Community Parent Education Night

A few weeks ago I was asked to participate in a fantastic Community Education Parent Night that our school puts on every year.  Tonight I was honored to participate and be among these other professionals in teaching some great classes to help any parent brush up on skills or learn some new ones.  The classes were on parenting kids through anxiety, becoming a Love and Logic parent (highly recommend these books and classes), how fitness and nutrition affect learning, sibling rivalry and conflicts, how to handle bullying and teasing, and kids and anger.  I was asked to teach a class on making our families a priority and family traditions.  My tag line was, "With homework, sports, and electronics, today more than ever, it is hard to make time for family.  Family traditions and relaxing family free time are hard to come by.  I will give tips, ideas, and strategies to battle the everyday distractions that keep us from making our families #1".  Catchy, huh?  Anyone who knows me knows I'm super passionate about this kind of stuff, and I loved what I learned as I spent some time researching and reflecting on this subject.  

We discussed a lot (obviously too much for a blog post), but two of my favorite quotes are, first by Former First lady Barbara Bush who said it beautifully to the graduating students at Wellesley College, "As important as your obligations as a doctor, lawyer, or business leader will be, you are a human being first, and those human connections - with spouses, with children, with friends - are the most important investments you will ever make.  At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal.  You will regret time not spent with a husband, a child, a friend, or a parent...Our success as a society depends not on what happens in the White House but on what happens inside your house."  

And by Johann Goethe, "The things which matter the most must never be at the mercy of the things that matter the least."

 Here are most of the teachers outside after the night was done.  The darling Love and Logic coach and school parent that organizes the evening, is standing next to me.