Response-Ability: Parenting Strategies for a Harmonious Family

Welcome

When you know better, you do better.... Maya Angelou

Are you Tired of the yelling yet?

Imagine a family living in harmony... it can be your family. No, I'm not kidding.

Many families create negative interaction patterns that repeat. Or, we have made allowances for negative behaviour in the past because we recognized that our child was unable to learn from conventional parenting programs and methods. Sometimes we were lacking the skills to use parenting strategies successfully. For example, a parent stops trying to have a child learn to put their belongings away because the child was unable to focus long enough to understand instructions that were too long or boring . Or, the parent was unsure what behaviours needed to be addressed and got overwhelmed. Now, all of that can change. Parents often need and want help parenting, but many parents are unsure how to proceed because they don’t know where to begin and what to expect. They may have tried other methods, but tried to do too much, too soon, and it blew up. They may have been inconsistent, and eventually gave up. They may have their own negative past experiences driving them to parent from a place of fear or guilt. All of that can change. Right now.

It's time for a change...

Who among us hasn’t tried a crash diet? We read or hear something and we get ourselves geared up, pick a date, and let the starvation begin! Within 3 days, we are grumpy and starving and end up eating all of the cookies in the house when nobody is looking! Then our body is upset and confused and gains all the weight back – likely even more. This can happen with parenting too. We are all guilty of reading a parenting book or seeing someone speak about parenting, recognizing that we need to make changes, and then trying to implement it all overnight. Unfortunately, trying to change parenting overnight is just like crash dieting – it doesn’t work and leaves your children totally confused. Trying to change your parenting too much at once leaves you frustrated, and your children lost. Then, all of your wonderful intentions are forgotten and you return to the old patterns leaving everyone even more dazed and confused.

Slow and steady wins the race...

The program is structured into 6 assignments spread out over 7 weeks. Each assignment is designed to implement a parenting skill and each one builds on what was mastered in the previous assignments. Each assignment gives you a picture of what is common in the families we work with, a little bit of theory and some specific strategies. There are questions to help you to think through how the strategy can work in your family with your child. This step helps you to prepare for implementing the strategy. You will be asked to use the strategy and write down over the course of the week. At the end of the week you will reflect on what worked and what didn’t.

You will be guided by a highly trained and certified trainer through the assignments, step by step. You can choose one on one coaching or join a local or online group. We have coaches providing this program all over the world.

Course Structure

Course structure - 7 weeks to harmony!

Overview - How this program works, how long it takes and how it is structured. Let the fun begin!
Assignment 1 – Positive reinforcement for positive behaviour - Smile! Things are going to get better!
Assignment 2 – Consequence statements “When…, then…”; “If…, then…” - Children, pay attention! This is how the world works!
Assignment 3 – The power of prevention – setting out expectations and rewards - An expectation a day keeps the tantrums at bay!
Assignment 4 – Siblings – Birth control on feet!
Assignment 5 – Motivation methods for your child – The power of creating positive emotion!
Assignment 6 – Managing others adults in your child’s life – Grandma, it’s time to play by my rules!

What EXACTLY do you have to do?

Successfully implementing each strategy is easiest when you do each of the following steps:

1. Read through the chapter for the week.

2. Attend the parent session for the week.

3. Do the task preparation portion of the chapter.

4. Implement the strategy and note your experiences.

5. Reflect on the week.

Meet Elizabeth Currie Shier, Creator of the Program

Dear Parent or Guardian,

Thank you for deciding to participate in the Response-Ability: Parenting strategies for a harmonious family parenting skills course. You have found this website because you are struggling. Whether or not your child has received a diagnosis of ADHD, ASD or something else, parenting a child with challenging behaviours is just that – challenging. This program is my personal attempt to give parents and children a fresh start. This program is an amalgamation of opinions, theories and other parenting programs that I have created and used in the past. As a mother of 2 and a stand-in mother to many, I have found these strategies to be the easiest to implement and the easiest to continue to use throughout the many ages and stages a child goes through from toddler to adult. Some of the information will not be new to you, but my goal is to present it in a fun and interactive way. The purpose of this course is to allow parents to make positive changes to their parenting skills in a progressive, step-by-step way, guided by a highly trained coach. Please let me know if there is anything that can be done to improve the course or if you have any suggestions for future use. This is a program designed to foster the greatest amount of success for you and your children. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share.

Cheers, Beth Shier

Where to go from here: