Our Parenting Talks can be scheduled separately or as a series. We typically allow 1 and 1/2 hours for each talk. Following an informative presentation, we will answer questions and moderate group discussion on the following topics affecting parents of infants, toddlers and latency age children. We welcome suggestions and requests on other parenting-pertinent topics in addition to those listed below.

Setting Limits Without Getting Your Buttons Pushed.
Are time-outs without losing your temper possible? Are bribes always a bad thing? How to be clear, firm and direct when setting boundaries with spirited children.

Promoting Healthy Self-Esteem.
Is there such a thing as too much praise? Discussion of how praise and ‘constructive’ criticism impact a child’s sense of self, and how problem-solving and age-appropriate responsibility heighten self-esteem.

Playdate Politics and Peer Smarts.
How to help your child develop compassionate social skills and become a good friend, while you negotiate the challenges of different parenting styles and expectations. We’ll also discuss sharing, respectful play, food choices and other loaded issues a parent encounters when their child hits the social circuit.

New Parenthood: The End of The World As You Know It.
The transition to parenthood is loaded with joys and challenges. Navigating the changes can be tough on a couple’s relationship. However, there are ways to strengthen and preserve connection with your partner. This talk will focus on how to avoid estrangement and conflict to cultivate greater intimacy and trust.

The In-law Dance:
Are your in-laws inviting or intrusive? Do you and your partner join forces or split into separate camps when grandparents come calling? This talk focuses on the variety of issues and emotions that come up when extended family participate in the life of your primary unit.

Sibling Survival:
Parenting two or more children can be a challenging and exhausting job. Siblinghood affords children intimate opportunities to learn the valuable life lessons of compassion, co-operation and compromise. When siblings co-exist harmoniously, life is a joy. But when they fight, parents are stressed to the max. This Talk focuses on how to defuse sibling tensions by looking at the underlying issues and assumptions that get in the way of effective parenting.

The Importance of Fathers:
Research shows clearly that paternal involvement is very important for a child’s emotional, social, and cognitive development. But fatherhood can be particularly complicated – dads often feel sidelined and unsupported.

We will discuss the wonderful benefits of involved fathers. We will explore what it has been like for Talk attendees to become fathers and how they can be supported and encouraged to be the best dads they can be. *
(*Moms are invited too!)

To Work or Not to Work, That is the Question:
Today’s generation of action-oriented, post-feminism mothers are in a constant state of questioning and comparing. It’s hard enough being a mother, much less a working-mother, or a formerly-working-mother, or a stay-at-home mother, or…
You get the point. When issues of motherhood and work collide, the dilemmas are complex, confusing, and deeply personal. In this Talk we focus on the identity issues, familial histories, financial concerns, and social pressures inherent in the work/motherhood dilemma, offering possible frameworks for resolution and joy in whatever your situation offers.

One and Done: Raising only children
Poor only children. Are they really doomed to become entitled brats more comfortable chatting at their parents’ dinner parties than with peers at play time? Will they grow up desperately lonely and socially inept because they don’t have siblings? Will they suffer greatly as adults when dealing with their parents aging and eventual demise? The good news is a resounding No, to all the above. Come to this talk and learn how it is possible to raise healthy, well-adjusted only children.

The Artist, Formerly Known As…
Coping with parenthood is no easy feat, especially for the mother or father with artistic ambitions. Sometimes it seems impossible to combine good parenting with the intense focus required to keep creativity alive. This Talk is an overview of issues covered in the more comprehensive multi-session workshop of the same name (See below). Some of the topics included might be: Time Management, Competition/Envy, Creative Block, Family of Origin Pressures.