they care so much for. And I’ll be honest – one of the major reasons I love this gig is that by supporting other parents as they improve communication skills, I get the bonus reward of helping myself become a more effective and connected mom to my own kids.
There are lots of parenting blogs out there (hooray, because we all can learn so much from one another), and they are all as different as the parents who write them. As I embark on the journey of this blog, my intention is to share about communication skills that can help adults interact more positively with children, because unfortunately for us, children do not arrive with a neat little booklet of operating instructions in six languages. I will post stories of how I used (or failed to use) particular parenting skills in my own family as well as stories from the parent participants in my workshops, with their permission, of course. I am also excited to share my reflections about other resources that inspire me – books, articles, videos, etc.
By the time you’ve tried the tool in today’s next post, you won’t believe you ever lived without it.
I hope you enjoy reading and I welcome your comments!
~Cynthia
There are lots of parenting blogs out there (hooray, because we all can learn so much from one another), and they are all as different as the parents who write them. As I embark on the journey of this blog, my intention is to share about communication skills that can help adults interact more positively with children, because unfortunately for us, children do not arrive with a neat little booklet of operating instructions in six languages. I will post stories of how I used (or failed to use) particular parenting skills in my own family as well as stories from the parent participants in my workshops, with their permission, of course. I am also excited to share my reflections about other resources that inspire me – books, articles, videos, etc.
By the time you’ve tried the tool in today’s next post, you won’t believe you ever lived without it.
I hope you enjoy reading and I welcome your comments!
~Cynthia