Parent Express for 19-Jan-2007

Welcome to Parent Express, the PCI e-zine! Here you will find updates on the Parent Coaching Institute, along with ideas and practical tips for the parenting journey.

January, named after Janus, the Roman god with two faces, reminds us to look back to assess, and to look forward to anticipate. In looking back, the PCI had a very productive 2006 with many growth activities including 25 new people coming into our parent coach program and new support activities in place for our graduates. We were also very fortunate with media interest. My appearance on The Today Show in March and the PCI being mentioned or featured in various newspapers and magazines around the country are certainly evidence of growing interest in what we provide for moms and dads. With my autumn trips to South Korea and Turkey to speak to parent educators about our model, 2006 ended as an amazing year, indeed.

In looking ahead to 2007, we are excited about new projects that align with our principles and priorities. One of those projects is the formation of a non-profit entity, so we can provide PCI Parent Coaching to more individuals, organizations, and businesses. Keep posted for ongoing updates!

I hope that you consider the wise advice from Alex Blumencranz, parent educator and PCI Certified Parent Coach™. (See featured article below.) Regular family mealtimes can be the quintessential parenting strategy that supports your child's development on many levels. The research on this fact is clear. (See Parenting Tip below.)

I encourage you to start off 2007 with more regular family meals. If you do, in January 2008 you will look back with satisfaction, and even amazement, at your child's cognitive and emotional growth.

Many blessings to you and your family,

Gloria DeGaetano, Founder and CEO

"I am extremely motivated, excited and energized by all that has occurred within the PCI."

That's how one of our students, Gina Harlow-Mote (Dallas, Texas) expresses her enthusiasm for what we are co-creating at the PCI. We are more than a training program, we are an institute building a productive community of like-mined individuals all around the world who share the same vision of helping parents in these complex times.

If you feel a calling to work with moms and dads in an innovative way; or if you are already working with parents and want to discover, exciting ideas, fresh approaches and new tools to add to your experience, contact us. We require candidates to have an undergraduate degree and at least two years of either professional or volunteer experience working with parents.

We are now taking applications to begin Spring Quarter. Application deadline is March 1 for phone classes and distance-learning program to begin the third week of March. The application fee of $100 is waived for applications received on or before February 15. For an application form and information packet please call: 425-401-1519 or email: info@thepci.com.

Learn more about our acclaimed, graduate-level, distance-learning Parent Coach Certification(R) Program by clicking here for more information.

Check out our Video About the PCI Parent Coach Training Program and see what professionals think about their training with the PCI.

Gloria DeGaetano, Founder and CEO

Working with a parent coach who has received Parent Coach Certification® through the PCI is giving yourself a valuable gift as well as a sound investment in your family's future. PCI Certified Parent Coaches™ are caring, thoughtful professionals with years of experience working with parents. They have successfully completed the PCI Parent Coach Certification® Training Program—a comprehensive academic one-year, graduate-level program in collaboration with Seattle Pacific University. Through a series of coaching conversations that can be either by telephone or in person, PCI Parent Coaches help you re-discover your dreams and design your life for more joy and satisfaction.

To find a PCI Parent Coach in your area, please click here or call 425-401-1519 for a referral to a PCI Parent Coach selected especially for you.

New Podcasts up include:

Positive Psychology: How It Can Help Moms and Dads—Gloria DeGaetano interviews Dr. Holly Schiffrin, associate professor at Mary Washington University and PCI Certified Parent Coach®. They discuss the important implications of the new research that can help parents discover their "signature strengths."

How We Keep It Together and How We Fall Apart: The High Road and the Low Road—Lynn Faherty, PCI Certified Parent Coach® and PCI Instructor, interviews PCI Certified Parent Coach® Raelee Pierce from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. A lively discussion with a many practical strategies for staying calm, cool, and somewhat collected during those trying times inevitable to all good parents everywhere.

The Benefits of the PCI Parent Coach Training Program—Gloria DeGaetano, talks with Connie Anderson, Bellevue, Washington, PCI Parent Coach™ in training. The benefits of the comprehensive year-long training at a graduate-level through Seattle Pacific University is discussed in relation to attracting parents to the coaching process.

You can download these podcasts (and a dozen more besides!) for free from the Parent Appreciation Radio Web site or via iTunes.

