Hello ,

In talking with some of the youth group families I have seen that not every parent has other parents (and especially other multi-cultural families) to walk besides them in their journey as a parent. Many of you are in a unique situation where you are raising your children in a culture that is different from your own or your spouses. This raises a unique set of parenting issues. So I have been looking for ways to connect the families who have children involved in the youth group and to offer tools to equip them. In my search I found that a good friend of mine, Kristen (Blanden) Montigny, was offering a course based on the Faber-Mazlish books and studies called "How to Talk So Your Kids Will Listen and Listen So Your Kids Will Talk." (And who doesn't want that?!) My hope it to get a group of parents to go through the workshop together. Focusing in on this area of life will improve it and lead to growth as you learn new things about yourself and your family. It is also a great chance to meet some new people.

Come to the information day;
Kristen will be doing an information day to share some of the details of the workshops and answer any questions that you might have. Timing will be based on your availability so please let me know what time is best for you; weekday mornings, weekday evenings, or weekends and please respond with a 'yes 'or 'no' to let us know if you are interested.

About the Workshops...
The goal of the How To Talk So Kids Will Listen Workshop is to give you practical, effective methods of communication that will make your relationship with children of all ages less stressful and more rewarding.

You’ll learn how to:
° Handle children’s negative emotions, their anger, frustration, deception, sadness in a way that communicates your understanding and support while maintaining healthy boundaries…
° Encourage their cooperation and motivate them to participate willingly in everyday tasks without the battle of the wills…
° Avoid resorting to punishment and allowing children the opportunity to change their negative behavior and make amends for their mistakes…
° Encourage children to maximize their potential, develop their autonomy and increase their self confidence
° Enable them to stop playing roles and behaving like the bully, the lazy one, the slow learner, the slob….
° Resolve family conflicts in a calm and respectful environment.

How The Workshops Function
In each of the 7 sessions the group explores different communication and relational themes. Each session presents a variety of communication tools and the opportunity to put them into practice through exercises, role-plays, comic strips…etc. The purpose of the exercises is to consider a variety of solutions to the problems we face in our adult/child relations and to see how we can adapt these tools to our individual needs.

About Kristen...
Kristen is both a teacher and personal coach for adults and the mother of two lovely children. Kristen began training adults in France in 1997 at the end of her university studies. She has been using How To Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk since October of 2006. After observing positive improvements in her own family’s relations, she felt compelled to share these methods with other adults. So she attended a Facilitator Training with Roseline Roy and Dr. Sophie Benkemoun in Paris in May 2007 and is currently facilitating the How To Talk Workshops in English and in French in Aix-en-Provence.

I will be attending the workshops and information days along with several parents who have already signed up. So I hope that you take this opportunity too!

Hope to see you there,
Adam