Being a parent can be the most challenging, frustrating and worrisome job in the world. Every one of our experiences feels unique, and it often seems as though no one can understand what you, as a parent, are going through. It’s like a club that’s both exclusive and universal.
And yet, being a parent is also a membership into the oldest and most wonderful club in human history. Sometimes, the look of understanding between parents at Walmart or Target when a child is throwing a tantrum is the only thing that keeps a parent reassured. Likewise, sharing a laugh with another parent as he or she “looks” for their child during a game of hide-and-seek on the playground is equally bonding.
Tapping into the universal experiences of parenting while figuring out how to manage your individual circumstances as a parent or caregiver is the idea behind The Children’s Trust Parent Club. The wide-ranging series of free workshops throughout Miami-Dade combines the shared experiences and ideas about parenting with expert advice for how to handle kids from infants to teens.
The Parent Club brings parents together to help them get through some of the infinite shared challenges, while also letting them see that they are not alone on their journey, and just how rewarding it can be.
The Parent Club is open to all of Miami’s diverse family backgrounds and cultural mix, whether you have one child or seven, regardless of where your children go to school and whether they are well-behaved sweethearts or rambunctious mischief-makers. Workshops are offered in English, Spanish or Haitian Creole. The main goal of The Parent Club is to help you be the best parent you can be.
Since last fall, more than 670 Parent Club workshops have been held at more than 230 locations, bringing together thousands of parents across the county. When coronavirus pandemic restrictions began across Miami-Dade in March, The Parent Club shifted its operations to the virtual world, conducting workshops online through Zoom. It also launched a series of videos highlighting current challenges on The Trust’s www.StayHome.Miami site.
Now that Miami-Dade County is reopening cautiously, future plans for The Parent Club include both virtual and in-person workshops, when they are appropriate. What is undeniable is that the increased time many parents are spending with their children as a result of quarantines and stay-home restrictions have brought them face to face with the nitty gritty of parenting like never before.
“As parents, we have all been challenged during these unprecedented times, but it’s important to realize that parents everywhere are going through similar things,” said The Children’s Trust President and CEO James Haj. “The Parent Club is a way to tap into what all of us are feeling, hear experiences of others, and learn about skills and methods to help us be the best parents we can be.”
The Parent Club workshops are presented by experienced facilitators from Be Strong International, Florida International University’s Center for Children and Families, and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Some in-person workshops include child care, if needed, for children ages 3 through 12 years old, a snack and entry into a raffle drawing, with the completion of a short post-workshop survey. The workshop raffles are also offered in virtual workshops.
So what are the workshops about? Well, parenting, in all its wonderful and challenging complexity. For younger children, the workshops cover an array of topics and skill-building strategies for both parents and their children, including positive communication techniques, raising confident and resilient children, and the building blocks of positive parenting, good behavior and child development.
For parents of teens, the workshops focus on raising responsible young people who are respectful, reliable and competent teenagers. There is a focus on helping them develop self-discipline, good routines and their own support network, as well as getting your teen connected and engaged in appropriate social and recreational activities.
As The Parent Club continues to be available, new workshops will focus on topics that bring together current parenting issues with science-based information to allow parents to develop tools to help their children continue to grow into adulthood. And while the workshops themselves offer insight and knowledge on how to strengthen your parenting powers, they also provide an outlet to connect parents with additional resources and one another to help each other along the path to being the best parents they can be.