The Importance of Eating Together as a Family

by Alexandra Blumencranz, a PCI Certified Parent Coach™

Who remembers when eating dinner together meant a civilized meal around the table with thoughtful conversation and a well-deserved break from a busy day? Even if it was later in the evening because of hectic schedules, dinner was a chance to be together and catch up on the family's news. For most of us, however, the idea of sitting down as a family for any meal seems like an impossibility because of the myriad of activities and priorities that have crept into our everyday lives. These days, families rush through life because of work schedules, school schedules and after-school activities. If the family does happen to be home at the same time, invariably the TV takes precedence over thoughtful conversation, serving a few purposes…"entertaining" the kids so that they eat what's in front of them, allowing the parents to catch up on current events and giving everyone a few minutes of quiet time before the chaos ensues again.

Another popular scenario is that the kids eat first and are then sent off so that the adults can eat together later. What ever happened to eating as a family? To sharing with everyone how the day went? To coming together as a unit instead of just on holidays? How old do the kids have to be for this to actually become a reality? The answer is that even with an infant, meals can become a special family time every day that allows all members to regroup and strengthen the shared bond. If these values are instilled from the beginning and the parents understand the importance of this time together, the family meal will become a reality that continues as the children grow through not only early years but the teenage years and beyond.

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We have had some problems with our on-line bookstore. We are glad to announce that the problems have been corrected and those of you who were trying to order books can now do so by going to http://thepci.com/bookstore.htm. You can also order books by calling toll free 1-888-559-4447 between the hours of 9AM and 4PM, Pacific Time.

The Parent Coaching Institute and Little Red School House (Everett, WA) have made the first-cut off for a joint grant on parent coaching. Washington Council for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect has selected our proposal as one of twelve in Washington State for further review. If funded, PCI parent coaching services will be offered to selected parents for one year, with two staff from Little Red Schoolhouse trained in the PCI coaching model so they can provide PCI parent coaching beyond the first year. We will know by late spring/early summer if the project will be funded.

We welcome Debby Weidner, PCI Certified Parent Coach™, to our staff. Debby will work three days a week. (T, Wed., Th.) as Program Coordinator, helping with the increasing administrative duties and daily support of our students and grads.

March 8
Gloria DeGaetano will present an all-day workshop for parents at Chemeketa Community College, Salem, Oregon. Participants will read her book, Parenting Well in a Media Age beforehand. Part of the day will be exploring issues presented in the book's Discussion Guide. For more information, please contact pditteri@chemeketa.edu.

March 9–10
Gloria DeGaetano will be delivering the keynote address and several workshops for parents and early childhood educators at the PCPO Conference in Portland, Oregon. For more information, please contact teachermarty@integrity.com or visit www.oregonpreschools.org.

To engage Gloria DeGaetano for a keynote or workshop, contact her at 425-401-1519 or 1-888-559-4447.

Know the Research about Family Meals The following can spur you to find the time for more family meals! The National Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University found that children who eat five or more times per week with their parents get A and B grades 40% more often than students who don't. Teens who have regular family meals are 50% less likely to get into fights, smoke, drink, do drugs, get depressed, consider suicide, or have sex. Those who get high scores on the SAT College Entrance Exams were those students who as children, ate regular meals with their parents. It seems vocabulary development and high order thinking skills are natural outcomes of family conversations. Children who eat most of their meals with their families have strong self-esteem and a greater sense of identity and belonging.

If you are considering our training program, this article will be of interest!

Why Choose Parent Coaching as a Career?

by Gloria DeGaetano

Parent coaching is a uniquely rewarding profession. Jennifer Mangan, a writer and PCI Certified Parent Coach™ in the Chicago area, refers to parent coaching as a "vocation." Many of our parent coaches speak of it as a "special calling." A calling, a personal mission is "not a means of a livelihood, but life itself."

In his book, The Re-Invention of Work, Matthew Fox, Creation Spirituality theologian points out:

"We all need our calling for our spiritual existence; we need work that is more than a livelihood, that is life itself. As Thomas Aquinas observed, 'to live well is to work well, or display a good activity.' Living and working go together, and our work is about displaying the beautiful, displaying our being, displaying our truth, displaying life…"

In parent coaching, we not only display life, we entice more aliveness. So many parents living in today's techno-isolating world, are out of touch, literally and figuratively, with their own aliveness and with the joy of parenting. As children are increasingly seen as "deficits" within a mechanistic public educational system, and treated as objects within our consumer-dominated culture, parenting becomes extremely stressful. In fact, most parental challenges come from factors, not of the parents' making or choosing.

Parent coaching can be a tremendously useful avenue for parents to re-discover and better appreciate their own creativity, authentic voice, and personal power. Both for the coach and the parent, parent coaching is a sacred profession that celebrates life and gives hope.

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