Spring Parenting Group: Group 1

I will be using this website to update parents about the recommended reading material and online resources that compliment a face-to-face Parenting Group that is happening through May 14th.

Parenting Group: March 19, 2008

We explored our intentions for the group, group agreements (norms for how we wish to be together) and "What We Wish Someone Had Taught Us." Here is a list of what some past parents had wished they had be taught.

We talked about various elements of the brain. I mentioned some of the work of Jill Bolte Taylor. You can view her talk in the video below. We discussed how a challenge is to use both halves of our brain... to stay in the present moment, be attentive to what is happening right now with ourselves and the child. At the same time, we can be be noticing the details, inquiring about motivations, recognizing our own needs and feelings, recognizing the child's needs and feelings, and choosing how to respond from the myriad of possibilities.

Here is a quote from Daniel Siegel:

"The brain is an associational organ and matches present firing patterns with those of the past. The brain is an anticipation machine - linking the present with what it expects in the future based on experiences in the past."

View the original source, a Power Point Presentation.

We ended the group with a Parents Helping Parents process, generating ideas for a particularly challenging situation that one parent brought forth.

Recommended Reading from the CD

• Breathing Room story
• Responding Consciously and Compassionately
• Resources for Caring Adults: Supporting Social and Emotional Well-being
• Understanding Behavior Through the Adlerian Approach

Brain Info found on the CD

• Brain in Hand
• Mirror Neurons

If you have time and interest, please also take a moment to look through the other reading materials and if there is information that it is important for you that we cover during our group, please let me know.

Thanks.