Parenting with Positive Discipline Class at Redwood Day in Oakland, CA

As of Jan 5, 2022: This class will now take place via Zoom

“Positive Discipline offers great tools to help you connect to your child and to parent with love. Marcilie knows her stuff! She is well prepared, uber organized, and really entertaining. As a teacher of small children and a mom of two boys under six, I found my time in Marcilie’s class to be truly life changing. Every week, I left excited to try out the tools, tips, and tricks learned in class and looked forward to going back for more. Routine Charts transformed our mornings and Family Meetings increased the household love. Everyone could benefit from looking at their parenting and trying to improve. Marcilie gives parents the tools to improve and brings the Positive Parenting philosophy to life!”

– Sara Hampton, Mother of 2 Redwood Day Children, Oakland, CA

Early Bird Discount expires Dec 9

As of Jan 5, 2022: This class will now take place via Zoom

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 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:

Alternatives to rewards and punishments that both work and teach long-term life skills
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
All about chores, allowance and enlisting help with household responsibilities
Specific words you can use to foster resilience and a “growth mindset” in your children
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)

When: Wednesdays Feb 2, 9, 16 (Skip Feb 23 for Presidents Day Week), March 2, 9, 16, 2022 from 6:45 – 8:45pm.

Where: THIS CLASS HAS MOVED TO ZOOM given the Omicron surge. ~~Redwood Day, 3245 Sheffield Ave, Oakland, CA~~

Early Bird Fee (by Dec. 9): $319/person or $568/couple (no early discount for 2nd caregivers)

Regular Fee: $359/person or $608/couple, or $249/2nd Caregiver (if 1st Caregiver already took Marcilie’s class in the past few years)

REDWOOD DAY Parents and Guardians get discounted pricing.

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

– Sara Hampton, Mother of 2 Redwood Day Children, Oakland, CA

“Well-paced! Engaging! Tools to keep engagement high, motivation high, and retention high were executed really well!”

– Anonymous parent

“Both content and facilitator were excellent. I feel hopeful again after feeling frustrated, angry, and resigned for so long.”

– Carys Steers, Mother of 2 children

“The material was presented in an engaging, fun, organized manner. I feel that I have tools for the day to day challenges parenting my 3 and 7 YO children.”

– Ryan Horn, father of 2 Park Day children

“Marcilie, you offer a balance of strong boundaries of class expectations (ie., begin and end on time) and a non-judgmental acceptance (kind) of all thoughts, suggestions, and shares.”

– Mother of 2 children

“Marcilie makes the material very approachable and gives lots of great examples of how to implement”

– Anonymous parent

Frequently Asked Questions

For what ages of children is this class directed?

Ages 2 to teens. The philosophy and concepts presented in class apply to all ages (even adults!) however some tools are age-specific. Some tools can be modified for various ages and I will share modifications whenever appropriate. I enjoy having a mixed age group because parents learn so much from each other, not just the facilitator.

I can’t make it to all of the classes live. Can I make up the missed classes?

Yes. You can make up any missed classes the next time I offer the series (preschool version starts March 17, 2020 in San Francisco, CA. The Oakland class will repeat next year.) I will also ask for a volunteer in class to take notes and schedule a “catch up call” with you.

My children aren’t that challenging. Will I benefit from the class?

It’s my belief that a positive parenting class should be a requirement for all parents. Positive Discipline, in particular, is not just about behavior management. It’s about helping children to create healthy beliefs: about themselves and the world, so that they feel a strong sense of belonging and significance, are excited about life, and motivated to contribute to their families, classrooms, and communities. All children (and parents) can benefit from having a healthy mindset and healthy beliefs about themselves.

What kind of reviews does this class get?

The average rating from all participants over the past 6 years is 4.6/5 stars. Last year, the average rating was 4.9. See above for testimonials.

More FAQ’s 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 Trainer 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 children.