Your resources for being a better parent start with Parent to Parent!
Check out the websites and publications by the 2008-2009 speakers below:
- Books by Anthony E. Wolf
- Dr. Michael Bradley's website and parent-teen resource
- Jack Agati on Birth Order and other parenting topics
- Sarah Ward and Executive Function Therapy
Favorite quotes:
"If a child is to keep his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in." ~ Rachel Carson
"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." ~Elizabeth Stone
"Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you." ~Robert Fulghum
Helpful blog:
How did Parent to Parent get started?
Excerpts from "Parent to Parent: a Brief History."
"In the spring of 1991, the Administration of the Andover Public Schools, in collaboration with the Health Education Department, targeted strengthening families as one method to provide additional support to the students of Andover. They initiated and paid for a series of parenting seminars titled Parent Power, Peer Pressure and Parent Networking. In the last session a challenge was issued to parents to establish a parent network for support, education and communication between parents and between parent and child. From its inception Parent to Parent sponsored speakers, newsletters, parent workshops, and discussion groups. Parents of children grades 4-8 were the original focus of the group.
Initially the speakers were presented at individual schools and funding was a combination of grant money from the health education’s dept and the particular local school. In 1992, the Pike school joined this fledging organization and began financial support in 1993.
In 1996 Andover Montessori sent a representative to Parent to Parent and in the fall of 1997 contributed financial support, joining the Andover PTOs and the Pike School. Each individual school continues to fund the speaker series. The workshops remain self-funding.
The growth of Parent to Parent led to the development of an organization structure and the election of officers. We moved from a grassroots organization, a few people with a big vision, to co-presidents and a committee structure: marketing, school liaisons, education and speaker.
In the spring of 1996 Parent to parent was honored to receive statewide recognition and an outstanding example of programming the state desired towns to develop. Our community recognition has become widespread and the quality of our program respected."
--Submitted by founding members Susan Joyner, Fran Booth and Paula Sinozich
More favorite quotes:
"If I had my child to raise all over again,
I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I'd finger-paint more, and point the finger less.
I would do less correcting and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging and less tugging."
~Diane Loomans, from "If I Had My Child To Raise Over Again"