The group for Parents of Children and Teens with ADHD has a new meeting day, time and place –

Eastside Parents’ Meetup – 3rd Thursday

February 16th – This is the first meeting in the new location!

Meeting will run from 7pm – 8:45pm
 at Mercer Island Library

4400 88th Ave SE

Mercer Island, WA 98040

206-239-3537

This group is facilitated by ADHD Coach, Jill Murphy.

I’m sure you’ve all been holding your breath, just waiting for the news — WHAT could it BE?  A new Boeing model?  A peaceful resolution between those two dissenting nations?…(YOU know the ones!)  The unveiling of a new recipe for egg-less meringue or a creme-less brulee?  

 No, it’s even better than THAT!

 Many of you know that I am a parenting educator for two outstanding parenting programs.  The tools I found in Developing Capable Young People in 1993 enabled me to turn around “parenting from the hip” methods with five kids into parenting with connection and compassion, while maintaining authority by being firm AND kind.

 What a difference it has made for me and many others.

 I later trained in the Positive Discipline  program in 2002 and found additional ways to help learning to happen in some fun and meaningful ways.  Now you can turn challenges into opportunities to learn and grow, and get back to being a peaceful family again.

 Join us at our next presentation of classes.  Start now to complete in time for the holidays.

 Parenting classes will begin Sunday, September 26th and continue for ten weeks until November 28th, 6-8:30pm, at the Marysville location of New Hope Counseling and Services (you can find that information at the locations tab of this website.)

The cost will be $100 for one parent or a couple from the same family – plus the cost of books, about $50, advanced payment required.  I will order books as soon as I have  a clear number of committed (paid) participants.

If finances present a problem, please contact me and we can discuss possibilities.  Scholarships may be available.

There is no room for childcare at the facility and arrangement of childcare will be the parents’ responsibility.

Feel free to inquire  by email at skosh@skosh.org or text or call to (425) 330-3898.

I have GREAT NEWS! 

The PowerPoint presentation titled “How To Help Our Kids Get on the Right Track With Communication and Social Skills” given at the Issaquah Middle School Seminar is now available online.  (Just click the title above, and another box will open up with the presentation.) 

I’m so glad because I’ve included so much information that I frequently give in parenting classes and counseling sessions that often gets forgotten quickly because there is SO MUCH TO LEARN! 

It’s hard to change our style of relating when there is so much to remember. 

This is the nuts and bolts information that offers alternatives to reacting and opens up opportunities for connection, modeling, and developing skills for you with anyone.  With the open-ended questions, we can help others with processing difficult situations and feelings, or help with learning from their mistakes.  (Mistakes are SUCH GREAT opportunities to LEARN!)  And we can model respectful communication instead of reinforcing with our behavior the very behaviors that we want others to stop doing.  We can foster deeper relationships which is the greatest protection we can give against promiscuous sex, addictions, and the rise of crime.  (A blog about connecting and the positive effects on self-esteem will follow on another day.)

By contributing to our little community, which could be our family or our workplace or our team, we help others find the importance of communication (connecting), of working together (cooperation), of being open to trying new ideas or focusing on solutions instead of problems (creativity), and of giving to benefit others (contributing), and this is a GREAT way to counteract our culture of self-centeredness (propelled by low self-esteem) which leads to unhealthy competitiveness and materialism (and probably many other negative outcomes.)

One might think – what is so special about THIS information? 

But these very basic principles are applied by communicators throughout many different settings, from homes, to schools, to the workplace, and even in the efforts toward global reconciliation.  These simple-appearing skills have phenomenal possibilities.

So take a look at that PowerPoint presentation and please feel free to let me know what you think of it.  You can email me at skosh@skosh.org or leave a comment below.  I’ll look forward to hearing from you!  And thanks for coming to Hard Wired!