Letter from the Director

Dear Parents,

Everyday is a busy day if you are a parent. Everyone has so much to do and with the internet, laptops, cell phones, pagers and Palm Pilots only a "beep" away as Jane Nelsen explains in her book, Positive Discipline for Working Parents, parents face the daily challenge of keeping work and family separate. There is no easy solution to this technology invasion but it is well known that it is critical for us to make time for our children.

One of the most important aspects of spending time with our children is that we must be fully present and engaged when we are spending time with our children. The greatest gift we can give our children is the gift of time. Even as busy parents we can find ways to help our children feel special. We can start with the following nine ways to make our children feel important and special to us:

Take time for hugs.

Spend regularly scheduled special time with our children.

Try closet listening. Closet listening is when you are near to your children, hoping they will talk with you, but not obvious about it. For a detailed description of closet listening read pgs. 186 and 187 in the book, Positive Discipline for Working Parents.

Write love notes to your children and tuck them in lunch boxes, on pillows, or on mirrors.

Invite children to run errand with you.

Share the day's sad and happy times during the bedtime routine.

Ask for help.

Hold weekly family meetings.

Take time for effective communication.

When you feel like there are not enough hours in the day and that you are not spending the quality family time that you would like with your children, review this list and maybe it will give you an idea as to how you and your family can become more fulfilled as a family while balancing the work load.

Sincerely,

Vicki Kennedy
Director

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