If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders.

  ~Abigail Van Buren

Welcome to the Parent Education Site! 

Parenting is a hard job and children do not come with instruction booklets. 

Here you will find information, ideas and connections to other resources which may give you support in the important job of being a parent.  If you are seeking information that you have not found here, email a parent educator with your questions.

Parent Topic of the Month

Raising A Capable Child

Parenting is the hardest job we will ever do!  We start with a helpless, very dependent infant and 18 years later our society expects us to release into the world a strong, independent young adult.  Of course, that young adult doesn’t magically happen when they turn 18.  As a parent, we must teach our child skills and step back to let them experience life – a little each day.

Find out how, here

May Newsletters

Early Childhood

School Age

Teens

Parent Resources

Parent Library

Parent Involvement

Parent Resource List

Parent Learning

Child Development

all in Adobe PDF

Infants (0-1 year old)

Toddlers (1-2 years)

Toddlers (2-3 years)

Preschoolers (3-5 years)

Childhood (6-8 years)

Childhood (9-11 years)

Early Adolescence (12-14)

For additional information visit http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/

Parent Tip of the Month

Choices

All parents want to be in control!  But there is something very interesting about control – the more we give away, the more we gain.  Even the youngest children ( age 2 ) learn something from having some control.  They learn responsibility, maturity and it gives them a sense of independence.  One way of giving control is through choices.  For a preschooler you give simple choices, such as, “Do you want to wear the red or the blue shirt?”  For an elementary child you may say, “Go choose your clothes for school tomorrow.”  The older the child gets the more choices they should be making within the boundaries that parents have set for them.

Giving a child choices works because the child has to think and make a decision, therefore, he has less time to argue.  Here are some points to consider in giving your child choices.

• The choices should always be acceptable to the parent.

• Never give a choice unless you are willing to allow the consequences of that choice.

• Never give choices in safety!

• Always be willing to make the choice if the child can’t.

• The way the choice is stated is important:

                 Would you rather ____ or _____?

From Parenting With Love and Logic  by Jim Fay and Foster Cline