Equipping families with ideas, insight, and community to help them thrive.

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Winter Highlights

Welcome to our Winter highlights! This season we have curated a selection of videos featuring leading psychologists, educators and thinkers on a variety of topics of interest for our community. We hope you learn something new that will help you and your family.

* To access events, sign-up and register or view by clicking the event links in blue!

When You Wonder, You're Learning: Mr. Rogers' Enduring Lessons for Raising Creative, Curious, Caring Kids

In their book, When You Wonder, You’re Learning, co-authors Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski reveal how Mr. Rogers' tools for learning can help kids become more kind, creative, curious, and caring.

View the video here: When You Wonder, You're Learning

Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture

In her new book, Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture, journalist and author Virginia Sole-Smith exposes the fatphobia and body shaming that kids face from school, sports, doctors, and diet culture.

View the video here: Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture

Helping Your Child Build Good Habits

How can you help your kids build good habits? In this Parent Forum (English), Eran Magen, PhD, offers tips on how to instill positive behaviors. This is a great companion talk to How to Become Your Child's Favorite Conversation Partner.

Helping Your Child Build Good Habits. Friday, January 12, 12:00pm PT

How to Become Your Child's Favorite Conversation Partner

We all want to be closer. In this special Parent Forum (English), Eran Magen, PhD, offers tips on how to approach conversations with your child.

View the video here: How to Become Your Child's Favorite Conversation Partner

Healthy vs. Unhealthy Conflict: Helping Kids Handle IRL and Online Disagreements Well

Join Parent University Wednesday, January 24 for the first session of the 2023-2024 school year featuring New York Times bestselling author Dr. Lisa Damour, who will talk about, "Healthy vs. Unhealthy Conflict: Helping Kids Handle In Real Life (IRL) and Online Disagreements Well".

"Coming into conflict is a natural part of relationships, but that doesn't mean that our kids will always know how to manage conflict effectively when it arises," - Dr. Lisa Damour, PhD

Healthy vs. Unhealthy Conflict: Helping Kids Handle IRL and Online Disagreements Well. Wednesday, January 24, 5:00pm PT

Parent University is an annual parent and guardian education series for the entire Seattle community. Each Parent University lecture features a relevant topic about raising children in today’s society.

* Miss a live event? Tune into the Video Library, a free resource with recordings of 250+ Parent Ed events. Click here.

Upcoming Local Events

SAVE THE DATE

When: Tuesday, January 9 at 6:30-8:30 pm
Where: Islander Middle School library

Georgia Hunter to speak to the MISD parent community about her NY Times Bestseller, We Were the Lucky Ones. Soon-to-be-released as a Hulu series starring Joey King! A true and riveting story of enduring love, hope and resilience. Follows the harrowing journey of Ms. Hunter’s Jewish ancestors surviving the Holocaust and eventually finding their way back to each other. Ms. Hunter will be joined by MIHS’s Holocaust Education Committee students.
Middle school and high school students are welcome to join their parents. Hope to see you there!

The IMS and MIHS PTSAs co-host the event if you have any questions please contact, diversity@imsptsa.org.

Never Enough Follow Up Resources

If you’re interested in learning more about the topic, please view the additional resources shared below. We encourage you to continue this discussion with friends, family members and your kids. As a starting point, here is one activity that may help get the discussion started in your family:

In her book, Never Enough, author Jennifer Wallace focuses on “mattering” as a powerful antidote to the negative pressures of the achievement culture.

First, start by thinking about what your hopes and dreams are for your child. What kind of adult do you want to raise? What characteristics, experiences or values do you want your child to have as an adult?
Next, hold a family meeting and discuss your family definition of success. Ask for input from all members and ensure your kids’ voices are heard and valued. This will help you determine whether your values and definition of success are being clearly communicated to your children.
Additional Resources & Information
Mattering Lessons
Messages of Mattering for Parents
Messages of Mattering for Educators

2023-24 Program Themes

Technology and Digital Lives

Achievement Pressure

Social and Emotional Skill Building

Based on survey feedback from parents about topics most important to them, we will spotlight these three themes. This year we've partnered with Parent Venture, a non-profit organization, to showcase their line-up of well-known authors, speakers and parenting experts that focus on topics of highest interest to MI families.

What does that mean for you? These events will be accessible in a few ways:

Live webinar
Recorded programs (over 25 programs this year) and a large library of past programs
Spotlighted Parent Edge programming
Parent Circles: in-person, follow-up group conversations

New to the district? Wondering what Parent Edge is all about? Check out more info here.

Mercer Island Parent Edge is a program within the Mercer Island PTA Council.
We coordinate events and programs for parents, students and educators.
Our goal is to encourage dialogue and share best practices.

SUBJECT: Parent Edge January Overview