All parents want the same things for their children.
Everybody wants their children to succeed.
We are all in this together, and we all have the same struggles,
and all of us have cell phones now and can get distracted,
and all of us have got crazy, busy lives.
Beginning to understand what do quality
parent-child or adult-child interactions
look like is something that we all need to work on.
Ready for Routines is a workshop to help families improve
their engagement with their children,
and also to improve their children's
executive functioning skills.
The idea was to teach parents the peer mantra, which
is pause, engage, encourage, reflect,
and of course the silent E, which is extend.
We've started to think about what would it
look like to take some of the work
that we were already doing on our programs,
and actually make that work more intentional around what
the research is telling us about how you promote adult and child
executive function.
Take a moment.
Close your eyes.
Really feel what it is like to breathe.
I have three children.
And some of the biggest challenges for me, as a mom,
is sometimes I feel as though I don't spend
enough time with my children.
Feeling, at the end of the day, that I spent enough time
with each one of my kids.
I was really going through a tough time
with getting up one time, and being on time, time management,
and just getting my life together,
just pulling myself together.
Because I just had a baby, and it
could be depressing when you're used to just having two kids
and then you go from having two kids to having three.
It was just overwhelming me.
I was so tired.
I felt like I need more skills on my parenting skills,
and I was like well maybe if I do
the program you know then it will probably better me
and my kids' situation.
I live right in the middle of the drug infested area.
And when I first moved in 2009, it
was a crossfire between our building and outside.
The thing that I find most challenging
with my neighborhood is that everybody's not
on the same path.
Everybody is not looking for the better of the neighborhood.
And looking for the the safety of the children.
The neighborhood is not too safe.
What about you, Miss Crystal?
I think, for me, the PEERE card
that worked good for me was the tantrum re-direction.
Unlike some of the historical executive function
interventions that are out there, which
are kind of game based, the idea was
to actually see could we help parents
to build the kinds of interactions
that we know now actually support
the develop of executive function into the things
that they do every day.
Before I started Ready for Routine's workshop,
I used to pick out my daughter-- I used to pick out her clothes
and it was like what I picked out was set in stone.
But as I started coming to the workshop
and I noticed that I had to allow some change,
because it wasn't working.
Me and my daughter were always getting into some type
of confrontation.
So once I started allowing her to pick out her own clothes,
my mornings went smoother.
Let me help you.
My one parent, Miss Crystal, I remember
when I was recruiting her for the workshop.
It's interesting because I didn't think she would come.
Seeing how she was from the beginning
with not really engaging with the other parents
or the families in our centers, and just seeing
that transformation, now she's telling me
how we can improve the classes, and she's
bringing resources for me to hang up for the parents.
I just see such a difference in her.
It's almost like night and day.
Can you make my lunch?
I'm hungry.
It's done.
I would say my kids got a better mom out of this, a calmer mom.
Maybe more understanding.
And they've gotten quality time.
I used to think that when you have
quality time with your child, it had to be an hour or two hours.
But, from me taken this training,
I learned that every minute counts
even if it is five minutes.
Y'all color, and then you go on and do what it is that you need
to do.
I've learned that every minute counts when it comes to quality
time with your child.