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Guiding Principles of Hand in Hand Classes & Workshops
Hand in Hand classes and workshops are based on the idea
that parents need time and support to:
- Think and talk about their experience as parents.
- Release the emotional tension that collects as parents work to nurture
children well.
Every Hand in Hand class or workshop has the following components:
- Perspective on the job of nurturing children in a society which dismisses
the needs of parents and young people.
- Information on listening practices, parent-to-parent and parent-to-child,
that can deepen the connections between parents and children.
- Parents' concerns, such as handling children's difficulties with sleeping,
eating, school, siblings, friendships, and respecting reasonable limits,
are addressed as specific areas in which a parent can learn to make
closer contact with his child and help the child heal from fears and
upsets that keep her from functioning well.
- Parent-to-parent listening time, so parents can sort through what
goes well in their lives, and what the challenges are. As parents learn
to listen and use a listener, we become better able to separate our
issues from the issues our children have, and better able to build the
caring relationships we need to meet the challenges in our lives.
Our two guiding principles in our approach to children are:
- Children are reasonable and learn easily when they feel close to others
and are free of emotional tension
- Using simple listening practices, parents can learn to free their
children from their fears, angers, and other feelings which keep them
from learning, enjoying their lives, and building good relationships
with others.
Some Hand in Hand classes and events are built around a specific topic, such as learning
to lead parent support groups, setting limits, preparing for adolescence,
or healing the hurts of racism. However, all Hand in Hand functions have listening
time for every adult built into our approach. We try to create the conditions
under which we parents and other caring adults can access the intelligence
and problem-solving ability we have.
Hand in Hand speakers and leaders can be brought to
your organization or parent group by arrangement. We have done leadership
training in both English and Spanish for agencies such as New Mexico Parents
for Drug Free Youth, the San Mateo County Pre to Three Initiative, the
Mountain View Healthy Venture Initiative, and the Sonoma County Family
Partnership Initiative. We do corporate parent seminars and one-time talks
and workshops for groups such as Work/Family Directions, Boston, MA, the
Massachusetts Children's Trust Fund, Genentech, Sandia Laboratories, the
La Leche League Northern California Conference, Migrant Head Start of
Yolo County, CA, Pajaro Valley Prevention and Youth Services, Aptos, CA,
and the Child Development Resource Center of Santa Cruz, CA.
Hand in Hand develops and promotes grass roots parent leadership. People who
teach Hand in Hand classes have a wide range of backgrounds, and have developed
their skills and experience base through apprenticeship and training in
Hand in Hand parent groups. For more information, contact
us.
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