Parent Training Program
Let’s face it. It is scary to be a parent nowadays. We are bombarded by stories of frum children, children from the best, most religious homes, engaging in the most depraved, unthinkable actions. We constantly see children, many we recognize as our friends and neighbor’s children, many that our children have associated with, wandering aimlessly on a Saturday night, dressed in a unbecoming manner, smoking and drinking. It is as if the world has gone crazy around us. There is something gnawing at you. You refuse to give it voice. It is simply too unbearable to contemplate, but every time you look in the eyes of one of the lost children on the street, you look into the eyes of your children and wonder if there is anything you can do to guarantee you will never see your precious children among those ranks.
As hard as it is to convey, the answer to that burning question that haunts so many of us is "no." There are no actions that we can take as parents to guarantee the safety and well-being of our children in an at-risk world. But that does not mean we are helpless either. The foundation that parents lay for their children at home is the single most important determinate of their eventual spiritual and physical health and well-being. Nothing that we can do can guarantee our children immunity from the reality that surrounds us, but well prepared, skilled parents can give their children crucial tools necessary to reject the depravity that surrounds them. There are techniques parents can utilize to help their children understand their inherent worth and prepare them for what they face, be it at school, at home or in the neighborhood and help them make the right decisions when faced with a challenge. The critical choices our children make, on the spot, when they are offered their first "hit" of the stuff that "everyone is doing" for free can alter the course of their lives forever. With the proper preparation and training, we CAN be present in our children’s mind during that fleeting moment when the most important decision they may ever make is being contemplated. Although we can never be ceratin of the choices they make, our preparation, our involvement can be the most important determining factor in choices they make.
Priority-1 has been in the forefront of the response to the crises facing our children. From providing resources to parents and educators and presenting workshops to highlight the problems, to providing real life solutions such as its alternative high school program, Priority-1 has been a leader in attacking the problem head on and offering reality based, implementable solutions.
Proposal
It is in that tradition that Project 18* offers the Parent Training Program, an intensive series of parent training workshops that provide practical techniques, advice and problem solving skills to help prepare parents for the challenges they face while rasing children in an at-risk world.
The structure of the Parent Training Workshop was developed utilizing current theory on the most effective form of parenting enrichment. The research has shown, that certain types of parenting are more effective than others. Likewise, parental interventions at the first sign of trouble, can make an incredible difference in the development of a child (Scott, 1998). These parenting skills can be taught and developed, and the teaching of these skills has been shown to produce a significant positive difference in the development of their children (Cotler and Penman, 1992).
Workshops will be practical and hands on with a focus on behaviors and problem solving (Colter and Penman, 1992). Theory will only be utilized to help provide context to the practical strategies parents will be offered .
The Parent Training Program is a three phased program that will deal with the practicalities of the problem of children at-risk at the family level. The first phase, planned for the end of the 2005-2006 academic year, will consist of 1, one hundred participant section of the four part workshop series in the Far Rockaway/Five-Towns area. Additional sections of the workshop series can be offered as needed. Couples will be encouraged to attend the workshops together in order to help facilitate productive change in the complete parenting unit.
The four sessions of the Parent Training Program will progressively expose, inform and instruct parents on the at-risk phenomenon and the role they can play in minimizing their children’s risk AND maximizing their children’s potential. Session will be held monthly and last for 3 hours each. The first session will have a dual focus. The first is an in depth look at the at-risk phenomenon, providing information on the realities of the situation, who is affected and how. The goal is to ensure that all participants understand the at-risk phenomenon, and that no community or subset of Orthodox Judaism is immune. The second focus will be an analysis of self control for parents. It is often difficult for one to remove himself from a situation in which he is heavily involved. There can be a lot of emotion surrounding children at-risk and how to deal with them. The second half of the evening will focus on practical advice and techniques for maintaining both self control and perspective when dealing with highly emotional and difficult family issues.
The second session will present a practical overview of developmental theory. Parents need to know how children develop in order to determine when and if something is amiss. As the Parent Training Program is geared toward parents, not educators, the theoretical perspectives of stage development will be presented in a hands on, participatory manner, through the use of role play and small group discussion techniques. The goal is to allow parents to see the world from a child’s point of view.
Knowing the standard development patterns of children provides the perspective with which parents can begin to identify at-risk behavior in their children, but they still need to know what actually represents at-risk behavior. The third session will focus on recognizing and identifying such behavior, as well as practical intervention techniques to utilize when such behavior is identified.
The final session will focus on maximizing children’s potential with an emphasis on providing our children with love and validation. Practical strategies and techniques for maximizing children’s potential, self worth and motivation will be provided. The fourth session will conclude with an overview and wrap up of the lessons learned over the four session series.
The best means to ensure a sustained commitment to the program is offering the parents an incentive for their continued involvement. Couples will be offered $150 in tuition remission per session as an incentive for their participation.
Ongoing qualitative and quantitative evaluation will be collected utilizing short surveys completed after each individual session and an in depth questionnaire after the final session.
Budget
The total budget for the first phase of the Parent Training Program is $54,400.
Honorarium for 8 presenters at $300 per presenter: $2,400
Parent tuition remission incentives at $150 per couple per session: $30,000
Preparation of materials, facilities and administration: $13,000
Promotional material and advertisement: $7,000
Refreshments at $500 per session for 4 sessions: $2,000
Phase II
The second phase of the Parent Training Program will extend the successful Far Rockaway/Five Towns model to the greater New York area. Two sections of the course will be offered.
Budget
The total budget for the second phase of the Parent Training Program is $110,800.
Honorarium for 16 presenters at $300 per presentation: $4,800
Parent tuition remission incentives at $150 per couple per session: $60,000
Preparation of materials, facilities and administration: $30,000
Promotional material and advertisement: $12,000
Refreshments at $500 per session for 8 sessions: $4,000
Phase III
The third phase of the Parent Training Program will extend the program to three cities across the country, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles.
Budget
The total budget for the third phase of the Parent Training Program is $213,200
Honorarium for 24 presenters at $300 per presenter: $7,200
Parent tuition remission incentives at $150 per couple per session: $90,000
Preparation of materials, facilities and administration: $70,000
Promotional material and advertisement: $25,000
Travel at $500 per city: $15,000
Refreshments at $500 per session for 12 sessions: $6,000
The total cost of the first three phases of the Parent Training Program is $378,400. The total program cost is $630 per participant.
The Parent Training Program addresses a truly pressing need in the Jewish community. It provides theoretically sound, informative, hands on information and techniques for increasing awareness of the at- risk phenomenon, as well as appropriate interventions techniques that parents can utilize at home to minimize at-risk behavior and maximize their children’s potential. The Parent Training Program goes beyond simply dealing with the problems we face. It provides insight into how to help alleviate the at-risk phenomenon by providing workshops that deal with the fundamental underlying causes of at- risk behavior. We all wish that the issues the Parent Training Program address were not at crisis proportions in our communities. Facing the reality that these issues need to be dealt with is only half of the battle. The Parent Training Program goes beyond facing our reality and provides practical skills to those who are in the best position to handle the at-risk phenomenon, the parents of the children themselves.
* Rabbi and Organization name have been changed
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