Intentional Parenting: A Look at Your Past, Present & Future

This course is designed for parents, grandparents, nannies, babysitters- anyone who cares for children. If you want to be more intentional in your relationships with children, if you want to have a better understanding of where you came from, where you are now, and where you want to be in the future, then this course can get you started on that road.

Together, we will learn about the four basic styles of parenting (authoritarian, democratic, permissive, and uninvolved) and then consider what kind of parent you want to be. To do this, we'll look to your past, examining the things from your childhood that didn't serve you well, along with those things that you loved and cherished and want to carry with you into the relationships you have with children today. Next, we'll try to determine what kind of caregiver you are right now, thinking about the actions you take, the words you say, and the way you feel at the end of a day with your child. Lastly, we'll make a plan for moving forward. You'll have the opportunity to select two things you would like to add or subtract to your parenting style and then find three action steps to meet those goals. Taking this time to look at your past, present, and future, allows you to make intentional choices about your parenting and to continue to grow and develop a healthy, lifelong relationship with your child. And sometimes, a little intention can go a long way to making us more present in our day to day interactions with the child in our life as well as giving us the leg up we need to make real change in our parenting style and tendencies.