Successful parenting: a mom's parenting skills bloom
Jennifer, the mother of three wonderful young boys, is the picture of loving, quiet confidence.
It wasn't long before, though, that she felt powerless as a mother. On many days she had no strength to handle parenting problems. Daily issues, like her sons' inappropriate mimicking behavior and her own inability to get her younger son to sleep in his own bed, seemed insurmountable.
And then she met a special preschool teacher.
Her son had entered preschool in Raleigh, NC—but this was no ordinarily preschool. An inclusive half-day pre-kindergarten classroom based on best practices in early childhood education, it served as a model for hundreds of teachers, principals, parents, and others every year.
Her son's preschool teacher was Kim Hughes. Noticing Jennifer's hesitation when she faced parenting problems, Kim encouraged her to believe in herself and to interact with her children intentionally.
First, though, she had to learn to be her best self in order to be her very best for her children. Following Kim's coaching, Jennifer began to focus not just on her role as a mother, but as a good friend and a valuable person.
Soon, she began noticing her parenting skills were blooming. Her sons' mimicking behavior quickly faded away thanks to Kim's specific advice, and her son transitioned to sleeping in his own bed quickly and without trouble.
Kim no longer teaches at the demonstration preschool—she founded Conscious Connections to help parents, teachers, and others around the nation—but Jennifer plans to keep her as part of her family's lives. "Her advice, coaching, and counseling helped me emerge into a great mom," she says. "She helped me gain confidence in my parenting. I thank God that He gave her to our family!"
Successful parenting tips
As Jennifer's real-life story shows, part of successful parenting involves acting intentionally. For another real-life example, read the story of Zoe, a child caregiver who used simple "I Love You Rituals" to interact with children more intentionally—with wonderful results.
Part of building positive parent-child relationships, too, is engaging in effective parenting discipline.
The thought of disciplining children can make many parents cringe, but one of the most important things to realize is that parenting discipline doesn't have to be negative. In fact, the right discipline approach can create a secure environment where your children feel safe... and there are a variety of positive discipline techniques that have proven to be highly effective.
One such discipline approach is Conscious Discipline®, a positive, research-based, and highly effective method of discipline that works not only with infants, toddlers, and young children, but those who are much older. (In fact, we help medical professionals effectively apply Conscious Discipline in adult hospital and nursing home settings, improving the patient experience immeasurably.)
Some parents are skeptical. Brought up to believe that to spare the rod is to spoil the child, they doubt whether a positive discipline approach can work with truly out of control children or rampant misbehavior.
It can, and it does.
Jennifer, the mother in the story above, used a positive discipline approach to successfully discourage mimicking behavior in her sons, kindergarten teacher Ashley Cooper used positive discipline techniques to bring new order and excitement to her classroom, and the parents, teachers, and others we've met over decades have benefited immensely from it... even when dealing with severe misbehavior or a child with special needs.
To begin using a positive approach to discipline in your own parenting, we recommend starting with our free how-to guide, Effective Parenting Discipline: How to Discipline Children Without Yelling.
We also offer parenting workshops; to bring a parenting workshop to your workplace or neighborhood, select from our list of child care and teacher workshops. (As an experienced parent coach and speaker, Kim can quickly adapt her workshops to parents—and has. Parenting workshops that address children with special needs are available as well.)
To help parents in your community begin using a positive discipline approach with their children, including your own family, we recommend the workshop 'Moving from Crazy to Calm! Building Self-Control in Ourselves and Our Children'.
Last but not least, Kim continues to serve as a parent coach. Contact Kim to talk about how her parent coaching services can be customized to meet your family's specific needs.
Effective Parenting Discipline: a free guide by an expert parenting coach 
