Testimonials for The Center for Parenting Education
Read what others say about The Center for Parenting Education and
our programs:
Comments from Parents
Comments from Community Organizations
Comments from Preschools and Daycare Centers
Comments from Parents
The following are comments shared by parents who have attended programs from The Center for Parenting Education:
General Comments
“The Parenting Center is such a safe place to receive information and encouragement and to meet people who are enthusiastic about their kids and their role as a parent.”
“I found the center to be a tremendous resource. I felt extremely comfortable expressing things that were going on in my family. I have found the workshops to be helpful. I also attended Toddler Activity Time with my son as well as my daughter, and felt this really got them ready for preschool. Everyone there has always been very helpful.”
“Definitely a resource to help with parenting, and who couldn't use a little help now and then?”
“I have told many friends and relatives about my experiences with The Center for Parenting Education. The classes are informative, fun, inexpensive and helpful.”
“Great teachers, great programs!”
“It is a gem in our community!”
“I really appreciated the accepting atmosphere at the Parenting Center. The Parenting Educators are open, warm and understanding of so many different people and their family situations, and they are so knowledgeable.”
“The support and encouragement I received in the program was so helpful to me. It helped me deal with the struggles with my children so much better and with more confidence.”
“It was so helpful and reassuring to hear other parents who are experiencing the same challenges with their children. I felt so alone until I came to the Parenting Center and talked with other parents and heard their stories.”
“You helped me not to feel so overwhelmed with raising my children and to see that I am doing a good job with my parenting.”
“I loved the comaraderie among the parents in my group. It made me feel less alone. It is so helpful to realize that I am not the only parent struggling with certain issues.”
“I really like the idea of using discipline as an opportunity to teach my children – I will think about what they need to learn when I am deciding how to discipline them.”
“The Parenting Center is a great resource with wonderful staff!”
“The staff truly cares about children, whether they are infants, toddlers, or teens. They try to help parents cope with children and better understand them. All parents should try to attend a class or two.”
“The Parenting Center is a wonderful program that is very helpful.”
“Because there are other parents at the meetings, it's a great chance to learn something from a number of angles.”
“It's nice to find other parents who share the same obstacles you do and the information is very useful and applicable in real life situations at home.”
“The Parenting Center is a great resource for parenting tips and ideas for kids of all ages.”
“The people are helpful and friendly. It is a great resource for first time parents.”
“I've been associated with the center for about 16 years or so since my children were born. It was a lifeline for me when I first started going to Play n' Share many years ago. I have taken countless classes and have accompanied my children to many Toddler Activity Times sessions. I came to embrace their philosophy and learned to apply many tips and tools at home. I have a challenging family life and continue to use their resources as I need them. It is one place I know I can always go to where they will understand and speak honestly about the challenges of motherhood. The classes I have taken have been invaluable. I love how welcome I feel when I have a need or opportunity to be there. Thanks for all that each of you do for families.”
“I learned how important it is for me to take care of myself and think of myself every once in a while. Then, I will be more patient and will be able to use my sense of humor to stay calm.”
“You helped me to understand why my son behaves as he does. This has made me more patient and more accepting of him.”
“It was so helpful to learn how important it is to consider the needs of everyone in my family, my own as well as my children’s and to know that I can be a better parent when I get some of my needs met!”
Educational Workshops:
“The Parenting Center is a great resource for parents. The workshops give up-to-date quality information on positive parenting methods that really work.”
“Bring it on! I'm always looking for practical, quick parenting tips. These kids grow fast and what works at age 2 doesn't work at age 5, etc. Even if it's to hear I'm doing the right thing, I would always be interested in productive parenting workshops.”
“I learned the importance of staying calm when I discipline and that there are many ways to handle situations besides negative punishment. I now have a wider repertoire of responses when I have to discipline my children that I can feel good about using.”
“I loved the idea of visualizing how I would like my children to eventually be and visualizing their future abilities. I learned specific ways to help them feel good about themselves and at the same time behave better – the idea of ‘catching them being good’ and highlighting the good stuff – I love that idea!!!”
