You Are Already The Perfect Parent According to Three St. Louis Moms
You use your computer to diagnose illness (sometimes to the chagrin of your physician), get in touch with old and new friends, and organize the family budget. And starting last month a new course, created by three St. Louis moms, lets you use your computer to tap into the perfect parent that the Yogi Parenting course creators believe is living inside of everyone.
Over the last year and a half St. Louis moms Suzanne Tucker, Ria Sharon (who are also the co-creators of MyMommyManual.com) and Michaela Turner have been developing an online version of the Yogi Parenting course that Michaela has taught since 2008 at the Brentwood Center of Health. The three moms came together to develop the course and began offering it online so parents around the world can participate in the program.
Suzanne said the aim of the program is to help parents become more present and draw closer to their children, resulting in “…more confident, playful parents and happy, empowered children that do a better job listening to their parents.”
The Yogi Parenting course consists of eight lessons, which run around one hour in length. Suzanne said, “At the root of Yogi Parenting is the belief that we are already wonderful parents. There is so much guilt riding us as parents these days so this is an important place to begin. The course starts from this place of acceptance and builds, taking principles like centering, ritual, power, letting go and applying them to parenting. The course gives each participant practical tools to find and keep the peace even in the most trying of parenting circumstances.”
Through Yogi Parenting, parents learn to be more childlike and playful in their understanding and interactions with their children, which results in a completely different outlook on parenting. Suzanne explained “In Yogi Parenting we learn that when tensions run high, we can simply stop and breathe. Parents are encouraged to teach this to their kids as well, using a sign, or maybe even ringing a bell to let everyone in the house know it’s time to breathe.
“About a week after teaching this to her kids, my partner Ria found herself frustrated getting the kids ready to leave the house. As her patience was running short she felt herself getting upset about this or that with her kids. Then out of nowhere her then seven year old goes “DONG!!!!” making a very loud bell sound. It stopped Ria in her tracks; made her laugh out loud. The kids laughed as well and they all stopped to do the Bunny Breathing exercise they had learned in Yogi Parenting. Seconds later they left the house, no longer upset and angry, but happy and laughing at themselves. This is the power of Yogi Parenting. Simple. Effective. Transformational.”
The Yogi Parenting course is available through Ria and Suzanne’s website, MyMommyManual.com. You can purchase the whole course, or sample the first lesson by going to their website and signing up under the “Best Bets” tab. The course includes eight lessons, access to discussion boards, and a whole new view of your relationship with your children.
As the saying goes, kids don’t come with instructional manuals, and today’s frazzled parents can use all the help they can get to refocus and enjoy raising their children. Suzanne explained that the course is beneficial for all parents in all stages, and it was designed for, “Parents with children of any age who would like to see the sometimes stressful daily routines of family life instead pull them closer.”
Image Credit: MyMommyManual.com
