The Center’s parenting class, based on the Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP) program, is a seven-week, video-based discussion course that meets once a week for 90 minutes. The focus is on living with and rearing children. The classes are free to parents in the area and are taught annually in selected local elementary schools. Similar programs are offered in middle schools.
What do parents learn?
The ideas in the class are based on the work of Rudolf Dreikurs who believed that children should be responsible for their behavior. Parents learn why their children misbehave and then develop skills to respond to these misbehaviors.
Parents master communication skills that usually improve the atmosphere in the family. They discover how to be encouraging rather than discouraging. And they begin to focus on what is important and learn how to sidestep unnecessary power struggles.
Many unexpected benefits are realized. For example, parents frequently report that the principles learned in class help them work more successfully with other adults in their lives or in their workplaces.
Most parents soon realize that without education they tend to rear their children the same way their parents reared them. There is nothing wrong with this, but times change. Children’s lives are more complicated today, and society provides relentless temptations and pressures.
How can I participate as a parent?
If you are interested in parent education programs, call your child’s school counselor to find out when the next class is offered, or call the Center.
Seven weeks will pass quickly whether or not you take this course – think how much better off you may be in seven weeks if you invest 90 minutes each week to talk with other parents and professionals about your family!