“I would highly recommend the programs at the Parenting Center. I like the variety of workshops that are available. They cover such a wide range of parenting issues.”
“I have recommended the Parenting Center to friends and acquaintances at my children's schools. I tell them that I have found each program to be insightful and positive. I like the idea that today is a new day, and the way I parented yesterday (if I did not like it) can be changed. I am now proud of most of my parenting due in some part to the parenting center.”
“It is so good to learn that a lot of my son’s behavior that I have gotten so upset about is actually part of normal development. I understand now that I should not take it personally, that he is not acting that way just to upset me! There are ways to deal with it without getting angry.”
“I learned how important it is to do more listening, observe more, to be less reactive and to stay calm. I see that it is alright for my son to get angry – I can teach him better ways to let me know he is mad at me.”
“I appreciate the opportunity for the group interactions. I learn a lot when other members of the class speak and share their experiences.”
“It was helpful to know that there are other people with my same problems. I liked talking to and listening to other parents. I liked the group involvement, sharing personal experiences and listening to others’ stories.”
“Thank you so much for giving me tools to handle my really spirited children. I will have a much more positive attitude about their behavior and not feel so helpless now.”
“I know remaining calm is the winning answer. Your workshop just reaffirms my efforts to be there.”
“It is nice to hear both the professional information as well as hear the other parents’ stories. I thoroughly enjoy both. Parenting remains very hard for me. I enjoy learning new and reviewing old information. “
“I now ask my children for their suggestions for solving problems we are having – it doesn’t have to all fall on my shoulders. They can come up with some really good ideas. Giving children the power to be part of the solution makes them feel good and they are so much more cooperative.”
“I loved being reminded of how important and helpful it is to use humor to diffuse a tense or angry situation.”
“Having realistic expectations for my children will make me be less frustrated and critical of them for not being able to do things.”
“I learned not to take my children’s behavior personally, especially when they get angry at me. Then I don’t get angry and the situation does not escalate.”
Online Workshops:
"Please offer more on-line classes. I am a single parent, so it is very hard for me to get out at night. Being able to attend a class from home is so convenient. You gave great information on the slides and your answers to our questions were excellent – it felt like we were together in person! You were very encouraging, and it helped to know that other people in the ‘room’ were in the same boat with their kids and their questions."
"Allow me to say how wonderful these online programs are. Your programs are fantastic, but because I have a small child at home, I can’t always attend workshops held at the Parenting Center site. So this is the perfect solution!!"
“I loved the on-line program. I live a distance from the Parenting Center so it is hard for me to get out at night to go to the workshops. It was so convenient to be able to get the information from my own home. The program felt very similar to the actual workshops I have attended at the Center. I was able to get the same amount of information and I even felt that I got to know some of the other parents who were also on-line for the program.”
"I appreciate any and all programs in this on-line format. As a single parent, it is difficult for me to get out at night. Being able to participate from my own home really affords me the opportunity to attend the sessions."
To see our
current online workshop schedule, click
here.
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Comments from Community
Organizations
The following testimonials are made by community
organizations on behalf of The Center for Parenting Education:
"As a parent
and a school administrator, I have had a personal and professional interest in
parenting education programming for more than thirty years. Further, I have been
involved in the teaching of parenting classes every year of my career since
1981. Over all of these years of interest and involvement, I have never felt so
confident in parenting education services as I have been since becoming directly
involved with the Center for Parenting Education.
The quality
and diversity of programs, coupled with strong leadership and excellent
instruction, have led to tremendous services and opportunities for parents in
our region. In my role as Superintendent of Schools for the Hatboro-Horsham
School District, it is important to know where to turn in order to secure
excellent programs and support for our parents. The Center for Parenting
Education provides this desired level of excellence. I cannot encourage school
districts and parents enough to embrace the services that can be readily
available through the Center."
William A. Lessa
Superintendent of Schools
Hatboro-Horsham School
District
"I have taken some time to
think carefully about the myriad of experiences that we in the Department of
Pediatrics have benefited by having The Center for Parenting Education close
by. There is such a constant clamoring for all of the information that you
bring to us. As pediatricians, we are constantly besieged with requests for
“best programs” and interesting ways of having our younger families meeting
others in their communities. Suffice to say, nobody does it better than
you.
