A Plug for the Count

I confess up front: I am motivated to write this because I want to win a $300 gift card to Target. However, having said that, I really do appreciate this program...

1-2-3 Magic. Sounds like a cheesy marketing ploy, right? Well, it gets your attention, and it certainly got mine. I first heard of the 1-2-3 Magic parenting method when I started as client services manager at the Care Net Center, where I worked from August 2008 until last week.

When I first signed on to work at Care Net, I thought I'd be working with women facing unplanned pregnancies, and I was (somewhat) prepared to do that. I did work with those women, but I also found myself facilitating another of Care Net's important programs: Parenting classes. Everyone calls them "classes," but they're really one-on-one information/coaching sessions, where clients with kids of all ages can vent about their parenting challenges and gain access to new ideas and insights for managing those challenges with grace.

If I had been told, before I agreed to take the client services position, that I would be billed as the "parenting expert" in those sessions, I probably would have stayed at my previous job. But, come to find out, I could learn right along with my clients. And while I still don't consider myself an "expert," the program that has yielded the best results for my family (less yelling, more loving) is 1-2-3 Magic by Dr. Thomas Phelan.

It really is very simple. And it really takes a great deal of discipline on the part of the parents. The kids (as is typical, I suppose) adapt much more quickly than the grown-ups to the method, which simply sets out the expectations of the household and then enforces them--consistently, nonviolently, with liberty and justice for all.

I won't explain the program here, I'll just endorse it and refer you to your nearest public library or favorite media retailer to discover the details for yourselves. And, by the way, I really recommend the DVD because then you and your spouse and/or parenting partner(s) can all watch it and learn together. The DVD has some decidedly dated elements to it (mainly the hair and clothing styles of the presenters), but it is nevertheless well-done and timeless in its content.

Let the magic begin! http://www.123magic.com/