Part One: Guest Interview
Gloria, founder of (The Parent Coaching InstitutePCI) and author of Parenting Well in a Media Age, talks with PCI Certified Parent Coach® Peggy Fitzpatrick, educator and the owner of Parent Resources, LLC. Peggy Fitzpatrick offers parent coaching, parenting classes and support programs that help everydayparents meet the challenges of raising children and strengthening their parent/child relationship. As a mom of 6 grown children (and grandmother of 7) Peggy’s real world experiences combine well with her professional training to make parents feel comfortable discussing their challenges, and then co-create solutions in a safe non-judgmental environment to achieve the family life they envision.
Do you know what is the most significant factor in high school students getting high SAT scores for college entrance? Are the high scorers those who have high grades? OR Those who come from educated families? OR Those who are wealthy? Well, those are important factors, but not the most significant factor. The most significant factor is how often those high school students talked with their parents as elementary students in family conversations over dinner. YES! Family dinner nights with our children give them a major boost for doing well on college entrance exams.
Yet, as our world rapidly changes with technological advancements family mealtime suffers. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to gather family members. And when they do gather, chances are each individual has their head in a smart phone or a digital tablet. Sadly, a rich opportunity for relationship building is missed.
In this podcast, Peggy shares concrete ideas and creative ways to think about the family meal. She calls it the “family glue” that holds the family together. How true! The gathering around food is such fabulous opportunity for group nurturing—having fun together, building family memories and building relationships at the same time—in a caring, loving environment, what can be more powerful! Family meals also teach kids the art of conversation—a dying art in a digital age, sadly. Tweeting and posting do not allow for listening to the other. It’s that simple, yet that complicated—how to make time to make sure family mealtime is a priority? Peggy provides compelling information that hopefully will compel you to make family time a priority!
Parent Two: The Parent Coaching Corner™
The Parent Coaching Corner will resume with the January 13, 2014 podcast.