Latter-day Village Square

I was recently contacted by LDS Behaviorist and Parent Coach, Tom Dozier of Southern California about the possibility of publishing some of his articles at LDV. I read his sample article and visited his website - LDSParentCoach.org to learn more about his work. Tom, a grandfather, has been providing parenting classes in Southern California since 2003 after several years of research and study, inspired by Dr. Glenn Latham’s seminal work in positive parenting, which they applied in their own family to turn around a troubled teenage son where all other professional interventions, including prescription medications and several rounds of therapy had done nothing to help.

Tom’s simple solutions are definitely in keeping with gospel principles and useful for behavior changes in young children to teens and beyond.

We will be including a series of articles by Tom in upcoming issues of The Villager and archiving them in our Free Sampler in the Family - Parenting category.

Read Tom’s first article here - free registration required.

I especially appreciate that while these principles can be applied in any relationship, and any family, Tom is sensitive and experienced with the unique needs and lifestyle of latter-day saints. Since LDV has a reputation of providing resources for teachers - I also feel that the principles Tom promotes are as effective in the classroom as they are in the home.

Tom is available for personal coaching by phone, in person or by email. Visit his site for more information and some great resources now.

~Debra

As I was speaking to a seminary teacher of the phone, trying to resolve a download problem, she let it ship that the Old Testament was her first year teaching and that we had experienced discipline problems with several of her male students. I could relate to her; my first year of teaching was as a Thanksgiving replacement for a teacher (former bishop and high counselor) who threw in the towel on a rowdy bunch of seniors. Seniors who had their way all fours years and were not about to change for me or anyone else.

I did the only thing I knew how to do; Norm Setting. Read this article (Norm Setting, Making Expectations Clear)to see how it’s done. It worked for me; granted, we did have to review the agreements several times that first week, but eventually, even the other students helped me reign in several of the most disruptive ones. Norm setting really works if you stick with it.

When is the ideal time to do norm setting? In your parents meeting that kicks off the school year! Then everyone invested in your students success; they themselves, their parents, and you are there to establish what is acceptable behavior, what is not, and what appropriate consequences should follow. Then there are no surprises during the school year if you have to call in a parent or priesthood leader for help. Read this article (Conducting a Successful Parent Meeting) for how to conduct a good parent meeting, inserting a step for norm setting following the outline in that article.