Unruly children target of program
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WITT, or We’re In This Together, is a course designed for any county parent who wishes to learn how to deal with such parenting challenges as dealing with strong-willed children and how to give a child the structure necessary for success.
“I’ve had some parents who tell me they just don’t know how to deal with the issues that are affecting their children,” said Eastside principal Michael Trevathan in explaining the impetus for the new program.
WITT will utilize the Loving Solutions curriculum, a study developed by the authors of The Parent Project, a successful program offered several times in recent years for parents of difficult teens.
According to parentproject.com, Loving Solutions is aimed at parents with difficult younger children ages 5 to 10. It provides guidelines for parents to determine when children need a “rule,” what issues are negotiable, when parents can negotiate, how to use timeouts properly to gain substantial behavior change, how to get children to cooperate with household chores, to get along better with siblings and improve school success. The program also addresses the needs of children with attention deficit disorder.
Leading the six-week, workbook-based program will be Dr. Glen Barnes, a psychologist who has worked with the school system since 1992.
Before each session begins, the school system’s family resource center and other community organizations will offer participating parents and their children a free family meal. And while parents are engaged in the program, the high school’s Beta Club and Eastside’s Junior Beta Club will offer homework assistance to school-age children.
Additionally, a child development activity center will be available for pre-schoolers. This will be manned by high school early childhood education students, who will be supervised by a classroom instructor.
While WITT is free to all county parents, a fee of $20 will be collected for the program’s workbook. To register, call or e-mail program coordinator Paula Hill at 686-2392 or [email protected] by the first week of September.
WITT will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Monday nights beginning Sept. 20 and ending Oct. 25. The program’s meetings will take place in Eastside’s cafeteria.