When the web-based learning
programs developed, the buzz amongst my colleagues was that this was a very well
thought out and useful program that would ultimately link parents with similar
problems and situations to each other. In the process of child-rearing the
biggest hurdle is not the physical capability of performing the act but becoming
lost in a world where a young mother may feel isolated and alone. The
exceptional work that you have done over these many years is a tribute to the
spirit of the program and to the quality of the information that it offers to
our community of families. You have my deepest respect."
Steven A. Shapiro, D.O.
Chairman of
Pediatrics
Abington Memorial Hospital
"The
Center for Parenting Education provides invaluable services and support to the families that Abington Memorial Hospital serves. Its
programs, which supplement the health care provided by our physicians, meet the
needs of area parents and children by
contributing to the
health of individual families , and, thereby, strengthening our communities.
The Center for Parenting
Education has demonstrated an impressive record of achievement. In the 13 years
since its formation, it has developed into a “full service” parenting education
center, offering many varied programs that serve parents of children of all
ages. They have also established themselves as an important component of the
auxiliary health care provider network in our area and have developed key
relationships with other social service providers.
Abington Memorial
Hospital’s Community Health Services work closely with The Parenting Center in
providing certain programs within the hospital, in marketing its programs to the
diverse population we serve, in printing its literature and in providing other
in-kind support to The Parenting Center.
As a leading maternity
hospital, we have strong prenatal educational classes and believe that parenting
education is a vital component in the continuum of support to families. We see
it as our responsibility to work cooperatively with parenting experts at The
Center for Parenting Education in order to provide on-going programs to families
after the birth of their children.
The Parenting Center, in
general, serves as a complement to the current health care system. Our physicians utilize
The Parenting Center as a resource for their patients. From birth,
obstetricians/gynecologists refer mothers who are feeling isolated and in need
of general parenting information. Pediatricians suggest attending programs to
parents who need additional skills, while family practitioners and psychologists
encourage joining groups
which connect parents with others
in similar family life cycle stages.
In the current medical
and health care environment, these specialists, often
over-burdened with enormous caseloads,
can no longer address the parenting questions and issues that parents have.
Having The Parenting Center as a resource gives physicians the knowledge that their patients
are getting the full range of programs they need.
The Center for Parenting
Education also has a history of reaching out to parents who may not be able or
willing to attend programs at its site through communication strategies such as
their newsletter, newspaper articles, and programs conducted at other sites in
the community. The most recent and most innovative initiative to reach more
parents is their online programming, which allows parents to access their
excellent information and support via the internet. These programs, which are
creative, parent-friendly, and informative, represent a major new direction for
the effective dissemination of parenting education by building upon younger
parents’ comfort with technology and the internet.
The Parenting Center is
responsive to community needs and creative in finding new ways to meet those
needs. It is stable and determined in its unrelenting pursuit of ways to
support families. I find the leadership and the facilitators at The Parenting
Center to be professional, responsible, reliable, capable and dynamic
individuals who passionately believe in their mission. They support parents and
families in part by stressing the vital role that parents play in the lives of
their children, in the health of our communities and in the future of our
society. We believe that this small non-profit organization is making a large
positive difference in the lives of individual children and families in our
community."
Beth Ann
Neill Director,
Public Relations and Marketing
Abington
Memorial Hospital
and
Marianna
Calabrese
Director,
Community Health Services
Abington
Memorial Hospital
"The Center for Parenting Education provides quality
programming at an affordable cost to area parents and families. Knowledgeable
parenting educators conduct workshops with integrity and sensitivity, welcoming
different viewpoints and experiences. Parents who have attended the Center’s
book preview/discussion group programs at our library have consistently
commented on their usefulness. We are proud of our ongoing partnership with
this valuable, family-oriented organization."
