Parenting Preschoolers with Positive Discipline
**THIS CLASS HAS NOW MOVED TO A VIRTUAL CLASSROOM USING ZOOM MEETINGS**
“I really love all the positive reinforcement for positive parenting received from Marcilie! My family and home are happier places as a result!” — Lana, Mother of 2 Children
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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 Parenting with Positive Discipline series 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.
Special focus on Preschoolers
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
- Tips for getting out the door / getting to bed quickly and peacefully
- Simple, tangible, and effective Positive Discipline tools to reduce defiance, tantrums, back talk and other challenging behaviors.
- What’s developmentally normal, albeit possibly irritating behavior for your preschooler
- The one principle that matters most in helping your children to become responsible, respectful, resourceful, and happy adults (and how to put that principle into practice every day.)
- NOTE: content for this SF class is focused on parenting preschoolers aged 2 – 6
When: 6 Tuesday nights from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Pacific Time starting March 17, 2020 and ending May 5 (skips March 31 and April 7) 1/26/20 NOTE: these dates have shifted slightly since original announcement due to Mission Montessori’s Spring Break
Where: NOW in a virtual classroom using Zoom Meetings (originally planned to be held at Mission Montessori, 50 Fell St, San Francisco, CA 94102, USA)
NOTE: I have 5 years of experience running parenting classes in a virtual classroom. It works!
Cost for General Public: $349/person or $239/2nd caregiver. Mission Montessori Parents/Caregivers receive discounted pricing. Contact MarcilieSmithBoyle@gmail.com for information.
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
Attendance will be capped at 25. Spaces reserved on a first come, first served basis.
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 gave 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
I enjoyed every class, very impactful. Didn’t want the classes to end!
– Anonymous Parent
Marcilie is an amazing, warm, and down to earth teacher. She taught positive discipline with such grace, and I aspire to be like her. I look forward to implementing the positive discipline tools that I have learned.
– Anonymous Parent
You can’t put a price tag on being a better parent and having a happier home. Marcilie is an incredibly skilled facilitator and I’m so thankful to her for everything she taught me! Everything I learned I can implement immediately.
– Kate Ciungan
The content of this workshop is very helpful for parents with kids of all ages. It contains knowledge that I know and I want to use for my parenting but it gave me the skills to apply it every day. – Mariana Hernandez
Magical! Thank you!
– Anonymous Parent
This was good “therapy” for me and my wife, doing the class together and learning how to appreciate each other (and respect) more. Thank you! – Anonymous Parent
I love Marcilie! She’s so down to earth and knowledgeable. I loved that she shared her personal experience, it make it very easy to relate and to feel “she’s talking about you.” Thank you, Marcilie!
– Anonymous Parent
Frequently Asked Questions
What child ages is this class tailored to?
The course content is specifically tailored to parenting preschoolers ages 2 – 6. However, most of the content (80%) will be relevant for elementary aged children as well.
What if I can’t make it to all the classes?
Missing a class or two is common. I’ll send you materials to get you caught up PLUS you can make up classes you missed (or repeat the full series free of charge) when I offer it again within 1 year. (These classes are not recorded.)
6 Weeks is a big time commitment. Does the class need to be that long?
If you think about how much time and money we invest in our careers or education, 6 weeks is a drop in the bucket — especially for what may be the most important job we ever and always have: parents. The full Parenting the Positive Discipline Way curriculum is about 14 hours long. And even then, facilitators make choices about what tools and concepts to cover and which ones to leave out.
My child isn’t that challenging. Will the class still be relevant?
It’s my belief that all parents will benefit from taking a Positive Discipline class because the philosophy and tools are not just about shaping behavior; they are about helping our children create healthy beliefs for the long term. Beliefs like, “I’m capable and competent; I have something to contribute, I’m needed and loved.” Healthy beliefs beget healthy behavior AND emotional health for the long term. Some children are “pleasers” or will obey out of fear. These traits make them easier to parent now, but neither will lead to healthy development long term.
What does the course cover?
You’ll find a rough outline of the 6-week series here.
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.
