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Parent Express for 24-Oct-2008
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While cozy inside as the days become cooler and shorter, it may be helpful to have some friendly reminders about the healthy use of screen technologies. In my article below on Healthy Brain Development, I emphasize the importance of three critical ingredients for optimal well-being at any age: movement, mental challenges and literacy development. If we consistently include these into the lives of the children and teens we love, balancing screen time in the process, they are on the road to much fuller, richer lives. In this month's featured article by school psychologist and PCI parent coach in training, Deb Ward, we find compelling statistics about cyberbullying and practical ideas for prevention of this too frequent occurrence in the lives of many youngsters. Make sure you read to the end of her informative article—the Web sites and books listed at the end give you various routes to take to examine cyberbully in more detail. When my book, Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill was published in 1999, I remember a lot of people asking me, after they read my mention of cyberbullying, "What's a cyberbully?" In 1999 it was virtually unknown. It is sobering to realize how much it has grown over the past decade. As we enjoy the growing dark this autumn, may we remember that with continued dedication we can bring positive light to families by sharing with them accurate information and practical strategies for using all forms of screen technologies wisely. Gloria DeGaetano, Founder and CEO 
"It's all here at the PCI: brain development and appropriate activities, identifying strengths and values, parenting styles, a wonderfully effective coaching process methodology. The PCI training gave me tools to help lift the immobilizing load of guilt and frustration from a parent's shoulders. It's a heady brew of intellectual challenge, personal growth, and skills development. Creative thinkers apply here!" —Chris Christensen, Bainbridge Island, Washington
Take Advantage of Early Registration for Winter Term Start! Applications are now being accepted for entrance Winter Term for the Parent Coach Certification® Training Program with phone classes for Course 1 beginning the week of January 5, 2009. Phone classes are in the evening time to accommodate the work schedules of our students, usually after 5 pm Pacific Time. Applicants who send in their applications before November 15, 2008, will receive a $500.00 discount off the basic tuition fee. With early acceptance into the program, you get a jump start on the course readings. Please send in the basic application as your first step. Transcripts and letters of reference can follow the basic application by a few weeks. Download the application here. Send to the PCI at: 1400-112th Ave. SE, Bellevue, WA 98004. Applications can be faxed to (425) 646-7569 or sent via email to gloria@thepci.org. Questions? Please call: (425) 753-8822. Application deadline for Winter Term start is December 1, 2008. Spaces are limited. Early applications receive first consideration. Learn more about our acclaimed, graduate-level, distance-learning Parent Coach Certification® Program by clicking here for more information. Check out our Video About the PCI Parent Coach Training Program and see what professionals think about their training with the PCI. 
Working with a parent coach who has received Parent Coach Certification® through the PCI is giving yourself a valuable gift as well as a sound investment in your family's future. PCI Certified Parent Coaches® are caring, thoughtful professionals with years of experience working with parents. They have successfully completed the PCI Parent Coach Certification® Training Program—a comprehensive academic, one-year, graduate-level program in collaboration with Seattle Pacific University. Through a series of coaching conversations that can be either by telephone or in-person, PCI Certified Parent Coaches® help you re-discover your dreams and design your life for more joy and satisfaction. To find a PCI Certified Parent Coach® in your area, please click here or call (425) 401-1519 for a referral to a PCI Certified Parent Coach® selected especially for you. 
Visit www.parentappreciationradio.com to listen to programs featuring PCI Certified Parent Coaches® and other experts from around the country discussing topics of interest to moms and dads. Programs are available as podcasts. Listeners can download individual episodes directly, listen to them from this site using a Web browser, or access them via the iTunes podcast directory. iTunes subscribers will automatically pick up new episodes as they become available!  Cyberbullying
by Deb Ward When parents think about bullies, they might imagine a mean kid on the playground or a tough guy waiting around the corner; however, their children could have a completely different idea. These days, some of the biggest bullies may never be seen nor heard. Worst of all, these bullies have the ability to engage in "electronic bashing" twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Cyberbullying, just as physical bullying, involves intimidating, humiliating and overpowering others. Instead of using fists and spoken words, cyberbullies establish power electronically through e-mails, cell phones, text messages and instant messages (IM). They can be vicious, and they are everywhere! In 2004, i-SAFE, a non-profit foundation whose mission is to educate and empower youth to engage in safe and responsible Internet use, conducted a national survey of 1,500 4th–8th graders. Results suggest that cyberbullying has become one of the most pervasive problems facing youth.
