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Parent Express for 21-Feb-2007
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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. It seems that the more the literacy crisis becomes more a focus in our society, many parents worry about their children's reading skills. Can learning to read be made enjoyable, even fun? Can curiosity, discovery, and a love of learning lead? Can children and teens be so motivated to read that they persevere and graciously meet those mental challenges head-on? Today's e-zine features the article, "Beyond the ABC's: Nurturing a Love of Reading" by Kris Meyers. It is packed with practical suggestions that focus on helping children enjoy the process of learning how to read. Kris is a PCI Certified Parent Coach® and reading specialist with over fourteen years experience working with children, teachers and parents. You can visit Kris's website www.beyondtheabcs.com to sign up for her free monthly newsletter which focuses on strategies parents can use to nurture a love of reading and learning at home. One important way to nurture that love of reading is to read aloud to your children. That may seem like very small thing—but it is one of those "small" things that pays huge dividends over time. You will never regret the time you spend in any literacy-building activity with your youngsters. As they grow they will become deep thinkers, beautiful writers, and excellent communicators—all because you did that "small thing" each and every day! So let the reading times roll…and have a lot of fun! 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-minded 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 March 28. 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® 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.
New Podcasts up include: Literacy Development at All Ages and Stages—Gloria DeGaetano interviews Kris Meyers, PCI Certified Parent Coach®, Moneta, Virginia. In a media age, visual images dominate with too much screen time, unfortunately replacing essential family literacy activities. This interview discusses how parents can find the time to enjoy a wide variety of literacy activities and why this is extremely meaningful time to spend with children. Parenting with Intention—Lynn Faherty, PCI Certified Parent Coach® and PCI Instructor, interviews PCI Certified Parent Coach® Raelee Pierce, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, of www.theartofmothering.com. How do we live from our deepest values and keep our top priorities in the midst of hectic schedules and constant demands? An interesting discussion that inspires and motivates by bringing in a lot practical strategies and examples for making good decisions, thoughtfully and deliberately, in the best interests of our children. How Are the Children Doing?—Gloria DeGaetano interviews Lori Kemper, PCI Certified Parent Coach®, Minneapolis, Minnesota of www.theParentingPath.com. The African Masai ask as a greeting, "How are the children?" in order to determine if they are having a good day. If the children are doing well, all is well. Gloria and Lori discuss how US children live with so many negative influences from the media, advertising, and increasing expectations to grow up too soon too fast. We cannot be doing well until they are. Here are some first necessary steps to take to ensure our children's well-being. You can download these podcasts (and a dozen more besides!) for free from the Parent Appreciation Radio Web site or via iTunes.  Beyond the ABCs: Nurtuing a Love of Reading by Kris Meyers, a PCI Certified Parent Coach® In recent years, parents have heard a lot in the media about what is lacking in our school system, and how so many of today's kids can't read. When I worked with 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students as an elementary Reading Specialist, the truth was almost all of my students could technically read. They had learned phonics and appeared to be readers. But what many of them didn't have was an understanding of what they were reading. Instead of more phonics instruction, these students primarily needed help with reading comprehension. They needed to learn how to think. As reading becomes more complex many children begin to struggle simply because they focus too much on sounding out words and they don't take the time to think about what they are reading. When this happens, reading becomes something kids feel they have to do rather than something they want to do. Today there are simply too many children who would rather spend time watching TV or playing video games, than spend time reading, or learning something new, just for the fun of it. Parents naturally want their children to learn how to read well, but are often given mixed messages about what is the best way to help kids learn how to read. In the last decade, the number of "educational" toys, videos, and computer games has increased greatly, and expensive phonics and tutoring programs for children have become common. These products and programs may promise to help children learn to read, but the reality is most of them focus only on teaching basic phonics and reading skills and do little to develop a lifelong love of reading and learning. The good news is whether or not a parent sends their child to a public or private school, or decides to homeschool, parents can nurture a love of reading and learning by moving beyond phonics, beyond the basics, beyond the ABCs.
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Emily Mc Bean, PCI Parent Coach in training (Fairfax, Virginia) was featured in an article in the January 2007 issue of Metro Parent The article is entitled "The New You." Emily talks about the need for, and the positive effects of, parent self-care. Another PCI student, Linda Smith, (Mt. Arlington, New Jersey) was recently interviewed for an article on parent coaching by The Morris Record. This adds to the PCI's growing list of media contacts. The PCI is the first place the media go to interview successful parent coaches all around the country! Gloria De Gaetano was recently interviewed by KLOVE radio. The piece will air on affiliated stations around the country on Sunday, March 11, 8AM Pacific Time. You can go to the Web site to find a station near you or you can listen to the archived segment after it airs. Gloria was contacted to discuss her expertise in parent coaching single parents. Having experience herself as a single mother in the 80's actually propelled her to begin the Parent Coaching Institute in 2000! 
March 8
To engage Gloria DeGaetano for a keynote or workshop, contact her at 425-401-1519 or 1-888-559-4447.
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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This issue of Parent Express was originally published February 21, 2007. Some content, contact information, and links may be out of date, and the conversion from the original email edition may introduce formatting inconsistencies.
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