Making good parents

Posted on Monday, 12.27.10
Making good parents
BY TED GRANGER
Miami Herald

The greatest gift anyone can receive during this joyous season is the love and support of family. Most of us take our families for granted. But what if you had grown up in a family where your parents did not know how to provide the strong foundation that would help you to succeed in school and become a contributing member of society, much less equip you to become a good parent yourself?

Parents who haven't had the opportunity to learn effective parenting skills through their own childhood experiences are ill-equipped to meet the challenges facing today's families. Although they want to be good parents, they recognize they don't have the basic knowledge and skills needed to handle the job.

Some parents who face these challenges have the opportunity to voluntarily participate in the Healthy Families Florida home visiting program. I have heard these parents talk about their experiences in Healthy Families with such passion that I feel compelled to share some of their words with you during this season of gratitude and hope.

Through this nationally accredited and proven program, parents at high risk for child abuse and neglect learn how to recognize and respond to the changing developmental needs of their babies, use positive discipline techniques and cope with the day-to-day stress of parenting in healthy ways. Parents are also encouraged to take personal responsibility for setting short and long term goals like enrolling in GED or job-training programs and finding stable employment.  FULL STORY

I sure hope this program is better than the "Tough Love" course they were teaching several years ago.  My wife and I attended the class taught by a young stupid BSW.  At the end of the class, I had to inform him that every technique he suggested was chargeable child abuse in the state of Oregon.