Parent Express for 13-Dec-2005

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

Parent Express is being sent to you because you have attended one of my workshops or you or a colleague has indicated an interest in our research-based information.

We do not give your e-mail address out to anyone. You may unsubscribe anytime, by clicking the button below.

I invite you to tune into my new radio show, Parent Appreciation Radio. It airs every Saturday at 11 a.m. (Pacific Time) on 1150AM. Out-of-town folks can listen live on the web at www.1150KKNW.com. The show features PCI coaches and other guests discussing issues of importance to today's parents. Moms and Dads call in and receive practical tips and lots of understanding from an appreciative perspective. Parents tell their stories and what has worked for them, so that all our listeners can benefit. We need to hear the real stories by real moms and dads more often. With the media-drenched negativity that we all live under such stories bring us hope, inspiration, and creative energy.

We are now taking applications for Spring Quarter 2006, to begin phone classes in March. Receive your course materials early and start your training year at a leisurely rate. If you are a forward-thinking professional with an undergraduate degree and a deep calling to work with parents, welcome home. We seek the “best of the best” for our acclaimed distance-learning Parent Coach Certification Training Program™. Please click here for more information.

As a PCI Certified Parent Coach™ you'll have the opportunity to create a parent coaching practice, working with moms and dads who want to take their parenting to the next level. Call Anne Juhlian, our Director of Admissions, for more information: 425-753-8822 or email: anne@thepci.com.

You are going to be amazed at what a PCI Parent Coach can do for you and your family!

PCI Certified Parent Coaches™ are caring, thoughtful professionals with years of experience working with parents. PCI Certified Parent Coaches™ 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.

Moms and Dads, tune in every Saturday morning at 11 a.m. on 1150 AM for true understanding, authentic affirmation, and real-world solutions to parenting challenges while sharing laughter and conversation. We want to hear your stories too! So call us on Saturday! In the Seattle area, call 425-373-5527. Out of town, call 888-298-5569. Listen to us on the web: www.1150kknw.com

Upcoming topics:

Children's Creative Thinking in the Face of Commercialism

by Rachel Eden, M.A.

(Rachel Eden, a PCI Course Instructor and PCI Certified Parent Coach™, is a partner in Sound Parent Coaching. This article has many ideas for keeping our children's creativity alive this holiday season, and beyond.)

I have made informed choices about childbirth, vaccinations, fluoride, diet and which diapers to use. I have read numerous articles and books about parenting, and involved myself in a community of people with similar child-rearing philosophies. All of this has helped define who I am as a parent, to pull together the values I find important, and to make conscious decisions about parenting my child in the face of conventional "wisdom." Despite this proactive approach, I find myself awakening to the realization that there is a powerful element in our midst which will do its best to undermine the efforts I'm taking to raise my child consciously.

One aspect of this powerful element has inspired ongoing discussions about the way in which the ad campaigns of companies are training our children to be consumers. The earlier a company wins the loyalty of a child, the longer that child will be attached to the products that company produces. This correlation has been studied and made effective through input by psychologists and marketing analysts. According to Dr. Susan Linn, Associate Director of the Media Center of the Judge Baker Children's Center, American children influence about $50 billion of spending per year and spend $9 billion of their own money. (1) It is no wonder that corporations take such an interest in marketing to children. But, there's a second, subtler aspect to this phenomenon that has crept into my awareness more and more lately and as much as I'd like to ignore it and pretend it will go away, I can't.

This realization is that the corporate mergers over the last ten years gives these conglomerates the power not only to influence our children's minds but to monopolize the images and material that shapes their consciousness and thus tramples their own innate creativity.

The effects of commercialism are like an undercurrent that I can't always put my finger on but I'm beginning to see it rearing its ugly head in my work as an elementary school teacher and as the parent of a two-year-old. The consumer aspect bothers me — the playing with children's minds so they'll become avid shoppers — but I'm more appalled and frightened by the effect commercialism has on the creativity and innovation of our children.

Read more.

Jen Mangan, PCI Course Instructor and PCI Certified Parent Coach™ has landed herself a weekly segment, The Parent Coach, on Chicago Fox TV. Every Monday, Jen appears and discusses issues of importance to parents, using a positive, strength-based PCI coaching approach.

Jen also added to her growing media exposure with a feature interview on her parent coaching practice for Christian Parenting Today. You can read this great article at: http://www.christianitytoday.com
/cpt/2005/003/18.36.html

Chris Christensen, PCI Certified Parent Coach™ and partner in Sound Parent Coaching wrote a wonderful holiday article for the Bainbridge Island Buzz on self-care…with a twist. Leave it to the thoughtfulness of Chris to come up with a most relevant article on self-care. Check it out at http://www.bainbridgebuzz.com/
buzz.cgi/Conversation/MindBody
Spirit/holidaycare.html

Workshop, Re-Directing Media-Driven Kids, by Gloria DeGaetano, Friday, Feb. 3, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Bellevue, WA. For parents and for professionals working with families. If you are sick and tired about media's negative influences on the children and teens you love, then this workshop is for you! Based on Gloria's extensive research, participants receive practical tools and strategies that work and can be easily implemented at home or in classroom. No need to let our kids become corporate clones or media drones. Using Gloria's proven brain-compatible techniques, participants learn sure-fire ways to ignite children's full potential and avoid potential and predictable pit-falls of a media culture. Participants receive a free copy of Parenting Well in a Media Age, along with another one of Gloria's books or curriculum manuals of their choice. Cost: $109.00. Registrations accepted now by calling 425-401-1519. Purchase Orders may be faxed to: 425-401-1572. Space Limited.

To engage Gloria DeGaetano for a keynote or workshop, contact her at 425-401-1519 or 1-888-599-4447.

Workshop, Appreciation in Action, Using Gratitude as a Catalyst for Positive Change, with interfaith minister Jamal Rahman, Friday, March 3, 8:30 a.m. to noon in Bellevue. Jamal will energize and excite you with his insights and understandings of the power of appreciation. A popular speaker, author, and nationally recognized leader, Jamal conveys the essence of core values for true success, optimal workplace performance and for staying peaceful and centered on our chosen path. Learn a vocabulary of hope to use with your colleagues, spouses, or children. Enjoy Jamal's humor, wit, and dedication to making this world a better place by helping us to show up as our best selves. Jamal's latest book, The Fragrance of Faith, will be available for purchase. Cost: $79.95 This is a popular workshop so registrations are accepted now by calling 425-401-1519. Purchase Orders may be faxed to: 425-401-1572. Space Limited.

Grow Compassion The holidays are a good time to remind us that compassion is a quality that allows love in our life, all year long. Take some quiet moments with your family over the next few weeks to talk about compassion toward others, and yes, even compassion toward ourselves, and how compassion helps us build character and integrity. Here are some discussion starters to try: Recall an incident with another person when it was easy for you to show compassion toward him/her. What factor/s made this so for you? Recall an incident with another person when it was difficult to show compassion toward him/her. What factor/s made this so for you? Recall an incident where a person felt moved in some way by the compassion you showed him/her. How did this affect you?