Parents Can Benefit from Free Parenting Classes at The Child Advocacy Center in Opelika

A Working Mom’s Tuesday Miracle

It was a Tuesday—an unholy day—ok maybe that’s going too far but it’s not my favorite day of the week. It didn’t help when my husband called to remind me that he had signed us up for the Child Advocacy Center’s parenting class. It’s a great idea. We have three children 6 and under. We need all the advice we can get. But it’s Tuesday. I want to go home, make dinner, bathe the kids, put them to bed, watch a show, get up tomorrow and do it again. Instead, I stay late at work, eat a slice of cold pizza left over from a meeting and drive to the Child Advocacy Center for an hour and a half of relearning everything I thought I knew about how to be an effective parent.

As it turns out, the class was a breath of fresh air in our fast paced life. My husband and I got to sit next to each other and quietly enjoy information while our children played and interacted with the Center’s professionals in nearby rooms.  It felt like a date – if that tells you anything about how often we actually have a date. We make up dates we’ve never had and fondly remember them as we pass each other in the kitchen. “Remember the time we went to that little French place and shared a glass of Côtes du Rhône?,”asks my husband. No, I don’t, because we’ve never done anything like that but that’s our game and we play it well.

At the end of the parenting class (the end of our date) each of the children got to pick a prize from the treasure chest for their good behavior. The boys picked tiny digital games and three-year-old Anna Frances picked a “Go Fish” deck.

And here comes my miracle. The parenting class was over. My husband needed to pick up something on the way home so off he went while I channeled the children into the van. Anna Frances, tired and, as it turns out, hungry had the worst temper tantrum that I have yet seen from her. She refused to get into her seat, she screamed, she hit me and she demanded that we return to the class so she could pick a “vidjo game” instead of a “Go Fish” deck. I tried all my tricks. I empathized. I repeated her complaint back to her. I explained the door was locked. I briefly attempted to force her into the chair. I gently explained we would stay in the parking lot until she climbed into the chair on her own. Nothing had any effect. Finally, I stepped back and decided to do nothing. I looked at the boys and was shocked to realize that they had both climbed into their seats and applied their seatbelts and patiently waited without complaint. I was floored. My boys were being “good” and my daughter was a maniac.

“Wow,” I said to the boys and complimented them profusely on their excellent choice and their patience. And here’s the kicker. Both boys said to Anna Frances simultaneously, “You can have my video game,” and reached their little hands out to her to offer the prize. She took them both, climbed into her seat, let me put on her seat belt and home we went.

By the time we got home, the gleam had worn off the video games and Anna Frances returned them to the rightful owners and peacefully requested her “Go Fish Deck.”

In my mind, this is a miracle. I’m not sure what I had to do with it or if what I did was the right thing but I know my boys did the right thing. They reached out to their sister with compassion and they did it on their own.

To learn more about The Child Advocacy Center’s free parenting classes call 334-705-0770.
The classes are usually offered quarterly and include a several free teaching aids, a text book and “treasure chest” prizes for the children.”

Stayed tuned, starting next week we will feature a blog by the former Director of The Child Advocacy Center.

Visit the Center’s website at: www.cacea.net