Live and in-person Parenting with Positive Discipline Class (Oakland, CA)

“I really love all the positive reinforcement for positive parenting received from Marcilie! My family and home are happier places as a result!” — Lana Tillis, Mother of 2 Children

Would you like to:

yell less
have fewer power struggles
connect more
share the load more
feel more confident and peaceful in your parenting
and raise children who are respectful, resilient, and plain old happy?

Then you’ll definitely want to join us for this fun, informative workshop series!

This live and in-person Parenting with Positive Discipline class will help you show up as the parent you want to be, and create a home where respectful cooperation is the norm. You’ll get tangible, practical tips and tools that are easy to implement and work right away.

Here’s just some of what you’ll learn over the 6-week class:

My favorite 3-step ritual to stay cool, calm, and curious in the face of really irritating behavior.
2 things every child needs for intrinsically motivated cooperation.
Simple, tangible, and effective Positive Discipline tools to reduce defiance, tantrums, back talk and other challenging behaviors.
How to leverage your family team (including your partner) in household responsibilities.
The one principle that matters most in helping your kids to become responsible, respectful, resourceful, and happy adults (and how to put that principle into practice every day.)

Your Class Fee Includes Everything Here:

6 interactive classes.
Handout with summaries, reminders, homework assignments, and exercises.
Weekly practice assignment. Changing behavior is not easy and requires daily practice. Each week you’ll get something very tangible to practice with your children.
Supplemental reading assignments. Each week you’ll get a short article hand-picked by Marcilie to round out your classroom experience.
Access to private resource page with additional handouts, links, and audio downloads
Free 30 minute 1:1 parenting consultation at the end of the series

Or Learn More about the Virtual version of this class

Want more details? You’ll find detailed course content here

Course Content: 5 Modules over 6 Weeks

Module 1: Shift Your Perspective

What you see is what you get

In this module, you will learn how powerful your perspective can be when it comes to parenting. You will learn how to shift perspective in four ways, in order to make it easier to show up as a peaceful parent, and to find the right words to say in those tense moments with your kids. You’ll also learn about Adlerian Psychology, the philosophy underlying Positive Discipline proposed 100 years ago by Alfred Adler, which has withstood the test of time and contemporary neuroscientific research. The four perspective shifts are:

From discipline as punishment to discipline as teaching
From short term to long term
From focusing on the behavior to focusing on what’s driving it
From parent as behavior manager to parent as encourager and problem solver

You will leave with specific tools to help you maintain these new perspectives, taught through experiential activities.

Module 2: Gain Tools

We Can Only Do What We’ve Learned How To Do

In this module we will focus on filling your Positive Discipline tool box. You will learn:

Alternatives to rewards and punishments that both work and teach long term life skills
How to design consequences that are helpful, not hurtful
Two things every child needs for intrinsically motivated cooperation
3 specific ways to help your kids build resilience and problem solving skills
My favorite 3-step process to set limits that stick
Many more tools to reduce defiance, power struggles, and other challenging behaviors

Module 3: Take Care of Yourself

When you feel better, you do better.

One of my favorite mantras from Positive Discipline is this: “Kids do better when they feel better.” (Jane Nelsen). When kids feel well-fed, well-slept, and when they feel a strong sense of belonging and significance, it’s so much easier for them to behave in the way we’d like. The same is true for adults. It’s really hard to show up as a peaceful, positive parent when you are sleep-deprived, stressed out, over-worked, unappreciated, resentful or just plain unhappy.

In this module you will uncover what’s blocking you from taking better care of yourself and leave with a specific action plan to put yourself closer to the top of your priority list.

Module 4: Share The Load

If you feel like you’re doing all the work, it’s probably because you are.

In Adlerian Psychology and Positive Discipline, everyone in the family has a role in creating a smoothly-running and happy home. You’ll learn step-by-step activities you can do with your partner and your kids in order to share the load, teach life skills, and give everyone the opportunity to contribute.

Module 5: Enjoy the Ride

It’s all about the journey.

We’ll end the series with more tools and tips to help you step outside of your busyness, and re-connect with the joy and awesomeness in parenting. You’ll get:

my favorite tool to help you remain present with your kids
what mindfulness looks like when you’re trying to get out the door but your kids are driving you crazy
tips for keeping the joy and fun alive and well

Note: Exact content and order may shift or change based on participant needs

What People Have To Say About The Class

“Positive Discipline is an amazing platform from which to parent — its approach is balanced, fair and respectful to all members of the family. I feel grateful to have been introduced to it and wish I had exposure to it earlier. I truly felt calmer after reading the first chapter of Jane Nelsen’s book, “Positive Discipline,” which was the basis of our class. Marcilie is a brilliant educator — she is positive, a clear thinker, and highly organized. She’s mastered the subject matter and presents both the theories and applied usage of Positive Discipline with just the right balance.”

– Jill Lindenbaum, Mother of 2 children, Piedmont, CA

“Marcilie is a great resource on Positive Discipline. I took her class because I wanted to be a better parent and learn new ways of disciplining. I came away with a solid understanding of the principles and some really good techniques under my belt. I also love that she’s easily accessible via email for questions, has a great resource page and that she lets you take the class again for free! I’d highly recommend her.”

– Corinna Lu, Mother of 2 children, San Francisco, CA

“Marcilie is an incredibly skilled facilitator who will help give you the tools to implement the positive discipline parenting approach. I had read about it before and tried to parent that way but found myself floundering and bouncing back and forth between being permissive and frankly, angry, that my kids were walking all over me. This class game me so many tools to improve my relationships with my children and I think it will have a long-term impact on my parenting. I know I will continually consult the resources she provided (my binder is like a bible now!)”

– Chiara Garonzik, Mother of 2 children, Los Gatos, CA

Facilitator:

Marcilie Smith Boyle, MBA, CPCC, CPDT helps busy parents and professionals find more peace, purpose, and joy in parenting. A Certified Positive Discipline Parenting Educator and Leadership Coach, she leverages her previous sixteen-year consulting and marketing career to ensure her clients get a return on their coaching investment. She earned her MBA from Harvard Business School, BA from Dartmouth, and CPCC from The Coaches Training Institute. She loves living in Oakland with her husband and three wonderful school-aged children.