Tips offered to parents of unruly kids
It’s difficult to be a kid and many times harder to be a parent, so Warren County Schools’ Special Education Department is offering a program called Parent Project.
The curriculum focuses on prevention and intervention, in order to meet the needs of parents with difficult or out-of-control adolescents. Parents learn in group sessions one night per week for two to three hours. Over 100,000 families have attended Parent Project classes nationwide. It is open to everyone who is involved with adolescents from church and community leaders to parents and police officers.
“This is for parents of adolescents. Some of them are court appointed to be here,” said Diane Stanley, director of Warren Academy, who will teach the class this time around.
Stanley said the Parent Project is for, “anyone who feels they are having difficulty communicating with their children, or their children just don’t seem to pay attention to the house rules.”
The focus of the program is behavior modification with emphasis on identification, prevention and intervention strategies for destructive behaviors, such as runaway behavior, drug and alcohol abuse, gang involvement, poor school attendance and performance.
“What we tell the parents in the very beginning is, ‘This is not your fault, having a strong-willed child, but now let’s see what we can to correct that,'” said Stanley.
“What I like about this program so much, it gives parents the reinforcement to be the kind of parents that they want to be,” Stanley said. “We need all the tools that are available, because they didn’t come with instructions,” she added of dealing with difficult children.
The program offers specific strategies for parents dealing with adolescents and problem behavior.
“It’s pre-planning for worst case, and we go into worst cases,” said Stanley. “It’s a lot of common sense things. It’s a freeing thing to realize you can’t control them, but you sure can control what they like to do.”
Parents are encouraged to support each other in class and outside of class and many of them form support groups. Though some who will attend are single parents, Stanley said many moms and dads come together. “It is a wonderful program for couples because it gives them a chance to be on a united front.”
Warren County Schools offers the program three or four times each year. The next 10-week session begins Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 6:15 p.m. Workbooks are $22 but the class is free. For more information call 668-1728.