Manchester’s 2014 Community Parenting Fair: “Creating Caring and Connected Kids”
Manchester United Methodist Church Photo courtesy of Rev. Tina Zimmerman
Manchester United Methodist Church will be hosting a Parenting Fair for the entire Manchester Community on Saturday, September 6, 2014 from 9 a.m.—12:30 p.m. (Registration with continental breakfast begins at 8:30 a.m.) This free event is aimed at all parents and grandparents. Events include a keynote address, various workshops and a resource fair which will provide information about local organizations that support families.
Register online HERE or by e-mailing manchesterumchurch@live.com or by calling Manchester United Methodist Church at 734-428-8495. Pre-registration is preferred because knowing who is interested in which topics will help organizers set-up the workshops, but it is not required. You may attend as many or few workshops as you’d like or just attend the resource fair.
Although hosted by a church, the key notes and almost all of the workshops will be non-religious in nature. Rev. Tina Zimmerman, Deacon at UMC, is running the workshop “Making a Home for Faith,” which will be the only workshop focused on religious information and this will be non-denominational and applicable to any faith tradition. Zimmermann explained that Manchester UMC’s approach is one of hospitality to the entire community and that the goal of the Parenting Fair is solely to assist families.
Workshops include the following:
Making a Home for Faith
Rev. Tina Zimmerman is Deacon of Outreach Ministries at Manchester United Methodist Church. Raising children in a life of faith calls us to do more than attend church each Sunday. This session will explore simple ways to incorporate our faith practices into our homes and make it a part of everyday life.
Exploring Temperament
Beckie Brewis, B.S. IMH-E® Level II Infant Family Specialist and Coordinator of Manchester’s First Steps-Parents As Teachers and Early On will help you discover how to align your expectations and methods of caregiving to match your child’s temperament—the way we approach and react to the world from birth—and how compatibility between adult-child temperaments can affect the quality of relationship or “goodness of fit.”
Parenting a Child or Teen with Mental Illness
NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. NAMI advocates for access to services, treatment, supports and research and is steadfast in its commitment to raise awareness and build a community for hope for all of those in need.
The Perils of Adolescence
Rick McCoy (see bio below) will host a presentation and discussion about how to survive parenting a teenage child.
All on the Same Team: Advocating for Your Child at School
Nic Cooper (see bio below) discusses being your child’s best advocate within the school setting. Parents will learn how to cultivate cooperation with teachers and administrators.
Hopscotch, Kool-Aid and TV Dinners—Let’s Chew the Fat
Susie Weber, RN, discusses current pediatric issues centering on nutrition, fitness and safety.
The Keynote Speakers will be Dr. Nic Cooper and Ric McCoy. They will present, “Growing Parents, Growing Kids: Being the Best We Can and Raising the Adults We Envision.” Rick and Nic’s perspective is that “we aren’t raising kids, we’re raising adults.” So to be the best parent we can be, we have to first understand ourselves and then understand what is really important in how we parent our kids.
Rick McCoy, M.A., has 40 years of experience in public education. Prior to joining the special education staff at Plymouth Canton Schools, he also worked at Starr Commonwealth for Boys, and at CPH, a psychiatric in-patient facility for adolescents in Ann Arbor. He has worked as a teacher for the emotionally impaired and in middle and high school alternative education programs. Rick was instrumental in the establishing and maintaining the extensive alternative education network in Plymouth-Canton Schools. He has delivered workshops in the state and at national conventions in the areas of parenting adolescents and conflict resolution with teachers. He co-authored the book (with Nic Cooper) How to Keep Being a Parent When Your Child Stops Being a Child. He recently retired from the alternative education Journey program at Plymouth High School.
Dr. Nic Cooper, Ed.D., LPC, LMSW, has over 40 years of experience in education as a counselor, alternative educator, assistant principal, principal and teacher educator. He also has worked as a substance abuse counselor, a probation officer and a leadership coach. After his retirement from public education, he began teaching in the teacher education program at Baker College in Jackson, MI where he is currently the director of the program. He recently retired as state director for the Schools to Watch program. He is the co-author with Rick McCoy of How to Keep Being a Parent When Your Child Stops Being a Child and with Dr. Betty Garner of Developing a Learning Classroom (Corwin Press). He presents at state and national conferences on classroom development, healing teaching staffs in conflict and addressing the needs of at-risk students among other topics.
Manchester UMC stained glass window. photo courtesy of Rev. Tina Zimmerman
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