I have been teaching parent education classes for 30 years, and have taught expectant parents and parents of kids from birth through elementary school. Sometimes the same family would take many classes, but I also had many I only taught for a short time.
But, next year, I’ll be working in a program as their sole parent educator across all age levels, where the hope is that most families will return every year. So, I have to make sure my parent education sessions are differentiated so that they don’t feel like they’re getting the same thing again and again. There will be some key concepts that are taught at every level as a throughline, but each year has a different focus.
September – Brain Development; How Kids Learn
Overall concept: 4 keys to brain development – novelty (new experiences), repetition (the chance to do things again and again till you master them), down time (no pressure, child led, “puttering around” time), all taking place within a safe and loving environment.
Age-Based Focus Ideas:
- Toddler 1: Serve and Return; Temperament
- Toddler 2: Balancing Child-Led and Parent-Led Time, Active vs. Passive Toys
- Preschool (age 3 – 5): Supporting Learning in the Play-Based Classroom; Scaffolding
- Tinkerers (STEM, age 3 – 6): Building a Toolbox – Exposing Child to Variety of Ideas and Experiences Lays a Foundation for Future Learning
- Engineers (STEM, age 5 – 8): Stretching Learning beyond Classroom Skills
October – Discipline – Helping Kids Learn How to Be Good
Overall concept: The Discipline Toolbox. You set the stage for success with a loving relationship, understanding of their capabilities, predictable routines, and clear expectations. When they get off track, you re-focus and re-direct. When consequences are needed, ensure they are developmentally appropriate, and proportional, then move on.
Age-Based Focus Ideas:
- Toddler 1: Relationship, Responsiveness, Role Modeling, Distracting
- Toddler 2: Routines – What to Expect and What’s Expected of Them; Re-Directing
- Preschool: Same as Tinkerers, with a focus on applying in our preschool classroom
- Tinkerers: Fixing Chronic Issues; Consequences – When/Then vs. If/Then
- Engineers: How Your Approach to Discipline Changes as They Get Older
November – Emotional Intelligence
Overall Concepts: Talking to kids about emotions, and teaching skills for how to manage them helps build skills that are essential to their future relationships, success and happiness. Rather than rescuing them from sadness, teach that they can recover from it. Emotions can lead to bad behavior – you can validate their feelings while still holding limits.
Age-Based Focus Ideas:
- Toddler 1: Emotional Literacy – Learning to Recognize their Feelings; Co-Regulation
- Toddler 2: Flipped Lid – Managing Meltdowns; Teaching Appropriate Expression
- Preschool: Self-Calming Skills; All Feelings Are OK, but all behaviors are not
- Tinkerers: as above, plus Managing Frustration and Perfectionism when Tinkering
- Engineers: Zones of Regulation
December – Self Care and Relationship Skills for Parents
Overall concept: The Oxygen Mask metaphor – if parents don’t take care of themselves, they run out of the energy and patience needed to take care of their children. So, self-care is important! And healthy relationships (with all the people in our lives) help us to feel safe, happy and supported, which makes us better parents. So, that’s our focus in December.
Age-Based Focus Ideas:
- Toddler 1: Finding Time for Self Care / The Self Care Pie
- Toddler 2: Your Village: Relationships with Extended Family, Friends
- Preschool and Tinkerers: I alternate – one year preschool gets topic A while Tinkerers gets B, then they flip for the next year
- Prioritizing Your Self Care Needs; Love Languages
- 6 Skills for Healthy Relationships (with partner, friends, co-workers, kids)
- Engineers: Relationship Skills; Spending Time on Yourself
January – Development: Raising a Well-Rounded Child
Overall concept: Much of our culture is focused on a few areas of development with academic skills like reading and math getting a lot of attention. But physical skills, social-emotional skills, and independent problem solving are equally important. How do we help support our children’s learning in all these areas?
Age-Based Focus Ideas:
- Toddler 1: Developmental Milestones, Supporting Your Child’s Development
- Toddler 2: ASQ Screening; Helping Your Child Grow in All Areas
- Preschool: Kindergarten Readiness; Structured Learning vs. Child-Led
- Tinkerers: Ten Types of Intelligence
- Engineers: Supporting Academics; Extracurriculars: Breadth, Depth, and Downtime
February – Children’s Relationships
Overall concept: Helping our children development friendship skills is important! This includes turn taking and sharing (when developmentally appropriate), learning how to join in play and invite others to play with you, and learning about conflict resolution.
Age-Based Focus Ideas:
- Toddler 1: Language Development (we also do nutrition this month)
- Toddler 2: Sibling Relationships, Only Children, Adding a New Baby; Playdates
- Preschool: Supporting Friendship Skills in our Classroom
- Tinkerers: Building Social Skills – Practicing at Home and with Friends
- Engineers: Dealing with Rejection and Relationship Challenges – Internal Locus
March – Mirrors and Windows, Roots and Wings
Overall concept: When children are rooted in a strong family connection, it helps them be bold enough to venture out and explore. When they know their family culture and see it reflected in books, movies and other activities, it helps them know they belong and they matter. When they have windows into other people’s lives and experiences, it develops empathy and appreciation of diversity.
Age-Based Focus Ideas:
- Toddler 1: Cultural Identity and Family Traditions, Bilingual Children
- Toddler 2: Mirrors and Windows – Choosing Toys, Books, Movie and Activities that Help Your Child Feel Seen AND That Help Them See Other Perspectives
- Preschool: Talking about Differences – Learning to Appreciate Diversity
- Tinkerers: “Sorting by Category” or Taxonomy is a Key Science Skill, So Why Are We So Surprised When Our Kids Make Statements about Stereotypes?
- Engineers: Navigating Your Child’s Growing Independence; Differentiation
April – Raising Bold Kids
Overall concept: It may be tempting to want to protect your child from all harm, but they learn by exploring and taking risks, they learn through mistakes and trying again, a few bumps and bruises teach the importance of appropriate caution, and they learn they can recover from disappointment if we don’t rescue them every time they’re sad. How do we balance all this?
Age-Based Focus Ideas:
- Toddler 1: Safety and Injury Prevention; Separation Anxiety
- Toddler 2: Balancing Safety and Exploration; Time Outdoors
- Preschool: Independence, Growth-Based Mindset, Resilience
- Tinkerers: Why Kids Like to Take Risks – Supporting Exploration within Safe Limits
- Engineers: Challenging without Pressuring – Finding the Right Levels
May – Becoming the Parent You Want to Be
Overall concept: There is no one right way to be a good parent. There are lots of parenting approaches that are quite successful! But knowing what style of parent you want to be, and thinking about what your eventual goals are for your child can give you a long-term vision. When juggling day-to-day demands, we might sometimes fall short of that, or sometimes our child’s needs of the moment change our plans. But having a vision and being intentional helps us to stay on track toward our goals.
Age-Based Focus Ideas:
- Toddler 1: Simplicity Parenting – How Much is Enough, How Much is too Much?
- Toddler 2: Course Correcting – What Happens When We Have a Bad Parenting Day and Aren’t Living Up to Our Own Expectations about What a “Good Parent” Is?
- Preschool: Parenting Style – Are You Your Child’s Boss? Their Friend? A Friendly Boss? Do You Tell Them What’s Best for Them, Or Listen to Their Ideas about That?
- Tinkerers: The Road Map – What is Your Eventual Destination, and Are You Heading That Way Today?
- Engineers: Being an Askable Parent – Talking about Difficult Topics