FAIRFIELD — Angela Park and her 14-year-old daughter used to be enemies. Now, mother and daughter are “best friends” because of a new parenting class offered here by the Fairfield Police Department and Fairfield Community Connection, a community service organization.

Parents learn about developing better relationships with their children at the Fairfield Fire Dept. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        Ms. Park is one of about a dozen parents enrolled in “Parent to Parent,” a four-session program aimed to help parents raise their children in today's pressure-filled society.

        “It's totally changed my life,” Ms. Park said. “It really equips us to fight a war that's out there, the war of raising our children in the peer pressure and violence. It keeps us in touch with our kids' feelings.”

        The program centers on eight videos that underscore the need for respect, values and communication in families. It also works to help parents keep their children away from drug use and violence.

        Some parents are referred to the class, which is open to anyone in the community, through Fairfield Police's Juvenile Diversion Department. Other parents volunteer to attend.

        “Parent to Parent” was launched in Fairfield earlier this year. Several other Tristate municipalities offer the program, including Blue Ash, Mariemont and Wyoming. It also is put on nationally and has been widely successful.

        “A lot of parents leave it up to other people to parent their kids,” said Dave Perlaki, a professional counselor who helps facilitate the program. “A lot of parents are so busy and worn out when they get home from work. They just want to sit back and relax and let the kids do what they want to do, then they freak out when the kids do something wrong.

        “Rules without relationships lead to rebellion. A lot of parents are just rule makers and kids resent that,” he said. “They want to be accepted and trusted and have unconditional love.”

        Parents are issued a workbook and given follow-up assignments from the session's discussion. One such assignment required them to write an action plan to help them incorporate lessons learned in the class to their lives.

        Volunteers, trained facilitators who also are parents, lead the sessions.

        “If you don't have guidelines for your children, somebody else is going to set up a belief system,” facilitator Judy Dierksen told the class during a recent session. “I took it for granted. I thought my kids would pick it up. But you have to set guidelines. Otherwise you'll never know when your family is out of control.”
       

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