Daily Parent Drive Thru

Hi parents, teachers, church staff and others who may be reading this blog.

In order to stay active as a Positive Discipline Associate/Trainer, I must attend continuing education workshops at least every other year. The Positive Discipline Association hosts an annual workshop called “Think Tank” and I attended Think Tank this past July in beautiful sunny San Diego, CA. It was my first trip to San Diego and the weather was exactly the way everyone has described it to me. Wow! Everyday it was sunny and dry with a slight breeze.

Jane Nelsen attends every Think Tank so it’s always nice to see her and hear about the wonderful new ideas she has for Positive Discipline. This year Jane was very excited about the Positive Discipline social network on-line called the “Positive Discipline Ning“, which I wrote about in a previous blog post. To me it’s been amazing to see the people on the Ning from outside of the U.S. who are excited about Positive Discipline.

Back to talking about Think Tank, I always learn great things at Think Tank – things like new activities or a new way to adjust the way I teach a concept. Here are a few of the activities I learned:

THINK TREE:

I’ll be adding “Think Tree” to the PRIDE parenting class called “Misbehavior Detectives”. This activity is about feeling the difference between being FIRM, being KIND and being KIND & FIRM at the same time.

CHAINS & WINGS:

This activity had several links to Adlerian concepts including “We do better when we feel better” and “the beauty of encouragement”. I am pretty sure I’m adding this to “Coaching from the Sidelines” PRIDE parenting class.

STEP INTO MY SHOES:

Hmm. Where to put this activity. I will have to look at the schedule to see where I can fit this in . “Step into My Shoes” would work well in both “Misbehavior Detectives” and “Coaching from the Sidelines”. I will have to think on this one. “Step into My Shoes” was a great eye opener for me.

I love going to Think Tank and getting to be the “student” instead of the teacher in parent workshops. A section of Think Tank was done in small break out sections where new trainees (Positive Discipline Associates in Training) led activities. I choose to attend a session where the activities were about teenagers since I’m mom to four teens. I had been a student for these activities years before, but it’s different now that my own kids are teens. I loved learning in the “Teen Power” and “Teen Secrets” activities.

I would love to find a place to teach a “Positive Discipline for Parents of Teens” class. If anyone has any contacts on how to make this possible, e-mail me.