Parenting Series at Holy Trinity Parish

Parenting Series Talks at Holy Trinity Parish

 

Dr. Lisa Klewicki spoke March 30^th at the first of a series of parenting talks to be offered once a month at Holy Trinity Catholic Church.  The “Parenting Talks” evolved out of a successful adult formation series that was held last fall at Brentsville High School.  That series began as avenue for parents to take classes while they were waiting for their children attending religious education.  Approximately twenty five adults attended this event, where lunch and child care was provided for the hour long talk.  The cost for each of the talk was a suggested donation of $15 per family to cover food and childcare.

Upcoming talks are:

April 27 “Helping Our Kids to be Chaste in Today’s Society” by Fr. John Hopkins, L.C.

May 18 “Parenting in a Christ-centered Home” by Greg Witherow

June 22 “Motivating Our Kids by Understanding Their Temperament” by Art and Laraine Bennett

July 19 “Forgiveness” by Dr. Lisa Klewicki 

Families interested in attending a future talk may R.S.V.P. Larraine Bennett at 703-392-6792 or email at artlaraine@comcast.net

Dr. Klewicki has a doctorate in Psychology and a master’s degree in Theology. She integrates the Catholic faith with Psychology in order to look at the whole person, spiritually, emotionally and physically.  The focus of her talk called “What is Your Parenting Style” explored each of the four types of parenting styles, based upon low to high expectations of parents and how well they bond with their children.

The first and best parenting style she described as an “authoritative” style, where the parents have high expectations for their children and a good bonding or loving relationship with your children.  In this relationship you give your child the skills they need, to do what we are expecting them to do and giving them lots of praise for it.  When children don’t quite make the mark, you teach them so that they can accomplish their goal.

The second style Dr. Klewicki calls the “authoritarian” style where the parents dictate to the children what to do, “Because I say so!” and there is no love and bonding with the children.  There are high expectations but this is negated by a lack of love and the parents don’t teach them how to reach their expectations.

Another parenting style is “permissive,” where there is a lot of love and bonding but there are no expectations for the child(ren) and he/she can do what they want.  “Mom and dad will back me up, I can break the law and it’s okay,” is how Dr. Klewicki states the mentality of the child’s perception of the parents.  The child knows that parents will help make up excuses for them.

The fourth parenting style is when a child does not feel any love or bonding and the parents do not have any expectations for the child.  Dr Klewicki describes this as the “Bart Simpson” of parenting, where the parents are not really attentive to the children at all.  Children can do what they please and the parents don’t really care.

Dr. Klewicki describes “permissive” parenting as the current style since most parents want to be their child’s best friends, as opposed to being their parents.  The children feel very loved and nurtured, “mom and dad are my buddies,” but we don’t expect you to do very well.  We love you a lot, but we don’t expect any results.  In order to counteract that, parents need to develop an “authoritative” style where they have strong expectations and love for their children.

Date Published: 2008-04-09 05:38:10

Section: Education,