Building Futures - Workshops

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ADD/ADHD Toolkit

Is your child’s ADD/ADHD starting to wear you down? Does it take your child hours to do minutes worth of homework? Does getting your child withADD/ADHD out the door in the morning feel like a full-time job? Wouldn’t you prefer to have a toolkit of ADD/ADHD strategies so you can focus on the gifts that come along with ADD/ADHD? Gifts like, ability to think out side the box, the willingness to take risks, and creative expression. In this workshop you’ll be taught how to do just that. In addition to being shown how the ADD/ADHD mind works you will be taught ways to circumvent the ADD/ADHD challenges. The ADD/ADHD Toolkit arms parents with loads of practical kid empowerment strategies that are tailor-made for the ADD/ADHD mind. Your children’s ADD/ADHD doesn’t have to be seen as a “disorder” that gets in the way of their success.

Date: Tuesday August 19, 2008
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 pm
Location: Columbia, MD
Fee: $20

Hassle-less Homework

Have you fallen into the trap of yelling, fighting and nagging about homework? Do you feel like the “Homework Police” when what you really want to be is a supporting parent? Do you fear a call from your child’s teacher? Don’t feel bad about homework hassles; they’re more common than you might imagine. Yet with a few changes and strategies learned in this workshop, you’ll be able to avoid the aggravation and start seeing an improvement in family dynamics and kid’s attitudes.

Let’s get started right away. This workshop is one of our most popular because it is a triple win for everyone concerned; students, parents and teachers. Schedule a workshop for your school or organization.

Date: Tuesday September 16, 2008
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 pm
Location: Columbia, MD
Fee: $20

Reducing the Rivalry

Do you hear yourself asking: “Why can’t they just get along?” Are you dreading the teen years when sibling rivalry reaches new heights? Do you find that your words are “twisted” and end up adding to the rivalry instead of bringing them closer together? How can we take the rivalry out of the equation, nurture strong bonds between all members of the family and at the same time, teach conflict resolution skills kids can take with them through life?

Why is it so difficult for siblings to “just get along”, to stop competing for our attention? The Removing the Rivalry Workshop focuses on acceptance of individual differences and ways to bring out the best in each child. What you will learn in this workshop will help you to assess family dynamics and adopt and strengthen the parenting style that works best for your family.

With your help, your children will learn how to “manage” and resolve conflict with confidence; skills that are beneficial now and in the future.

Date: Wednesday December 10th 2008
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 pm
Location: Columbia, MD
Fee: $20

Building Futures Workshops

Why watch your kids struggle through years of trial and error when you and your friends can benefit now from the experience and research of Nancy Sheain, the founder of Building Futures. Now you can bring one or more Building Futures interactive workshops to your friends, community associations and schools. PTA’s, Religious Institutions and neighborhood associations can sponsor a Building Futures workshop for any number of single sessions or a comprehensive series of workshops. Ask us also about Fundraising opportunities with Building Futures. Workshop topics coincide with different aspects of the school year calendar, and are designed to keep you refreshed and energized as you and your friends make your way towards success and family unity. Available dates are limited so have your organization president or committee leader call Building Futures immediately for workshop details and proven fundraising strategies.

Smashing ANTs ™ Parent Workshop

No matter how many good things you see in your child and no matter what you say, he simply doesn’t believe in himself. Perhaps you’ve tried things in the past that have only made matters worse?

It’s frustrating to see your child weighed down with negative self-image and the fear of failure. You don’t have to watch your child suffer, feeling helpless about how to make things better. ANTs or Automatic Negative Thoughts are those nagging doubts that get in the way of self-confidence and success.

The Smashing ANTs ™ Workshop is for parents looking for effective ways to mentor and help motivate their children.

Talk So Kids Grow Ears

Why do some parents seem to have the magic ticket to understanding just how to talk so their kids will listen? Why is it so hard to get your little one to do what you say? Why is it so hard to get a word out of your teenager when she talks on the phone for hours? Acknowledging our children’s feelings, practicing empathy versus sympathy and modeling respect and love versus anger, encourages kids to open up and cooperate.

This interactive workshop takes parents through the skills necessary to build trust, respect and effective communication while balancing the need to establish clear expectations. When we see our behavior as the model for our children we come to understand our role in a new light. When we use words in a direct and positive way we find kids are more willing to listen and take direction; they are more likely to adopt the skills that enable them to be resilient and responsible individuals.

Positive Self-Talk and Beliefs

Our inner voice is a constant companion, either encouraging, congratulating, cautioning, criticizing, or chastising but always present and always speaking to us. It’s the product of our life experiences from birth. We are not made to think one way and behave in a different way. If our inner voice is off-balance, with established beliefs that we are not worthy or we are not able, motivation and the chances of success are severely limited. Our beliefs are not facts. Automatic negative self-talk is a habit that can be broken and replaced with positive, reaffirming thoughts.

The key to creating empowering beliefs is to first uncover limiting thoughts about ourselves that we have mistakenly held as facts. Once we challenge these beliefs we realize that it is possible to change and rewrite them in a more reaffirming way. By establishing positive beliefs we move in a direction where we feel good about ourselves and motivated to achieve our goals. In this 2-session workshop you will be guided through the process and given opportunities to practice these skills. By the time you leave the workshop you will be equipped with a toolkit of take-home strategies to teach and empower your child.