Carolyn DuBois – Head, Children’s
Department
Abington Township Public
Library
"The
Parenting Center has been a
welcome support to the Junior High. They were thoroughly motivated to work with
the Guidance Department and develop a new workshop that addressed a wide variety
of pertinent issues. The workshop provided analysis into factors that directly
impact the success of adolescent students in school and life. Topics included
effective discipline techniques, building self-esteem, promoting responsibility,
and improving communication.
The
Parenting Center is clearly
committed to helping families. Their knowledge base is thorough and their
communication of it reflects their deep desire to improve families resiliency.
They maintain a wide repertoire for providing assistance. Given the challenges
of raising a child in today’s environment, the local community is fortunate to
have the Parenting Center as a
resource."
Dr. Matthew Wexler
Coordinator of Pupil Services
Abington Junior High
School
Abington School
District
"The Center for
Parenting Education has my full support. I appreciate their
professionalism and dedication. When I was Chairman of the Department of
Pediatrics at Abington Memorial Hospital, two young ladies approached me with
their new idea. They planned to start a Parenting Center to help families raise
their children. They would teach them in the methods of avoiding problems or
solving those that did occur. I was impressed at how they planned to train
their facilitators, with the help of Lakeside Educational Network, to attain a
high level of expertise. Their philosophy of child rearing was compatible with
mine. I agreed that it was a needed service in the community and I offered the
support of the Department of Pediatrics and Abington Memorial Hospital.
In the ensuing years,
they have far exceeded my expectations. They have programs that serve the needs
of many parents. They have reached out to the community with many of their
programs. They have worked with the school systems of our area. I especially
like working with them in the "First Steps to Grandparenting" program at the
hospital.
Over the years, they
have made important contributions to the communities and families that are
served by Abington Hospital. They are an invaluable resource for my patients.
Many parents and students have benefited from their programs. They continue to
improve and expand their programs. They have been diligent in husbanding their
funds and maximizing their resources. I hold Audrey Krisbergh, the Director, in
the highest regard. I respect her and all the dedicated members of her staff.
They are the model for all organizations with a similar mission.
It is my pleasure to
recommend the Parenting Center without reservation to provide programs for any
community organization."
Joseph J. Cirotti, M.D.
Abington Memorial Hospital
Department of
Pediatrics
"The parenting educators
were phenomenal. They were on target on every level. They understood our
parents. We were impressed from the first moment they started their
presentation. Thank you so much."
Donna Young
Program Director
Safe Harbor, Abington Memorial Hospital's Program
for Grieving Children,
Teens and Families
"As coordinator of the
Employee Wellness Programs for Abington Memorial Hospital, I have had the
pleasure of working with the Center for Parenting Education, which provided a
series of parenting education workshops for our employees. We found the staff
from the Center to be professional, responsible, reliable, dedicated, and very
knowledgeable about the topics they presented.
The participants were
impressed with the content and helpful tips presented; the Employee feedback
indicated that they learned a lot of very valuable information that will help
them to raise their children well. The employees commented that they felt
better equipped to be a good parent with the understanding of the needs of their
children and how to use that knowledge in a healthy way.
The Parenting
Educators offered valuable tools in a caring, warm and accepting atmosphere.
All attending felt comfortable and at ease and very excited to put into practice
what they had learned.
We thank them for
their time and expertise."
Marilyn
Mitchell
Coordinator of
Employee Wellness Programs
Abington Memorial
Hospital
"I have known Audrey
Krisbergh and her leadership team at The Center since 2006. They were hired by
Intuit to help build a new web-based product designed to teach young children
fundamental money skills and habits. Their particular focus on the project was
to support parents with information about typical child development and healthy
parenting skills and approaches.
The Center is highly
qualified to design, develop and deliver an extensive in-person and online
parenting education curriculum. In their work with Intuit, they demonstrated a
wide-ranging depth and breadth of parenting knowledge and expertise as well as
a great degree of flexibility in helping devise new ways to support parents
online. As highly effective team players, the Center assisted us in our product
development process by providing valuable insights into how parents think and
what they need.
We received exceptionally
positive feedback from parents who participated in the parenting aspect of the
new product offering and the Center staff consistently produced a high quality
and thoughtful product and demonstrated at every turn a high degree of
professionalism.
