A comprehensive and positive approach for parents and caregivers

Formerly called Parents in a Pressure Cooker, this program offers dozens of practical, positive, and effective strategies to help parents build kids’ cooperation, responsibility, and self-management in a caring, mutually-respectful, win-win environment.

This program was designed as a half-day, full-day, or multi-day training to combine the discipline issues and power dynamics addressed in “You Can’t Make Me!” with the learning and academic success issues in “My Brain Doesn’t Work Like That!” and social and emotional topics covered in “No, Really! I’m Fine!” for a comprehensive and broad approach to the variety of issues that can come up in the course of interacting with children of any age.

Take-away skills include practical strategies for:

• Shifting from attempts to control your children to teaching them to control themselves
• Building decision-making skills (even with very young children or kids who have a poor track record when it comes to making choices)
• Setting limits to accommodate kids’ need for structure and safety
• Offering choices and options for meeting their needs for power and autonomy within those limits
• Helping children meet learning needs and identify the best ways for them to study and achieve academic success
• Establishing positive consequences and outcomes that motivate children, including those who have a habit of being resistant, oppositional, passive aggressive, or indifferent to your requests
• Reinforce positive behavior without reinforcing dependence on adult approval (or “fixed mindsets”)
• Avoiding counter-productive parenting behaviors such as warnings, threats, labeling misbehavior, etc. and using more effective strategies instead
• Dealing with children’s emotions and acting out, including supportive responses and strategies for helping them handle strong feelings
• Helping kids develop social competence and friendship skills, including ways of dealing with meanness or mistreatment
• Helping them anticipate and connect their choices to the probable outcomes of those choices
• Finding alternatives to enabling and advice-giving to build problem-solving skills
• Improving follow-through (even when you’re feeling tired and defeated)
• Generating support from your parenting partner, friends, parents, teachers, and other resources
• Taking care of yourself

So whether you’re dealing with the dark side of the Terrific Twos or snarky attitudes from teens, trying to encourage commitment to school and good study habits, or simply tired of fighting over messy rooms, bedtime, bath time, homework, friends, finances, or chores, this workshop will offer you a whole new approach to generating cooperation and minimizing stress in your home.

This program is appropriate for parents, step-parents, grandparents, and other caregivers as well as counselors, social service providers, law enforcement, and anyone involved in the life of a child, and the perfect training program for anyone providing support to parents. Applicable to children of all ages, customizable to focus on a specific age group or population.

Note: The original title of this seminar was “Parents in a Pressure Cooker,” which comes from a now out-of-print book with the same name. This book is currently in the lineup for revision, so stay tuned for more information about progress on this project.

© 2014, Dr. Jane Bluestein

Information about related books:

The Parent’s Little Book of Lists: Do’s and Don’ts of Effective Parenting 
Parents, Teens & Boundaries: How to Draw the Line
Creating Emotionally Safe Schools: A Guide for Educators and Parents

Related links:

• Meet Dr. Bluestein in a brief introductory video. (Note: This is the same video as on our home page.)
• Information about Dr. Bluestein’s bio and background.
• Print out a script for introducing Dr. Bluestein to your audience.
• See what Dr. Bluestein can do for you: details on services offered.
• List of Dr. Bluestein’s presentations and interview topics.
• Here’s a sampling of Dr. Bluestein’s audiences
• See where Dr. Bluestein has spoken (other states, provinces, countries)
• Read what people are saying about Dr. Jane Bluestein
• View Dr. Bluestein’s press kit with links to her Resume, Speaking Resume, and Media Resume
• Our media resources and policies.
• Topics and related questions for media interviews.
• Download a press photo to publicize your event.
• Check out the milestones and highlights of Dr. Bluestein’s life and career.
• List of Dr. Bluestein’s resources: books, audio, video and other resources
• See Dr. Bluestein’s schedule of events and activities.
• Contact Dr. Bluestein for any questions or to arrange an interview or event.

Please support this site: 

This website is an ongoing labor of love. Your support will help offset the cost of continual training, technical assistance, and translators, allowing me to continue to maintain the site, add helpful and inspiring new content, and keep the site ad-free. Donate here…