So much of our lives appear to be on hold while this pandemic rolls on. However, we can’t place raising children on the back burner. We want to raise grounded people who confidently and creatively engage in the world they are inheriting. To this end, now more than ever, parents are craving support from one another in their concerted effort to raise whole human beings.

Last winter as the mountain winds blew, ten dads and twenty moms gathered regularly on Zoom to learn, laugh, and listen to one another. Facilitators with the Mountain Strong Families Series introduced positive parenting skills and insights to apply at home between the sessions. Once again, TEENS, Inc is hosting eight monthly parenting sessions for parents of toddlers to twelve-year-olds. Beginning on Tuesday, September 14 (from 6 - 7:30 p.m.), mountain parents will lean on each other, grapple with their parenting challenges, and inspire one another to parent in transformative ways.

We want to do right by our children. We want to raise healthy human beings who know how to care for themselves and know how to create healthy relationships with others. We want the children we send out into the world to have strong social emotional skills; skills that will serve them well, skills that will serve our world.

We also want to have strong relationships with our children. We want our children to cooperate without us feeling the need to yell, threaten, bribe, or punish. We want our children to know that they are loved. We want to have a sense of fulfillment in our role as parents. We want to draw from the best that our parents taught us and blend it with the latest neuroscience about how whole human beings develop.

We have a chance to do all this from the comfort of our own homes over the next eight months. Enjoy a free, take-home family meal beforehand. Do the best that you can to entertain your children as you tune in to learn nurturing parenting tools, reduce your stress, and support your child’s social-emotional development.

One hundred percent of last year’s attendees rated the Mountain Strong Families parenting topics and skills as “very useful.” Seventy percent of parents felt closer to their children after practicing the parenting tips and watching their children grow in their abilities to manage their emotions, empathize with others, and solve problems. “I’m attending this Series again,” said one mom, “I learned so much last time.”

According to one parent, virtual workshops are not ideal, but they are still “priceless.” I tell my friends, “Just do it! These sessions are informative, productive, relaxed, safe, fun, and helpful. They are definitely worth your time.”

Commit to attending the entire Series; each session builds on the prior one. It is time to consider how to do this parenting thing well, as a community. Register by September 6th to order dinner and obtain the Zoom link.

Contact ann@teensinc.org if you have questions.