Accomplishments start with dreams, and dreams start with inspiration. When it comes to inspiring children to dream big, it all starts with parents.
That was the message heard by more than 500 people who attended the sixth annual Merced County Parent Institute Conference, a turnout that helped make Saturday’s event the most successful yet in its six-year history.
The free event, organized by the Merced County Office of Education, the Merced Union High School District and the state Child Care and Development Program, featured workshops for parents, guardians and others concerned about the future of the community’s youth, said Rosa Barragan, the education office program manager who co-chaired the conference.
“It was great,” Barragan said.
“The purpose of the conference is to inspire parents and to help them understand that just believing in their children is huge. Everyone needs someone to believe in them. That’s what makes the difference.”
Nearly 90 vendors representing an array of local businesses and services such as child care, health care, banking and education were on hand at Golden Valley High School to provide information to attendees. Local law enforcement offices and representatives of UC Merced were among the participants.
The Parent Institute was structured with a variety of speakers and 40+ workshops. There was broad range of topics focused on parent leadership competency and advocacy. Workshops were offered in English, Hmong and Spanish.
ACE Overcomers: The Center for Resiliency & Trauma-Informed Training was there! Not only was ACE Overcomers hosting a vendor table, but The Center for Resiliency team provided two English workshops.
WORKSHOP 1, with Dave Lockridge:
7 ESSENTIALS TO FAMILY COMMUNICATION
Parents learned how to understand and apply the Seven Essential Questions of Communication to improve parent/child relationships by reducing stress and increasing cooperation.
WORKSHOP 2, with Don Caballero
UNDERSTANDING AND OVERCOMING ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES
Participants learned the science of the ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Study, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Kaiser Permanente, and how ACE's can cause toxic stress which can damage the developing brain of a child.
This year's program was fantastic because it focused on the importance of parent engagement. Therefore, this year they decided to focus on DADS.
"We need everyone in the community to understand the important role DADS play in the lives of their children."
We already know moms play a fundamental role in the healthy development of their children, and we now need our dads to understand the positive impact they can make in the lives of their children, too.
We need dads to be present, engaged, and supportive of their children's goals and dreams.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
ACE OVERCOMERS: THE CENTER FOR RESILIENCY
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