Parent

New decisions & responsibilities come along with a new baby. Pregnancy is the best time to prepare, both emotionally & practically. Discuss how you want to parent, and make sure your decisions are informed by the latest research on breastfeeding, circumcision, sleeping & other topics. Learn “Ages & Stages” record keeping to track your baby’s development.

Featured Front Pic: 

Families are children’s safety net throughout life, and creating a safe space for children to grow and develop is an important part of parenting. However, when parents interpret this as a need to protect children from every stress, hurt, and rejection, they do their children a disservice. Because all parents want the best for their children, they sometimes aggressively pursue their children’s “right” to have the best of everything: schools, teams, music lessons, teachers, vacations, even friends.

Featured Front Pic: 

Go Class Button: 

Compassion is defined as understanding the suffering of others and wanting to do something about it. Children develop the capacity for compassion in middle childhood: the emotional and cognitive skills of empathy, problem solving, perspective taking, and generosity towards others. Failure to develop compassion by age 11 or 12 often results in significant challenges in adolescence and beyond, when teens are more likely to be unpopular and to do poorly in school. Compassion is at the root of meaningful, lasting relationships and is a key ingredient of mental and emotional well-being.

Featured Front Pic: 

Your community substantially influences your family’s well-being. The types of mental health issues families face, their likelihood of being overweight or suffering from eating disorders, their risk of alcohol or drug use, and the amount of aggression children display – all of these vary by neighborhood.

Featured Front Pic: 

It's rarely easy for parents to negotiate differences in parenting values and styles, whether they live together or apart.  Disagreements about how to raise children are a signficant sources of stress in many families.  Learn how to identify common ground and develop consistency in key areas.  Create a "parent team" your children can rely on.

Featured Front Pic: 

Children gain many important life skills from living with siblings.  They learn about peer relationships, hierarchies and negotiating power with their brothers and sisters.  Learning to fight is one of the greatest challenges that singleton children face; children with siblings do not have this problem.

Yet, managing sibling conflict is never easy for parents.  Learn how to establish rules for managing conflict and resolving differences in a way that helps your children build strong, positive and lasting connections with each other.

Featured Front Pic: 

Friends matter a lot to children, but they're not born knowing how to be friends.  They have to learn -- which they do, by trial and error, all through their growing up years.

Even the most compassionate children engage in bullying at one time or another (perhaps with a sibiling).  Even the strongest children may sometimes be teased in a way that makes them feel bad.  And none will get through school without seeing others be bullied.

Featured Front Pic: 

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27  •  7:00 – 8:30 PM

Join us for a FREE book signing and discussion with authors Christina Simon & Porcha Dodson, who wrote this indispensable guide to navigating the private school application process. There will be plenty of time for questions -- we know you're bound to have a lot, as you embark on the momentous journey of choosing a school for your child.

Refreshments will be served.

Featured Front Pic: 

Rituals are one of the primary ways families transmit their values and express their identity. They include holiday celebrations, family dinners and bedtime routines -- any meaningful activities you and your children do together on a regular basis. Learn how rituals contribute to children's healthy development, and explore news ways to create and keep rituals your whole family will enjoy.

Featured Front Pic: 

Some of the biggest challenges to our mental and physical health emerge from having too much. In the U.S. today, many families have too much food (especially unhealthy foods), too many things to do, and too many sources of stress. Many of us have raised our expectations about what is required for a good life: larger houses, multiple cars, stylish clothes, eating out, and a plethora of electronics, including flat-screen TVs, computers, iPods, and mobile phones for everyone in the family. This abundance brings many gifts to our lives, but also many challenges.
   

Featured Front Pic: