Bridget Barnes, Common Sense Parenting Coordinator, discusses Back-To-School tips.
Pat Persaud: Hi there, welcome. I'm Pat Persaud. I hope your morning is off to a great start. Well we have some parenting tips for you today and here to help me with that is Bridget Barnes. She's the program coordinator for Common Sense Parenting. Welcome Bridget.
Bridget Barnes: Thank you.
Pat Persaud: You know what's wrong with our common sense these days. Is it out the window?
Bridget Barnes: No, no. Really these are just practical tools that parents can use everyday with their kids. Just getting back to some basic things.
Pat Persaud: Basics. Okay and you've written some books. And you have some DVDs to share.
Bridget Barnes: Oh, yes, yes. Parents can get these from our Boys Town Press or they can come to our classes that we have in the evening or we have at lunchtime.
Pat Persaud: Right. Kids are back in school now full-time. What are some common sense tips that you can share to help our kids succeed in school?
Bridget Barnes: Just taking some time. Parents need to take the time to teach their kids to talk to them about their day. Not just, “How was your day?” but “Tell me something great that happened or something not so great that happened.”
Stay in tune. Instruct your kids. Monitor, visit the school, be there and encourage those small steps towards the desired behavior.
Pat Persaud: You know sometimes I think we as adults forget how important we are in a child's life. Right?
Bridget Barnes: Oh, yes. Just teaching them the social skills that they need is important.
Pat Persaud: Yeah.
Bridget Barnes: You might have a kid who's really bright, but if they don't know how to follow instructions and accept no for an answer they might not do so well in school.
Pat Persaud: Right. And it's up to us to teach those things. We can't expect the school to do everything. Bridget, I know that again you've written some books and you also have some classes. Right? You can go out to different organizations also?
Bridget Barnes: Oh, yes. We can come to an organization and do the class. Over the lunch break is really great or parents can come to our classes in the evenings. We have them at various different locations from 6:30 to 8:30.
Pat Persaud: Okay. And we can find you online to and if you want that link all you have to do is log on to momseveryday.com
Thanks for joining us.
