Parenting Made Practical - A Parent's Night Out Video Review

Parenting Made Practical offers a collection of video and print materials to assist parents in the journey of bringing up children into adults. My husband and I were provided a DVD to view from the A Parent's Night Out Series, produced by Parenting Made Practical. The title Taming the Lecture Bug grabbed my attention, as I think, it will many parents. The series is presented by Joey and Carla Link who are experienced parents, as well as, professionals with experience working with youth and families.

Ideas to avoid the lecture trap.

It's the little things.

According to Joey and Carla Link, when it comes to guiding our children through the process of thinking and acting correctly, all of the little things matter. Does how our teen helps with the chores matter? Do they accomplished requested tasks with the attention to detail parents have asked for? Was the shirt folded as instructed? I'm not a total buy in on the ultimate importance of every nuance, however, in the video, Joey makes a strong argument for his approach and had me listening. He explains and both, he and Carla, have first hand examples to share.

Teachers and others.

Carla addresses a common parental reaction to the behavior of our children when it comes into question by other adults whom we have given authority to for teaching or coaching. Carla described, in detail, a situation in which she was asked to meet with a teacher of one of her children. I have to admit, based on how I suspect I would approach such a situation, as well as the response I would suspect from many of my parenting peers, Carla's approach sounded unique. Carla, despite her parenting experience, or most probably because of it, went into the conference assuming there was a correction her child needed to make. Not the other way around! That is a refreshing take, that I think all of us, as parents, could consider more often. (Do I hear cheering from the teacher section?)

Joey expanded on the topic and acknowledged how hard it can be for us as parents to look at the weaknesses of our children. I appreciate his view and his understanding of the nature of the relationship between parent and child. This example gave me a new view to consider along with acknowledgement and understanding.

The couple went on to describe basic temperament types; the strengths and weaknesses of each and the parenting joys and challenges they each present. Before the end of their lecture on temperaments, I had all my children and myself pegged!

Parenting Validation and Encouragement

One strong point of their presentation was very validating to me, as a mom. It was the specific encouragement to be a student of your child, to study them, to know them. The reminders to look in a child's eyes, to watch his or her body language and really listen to their speech. All important and valuable reminders, that even as parents, we have to learn and develop the the best way to guide each child. They also presented a series of questions to ask when in dialog with a child that creates more understanding and gives parents more to work with in disciplining a child and providing further guidance.

Joey and Carla are veteran parents who have obviously evaluated, thought about and applied technique and love to guiding their own children and offering encouragement to other's as they grow to adulthood. It is on my list to view this video again, for the repetition of the ideas presented and understanding the applications for interacting with my own children better. As I find that my video watching attention span is waning these days, and really wanting the option of returning in bite size pieces to the Link's tools, I do think owning a copy of the companion book to this video would be beneficial. Also, given that Parenting Made Practical has an entire collection of these useful videos, I  plan to watch their DVD titled "Why Can't I Get My Kids To Behave." (Not that my kids misbehave or anything!)

More useful videos here!

(More words than pictures in this review because the last thing you want to see is myself and my husband, in front of a tv screen at the end of the day!)