The Parent Gathering

“In this groundbreaking book, parenting expert and acclaimed author of the bestselling book Simplicity Parenting Kim John Payne, M.Ed., flips the script on children’s challenging or defiant behavior and lays out an elegantly simple plan to support parents in establishing loving, age-sensitive boundaries that help children feel safe and settled. In short: What looks like misbehavior is actually your children’s signal that they’re feeling lost, that they are trying to find direction and looking to you to guide them back on course." 

                                           -Front book cover of Payne's book, The Soul of Discipline-

What are the aims and goals of our Discipline and Guidance Parent Gatherings?

• Address problematic behavior to guide parents to be less reactive and more mindful.

• Anchor loving, clear boundaries for our children based on their developmental stage and needs.

• Practice simple but effective strategies that affirm family values and cooperation, rather than conflict and contention.

• Learn to help simplify your child’ environment to foster equilibrium and well being.

The Governor, (the first nine years), is a parent who is comfortably and firmly in charge—setting limits and making decisions for the early years up to around the age of nine.

The Gardener, for The Tween years (10-13), is a parent who watches for emotional growth and makes decisions based on careful listening, assisting tweens in making plans that take the whole family’s needs into account.

The Guide, the Teen Years (14-18), is a parent who is both a sounding board and moral compass for emerging adults, helping teens build a sense of their life’s direction as a way to influence healthy decision making.

                                                                                      -Kim John Payne-

                                                                  Discipline and Child Development 

The are three distinct stages of human development as outlined by Payne in his teachings. The central focus of each phase anchored in family values.  Just like all aspects of development, these phases are milestones that are distinct, yet interwoven together requiring ourselves as caregivers to adapt, adjust and accommodate their approach to meet their child/ren in a supportive gesture.

I have never met a disobedient child, only a disoriented one," says Kim John Payne, the author of "The Soul of Discipline" and a school and family counselor. "Children who are feeling emotionally off center will often throw out challenging behavior in order to get a response from us. They do this because they can trust us and if we can give them warm, firm and calm boundaries, they tend to feel safe and reoriented. 

                                                                                   -Kim John Payne-

                                                                          
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN 

• How to become the “Benevolent Governor” of your family constellation

• Helping your children when they feel overwhelmed, to reorient themselves

• Clearly define your family values and find ways to impart these to your children.

• Identify Discipline trends and finding alternative, creative and effective ways to guide your children with warmth and firmness

• Understanding how to help your children follow through with your guidance and leadership to cultivate "Creative Compliance."

• Five essential ways to help children learn healthy compliance in creative ways.

• Positive strategies for helping children to build impulse control.

• Why giving clear directions is more effective than requests - and how to reframe our communication with our children.

• How choices can affect young children.

                                                                                
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

• Becoming “the Gardener” for your Tween  - Learn to listen to their needs and ideas and still make decisions and foster respect, empathy and increasing responsibility toward self and family/others.

• Understanding the unique Tween phase of development - The child is beginning to go out into the world, but still needing their firm family base.

• How our parenting style/gesture needs to adapt to meet the Tween where he/she is.

• How to guide the Tween and give him/her more freedom, while still maintaining your parental authority and guidance.

• Practical tips on how to parent Tweens in a positive, holistic way that keeps harmony and connection, focusing on upholding family values, rather than behavior modification.

• How to help your Tween navigate in an ever expanding, modern world.

• Defining what influences that you want your child to have.

                                                                           
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

• Becoming “the Guide” - being "a sounding board and moral guide" to your Teen, to help him/ her discover her passions/interests and find his/her life’s path.

• Understanding the unique phase of the Teen years.

• Learning strategies for changing your parenting gesture to meet this new phase.

• Helping  your teen find equilibrium, to overcome overwhelm and anxiety.

• Understanding discipline of Teens in terms of “Disorientation vs. Disobedience.”

• Creating a family values centered home vs. a Teen led home.

• Guiding a Teen in forming friendships and loving relationships.

• Guiding a Teen in following his/her interests to help them find their place in the modern world.

• Meets weekly over Zoom on Mondays 7:30-8:45pm. (EST) We DO NOT meet on Monday Holidays.

• To maintain confidentiality, these sessions are held online-live- no recordings. 

• If you miss a session, please contact Group Leader for a recap of the previous week. 

• Course fee  + $39 materials fee + one time book fee (price varies depending on the format your purchase, audio, hardcover, paperback or Mp3CD). 
• $280 8 Week Series
• $200 6 Week Series

Simplifying your family life can help you on many levels. Discipline becomes easier, daily rhythms begin to flow, and we begin to feel peace within ourselves. This spills over into our children and we will see them playing and relating to us, and the world, in a more rounded way. 

Our Family Life- Parent Gatherings are based on the book, Simplicity Parenting, Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier and more Secure Kids, by Kim John Payne

Over the course of 8 Parent Gatherings, we will explore a step-by-step approach to initiation of small doable changes. In each 75-minute session, you will build your family sanctuary with 4 key ingredients:

1. The Environment:  We will look at evaluating and removing excess objects from our homes, including paring down the mountain of toys and make room to cultivate deep, healthy play.
2. Rhythm: We will bring predictable moments of pause and connection to transitions such as meal time and bedtime to make discipline easier and more peaceful.
3. The Daily/Weekly Calendar:  We discover the beauty of boredom for our children and examine our calendars with a different lens to allow for time and connection with our child.
4. Filtering Out:  We will explore the right relationship with the media for our own family, consider the effect of talking less, and meeting the challenges of the times we are in.

The book, Simplicity Parenting, by Kim John Payne, is recommended. We will follow a video series by Kim John Payne as we learn together. The beauty of these informative, easy to follow videos, is that you can view them at any time to reinforce your learning and support your parenting journey. (Available for online purchase)  Discussion and support on the application of the principles will follow as we share this journey together as we witness and experience positive, joyful  transformation in our family life.

We invite you to join us!  

• A small interactive group that quickly becomes a community 

• An effective blend of warm support, learning, and discussion 

• Activities which will empower sustainable long-term change 

• Principles which will enhance loving connection at home 

• Guidance which will link your parenting style and skills with your family’s values

• Facilitation from two seasoned educators/facilitators 

• Meets weekly over Zoom on Mondays 7:30-8:45pm (EST) -We DO NOT meet on Monday Holidays.

• To maintain confidentiality, these sessions are held online-live- no recordings. 

• If you miss a session, please contact Group Leader for a recap of the previous week. 

• Family Life course fee $280 + $29 materials fee + one time book fee (price varies depending on the format your purchase, audio, hardcover, paperback or Mp3CD).