I would highly recommend
without reservation The Center for Parenting Education for developing both
in-house and online programs to suit the complex needs of parenting in today’s
society."
Denise LaBuda
Director
Quicken® Kids &
Money
"Please extend my thanks and appreciation to your staff on behalf of the
Office of School and Community Engagement of the North Penn School District, for
presenting a wonderful program for our families and staff entitled “Promoting
Responsibility: A Key to Success” as part of our free FACE time (Family and
Community Engagement) workshops series.
Approximately 50 parents and staff were quite engaged in
the program that was presented; it was organized very efficiently, with time for
feedback and questions throughout the evening. The handouts were very clear,
concise and relevant to the topic, with suggestions that parents and staff could
readily use.
The audience was made to feel very comfortable, and
examples offered by the presenters were very real and appropriate.
Thank you again for offering such quality programming
for our families and our community. We look forward to working with you and your
staff in the near future! "
Linda Abram-
Family and
Community Engagement Specialist
Office of School
and Community Engagement
North Penn School District - a Family Friendly
District
“Over the years the Center
for Parenting Education has been a vital partner with the Office of Children and
Youth. They are one of the best resources of their kind for parents and
families in Eastern Montgomery County."
Fred Blankenburg
Family to Family
Conferencing Specialist
Montgomery County Office of Children and Youth
"This is the third year that Abington Friends School has held
it's Parenting in the 21st Century Conference and the first year that we have
teamed with The Center for Parenting Education to facilitate two of the
workshops. Those workshops turned out to be the most popular of those that we
offered and were quickly filled to capacity. Those workshops also received high
praise from all of the participants. A few of the evaluation comments from
participants:
-
"Creating an Attitude of
Gratitude" was a wonderful workshop. They presenters gave many practical
examples that I am looking forward to trying right away.
-
The workshop presenters had
great energy and chemistry that fed the audience and led to a terrific
participatory experience.
-
The workshop leaders for the
"Tools for Effective Discipline" workshop provided extremely helpful
information. I would have sat in the room all day to listen and learn from
their knowledge and experience.
-
I am hoping to attend more
workshops given by these presenters. They were extremely knowledgeable and
professional.
We loved teaming with your organization. The feedback on the two
workshops given by your presenters were across the board extremely
positive. Thanks for agreeing to team with us."
Debbie
Green
Director
Abington Friends
School Early Childhood Program
"Thank you for an excellent
program on Self-Esteem. It was informative, educational and entertaining. We
appreciate The Parenting Center sharing their talent with our parents."
Roberta Fortune
Mary Mother of the Redeemer
Home and School Association
"Thank you
so much for your great presentation. We appreciated your insight and advice.
We all felt it was the best meeting we have had in a long time. We plan to
continue discussing the topic at our monthly meetings– kind of like a continuing
support group!"
Laura Shea
Mary Mother of
Redeemer
Preschool Parents
Comments from Preschools and Day Care Centers
The following testimonials are from preschools and
day care centers about the Teacher Training Workshops provided by The Center for
Parenting Education:
“The workshops that were presented to my staff were brilliant!
Everyone found the presentations to be both informative and entertaining. Each
staff member appreciated that the workshops were interactive which will help us
remember all of the interesting information that was presented. It was obvious
that the two presenters were knowledgeable and passionate about the subjects
that were discussed. It was a warm and creative learning experience for all
involved! We would highly recommend The Center for Parenting Education to all
educators, parents and professionals.”
Nona S.
Melnick,
Principal
Horsham Montessori
Children's House
"The feedback from the parents
was 100% positive – one parent said she could have spent all day talking about
the subject! The facilitators created a comfortable and safe environment for
the parents to share their parenting challenges, and many parents said it was
reassuring to hear others (including their facilitators and school principal!)
share their experiences. The content was thorough and well presented – the
parents left feeling they had truly learned something valuable. Please thank
the facilitators for me, and pass the feedback on to them! Parents were also
grateful to learn that the Center for Parenting Education is available as a
support and resource."
Marsha
Hirschhorn,
Principal
Blue Blue Montessori Children's
House