The goal of cyberbullies is to gain power and control over another person whom they perceive as weak and vulnerable. While the intent is the same, cyberbullying differs from physical bullying in several key ways. First, it is more difficult to observe because many youth have nearly continuous access to electronic communication, at all hours of the day. Next, hurtful and damaging messages can be sent to a huge audience at the same time. Third, it is possible for the bully to remain unknown, especially if kids are reluctant to tell an adult. Finally, the aggressor can attack almost anywhere, often at home, which was once a safe haven. Cyberbullying promotes isolation, school avoidance, anxiety, and depression. It can also lead to physical fighting and retribution, or in extreme cases, suicide, or even murder. The best deterrents of cyberbullying are education and parent involvement. More comments from professionals about their PCI training experience: "I have facilitated parenting groups for twenty years and the PCI training has taught me far more about how to ask questions, how to formulate them, and how to time them than any other training I have received in my career." —Kaaren Borsting, Ashland, Oregon
"I must say that this course work is so much better than my graduate school program for social work. It is better written, more interesting, and more user friendly on a big scale. I started this program on blind faith, and I'm so glad that I did. Every time I sit down to read or write I feel very blessed to have found this program." —Debra Geraghty, Boise, Idaho
"In reading one of the course books, I could see Gloria's courage, tenacity, humility, and vision, as she steadfastly seeks to be an agent of transformational change, even when the voices of our normalized society speak with defensive, and sometimes hostile voices…I want you to know how inspired the curriculum and assignments are for me. I express my sincere thanks. I have a feeling that Gloria's work will extend further than even she can imagine."
—Liz Patterson, Park City, Utah
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PCI Certified Parent Coaches® featured in Oct. issue of Ebony Magazine
PCI Certified Parent Coach® Shares Tips with Television Audience
Denali Parent Coaching Launches in Anchorage
Harvard Begins Coaching and Positive Psychology Initiative
Workshop by Roni Stein, Ed.D., PCI Certified Parent Coach® and PCI Instructor
PCI students and graduates, and members of the community are invited to a workshop that explores key ribbons of culture that run through our daily lives. The conversation will focus on how these unique dimensions of culture impact us and the communities we live in. Certain kinds of relationships and environments, ways of approaching change, and decision-making are all impacted by one's cultural background. Participants will explore the classic work of Geert Hofstede to shed light on the many unexpected culturally-based issues that are important to understand in appreciating others and drawing out the best in them. There will be lots of potential for "aha" moments. Location: Conference Center in Bellefield Office Park, Bellevue, Washington. Fee includes continental breakfast, lunch, and snacks. To register: Contact Pam at the Parent Coaching Institute at (425) 401-1519 or pam@thepci.org. Directions will be sent upon registration. Please register before November 4, 2008. 
Back issues of Parent Express are available on the PCI Web site. There you can read articles by Gloria DeGaetano and PCI Certified Parent Coaches®, and easily send past issues to friends and colleagues via e-mail.
The Young Brain and the Screen Machine by Gloria DeGaetano Does this sound familiar? You're home with the children and the TV is on. Your four-year-old and two-year-old were singing and dancing along with a TV personality a few minutes ago, but now they are intent on a pretend trip to the store, buying Play-Doh® cookies and empty milk cartons. They are engrossed in this careful exchange. If you turn off the TV, you know they will scream, even though they seem to be paying little attention. Who knows, in their imaginary worlds that TV personality is a customer at their store, and the children are getting the cookies she ordered! What's going on? Lots of learning, the preschool way, that's what! This type of interactive, self-directed learning is typical at this age. Encouraging youngsters to engage directly with what's on the home screen will help prepare them for future learning. Conversely, acquiring a passive TV habit during the preschool years hinders appropriate development and puts children at-risk for learning and behavior problems later on. Continual neural activity prompted by lots of tactile and sensory experiences throughout early childhood lays the foundation for language and thinking. Deprived of an enriched environment, the child's brain will suffer. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, for instance, have found that children who don't play much or who are rarely touched develop brains 20% to 30% smaller than what is considered normal for their age. Too much TV creates an impoverished environment for the young brain. Taking in images from a 2-D screen while just sitting there does not allow children the 3-D exploration so necessary for building a coherent brain. Understanding the vital importance of young children's need for movement and mental challenge, the American Academy of Pediatrics now recommend no television for children from birth through age two. One hour or less of total daily screen time for older children would be the ideal. Total screen time includes TV, video rentals, movies, computers, video games, and video game boys—anytime the youngsters are in front of the screen machine. |
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This issue of Parent Express was originally published October 24, 2008. Some content, contact information, and links may be out of date, and the conversion from the original email edition may introduce formatting inconsistencies.
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