The beauty of this workshop is that as parents work through this process and practice the skills for themselves, they begin to make positive changes in their own lives so they can interact more positively with their children. The parent becomes the mentor and role model for their child, encouraging and teaching from a position of true knowledge and experience.

Turning Losses into Wins

Our children too often get the message: “Second place is just the first loser”. Our society values winning. In this context, how do we teach our children the value of participating and making the effort to be the best he or she can be?

Conquering life’s disappointing or frustrating events can instill a “success mentality” in your child. How can parents influence their children to see losses as an opportunity for growth and future success? Shouldn’t every child feel like a winner when he’s done his very best?

Parents who are concerned about their child’s grades, sports ability or social situations participate in the Building Futures workshop Turning Losses into Wins. The workshop teaches the skills to re-frame disappointing events into truly meaningful opportunities to foster growth and learn strategies for success.

Building The Family Relationship

“My kids won’t listen to me; we hardly ever talk, except to argue. The only way to get them to cooperate is to yell and threaten. It wasn’t always like this. What went wrong? I want my family back.”

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with today’s frantic pace, but you don’t have to feel out of control. Building Futures will guide you through the process of creating an environment of trust, respect and kid cooperation. Parents learn and practice kid cooperation skills in the fun and supportive environment of this 3-session workshop. You will explore several parenting styles and uncover the winning approach that works best for your family.

Building Futures Four Layer Approach leads parents through the different levels of discipline to provide a useful toolkit of strategies: creating the environment, allowing consequences to unfold, implementing a reward system, and administering targeted punishment. Once armed with the kid cooperation toolkit, you will have the confidence to put your family back on track and foster positive family dynamics.

Goal Setting and Achieving

Ever wonder why some people seem to have all the luck and get all the breaks? It has much more to do with success and achievement than luck. It’s a fact that the most successful individuals set goals and strive to achieve them. Goal setting is a skill in itself. Without goals we become aimless “plodders” on a treadmill.

The Goal Setting and Achieving workshop teaches the skills to take charge of the future, set realistic goals, and stay on track to experience the joy of reaching a goal. Schedule a workshop for your school or organization in time to put these skills into practice. Learn how to map your own future and teach your children to work towards their goals with enthusiasm and purpose and a greater chance of success.

Improving Self-Esteem through Positive Self-Talk

That little voice inside our heads has a huge effect on how we approach life and all its challenges. Is your child weighed down by negative self-talk? Are you frustrated in your efforts to help him see all his positive attributes? Does she try so hard to please that you worry about her “losing” herself? Growth requires a little risk, the confidence to try new experiences and risk failure. When a child’s self-esteem and confidence are low, it’s difficult to take even small risks. A child may look lazy or unmotivated when in fact; low self-esteem may result in him being paralyzed by the fear of failure.

Building Futures teaches parents to mentor and empower their children to take calculated, success-oriented risks with parenting skills learned in the Improving Self-Esteem through Positive Self-Talk Workshop. We identify beliefs and explore the destructive habit of negative self-talk, then begin to replace the negative with a positive, self-affirming inner voice. This workshop will provide parents with the skills to help build their children’s self-esteem by encouraging small, calculated risks, and opening the door to success, one step at a time

ADD/ADHD Toolkit

Hassle-less Homework

Reducing the Sibling Rivalry

With your help, your children will learn how to “manage” and resolve conflict with confidence; skills that are beneficial now and in the future.

Making the Most Out of Summer

Summer seems to come and go and as the school year rolls on, we fall back into the same old habits we told ourselves we would change. We seem to lack direction or focus and it’s a struggle to attain the success we are hoping for ourselves and our children. Hope is a hollow sentiment unless we actively and purposefully set goals and practice skills to reach our goals.

This interactive, parent workshop will get you excited about making the most out of summer. Schedule the 2-sessions workshop just prior to summer so you and your child can get off to a timely start. We’ll help you to identify specific goals for each family member, with a plan to achieve the goal by the end of the summer. During summer, when families are at their most relaxed, is a good time to practice a skill towards achieving a specific goal.

The expectation is that the goal setting and planning strategies learned and worked on together, as a team, will transfer to other areas of life, especially academic goals. This is a great confidence boosting exercise for kids.

Gaining Kid Cooperation 2-Part Workshop

Do you sometimes feel like you and your kids are on opposite teams?
Do you have difficulty getting your kids to do what you want them to do?
Would you rather be a mentor than a disciplinarian?

In Gaining Kid Cooperation Workshop, you will:

Learn about different Parenting Styles and determine the most appropriate style for you
Learn how to build a trusting and respectful relationship by adopting some key strategies such as:

1.   Show them Love the way they can feel it
2.   Create an environment that sets up positive results
3.   Circumvent issues by applying Proactive Parenting
4.   Administer Negative Consequences in a way that kids can learn the lesson and maintain their self-esteem
5.   Respond to your kids in a way that brings out the best in all of you