Empowered Parenting
What do moms want for their children? Moms want their children to know they are loved and to grow to be independent and resilient adults.
Start with these great strategies to achieve what you want for your kids.
Testimonials
“I support Antonia’s A+ Parent Teacher Conncections Program as she is a most devoted mother, very dedicated teacher, and excellent resource to
help you help your child survive and thrive during their most critical learning and growing years at school. “
I found the content of your videos to be very astute and helpful, filled with great information and advice – as a teacher listening to the parent-teacher interview video, it gave me insight on how parents would feel coming to the interview and how I could prepare better for them. Your content is well thought out, and I hope many, many parents benefit from it.
I really like how you describe the positive elements my child can learn through different teaching styles. You made all of them easily understandable and identifiable as I look around the classroom.”
Empowered Parenting and Empowered Classroom
Are you ready for the moment it happens?
So. Today it actually happened. I knew it was going to happen eventually. During my son’s whole young life, I’ve been preparing him for just this moment. From the time our babies are born, we are teaching them how to make their way in the world. Walking, talking, toileting; Taking the school bus, ordering their own food, finding directions and telling us how to get somewhere; Standing up for themselves confidently, fixing a mistake graciously, solving a problem independently. We have shown them what to do and how to do it by our own example. We have watched them [...]
More than Taekwon-Do with Masterful Master Phil
When I signed up my 13 year old son for Taekwon-Do lessons at Black Belt Excellence Martial Arts Academy in Kanata, I did not realize that I was signing us up for life and parent coaching, too. Not only is Master Phil a seventh degree Black Belt, who passes on the passion for his discipline to his students, he is also a master teacher. He teaches students respect, motivation and belief in themselves and he teaches parents and teachers how to relate to their children. When Master Phil meets his students, he doesn’t try to make friends and to [...]
Simple Christmas
Sometimes, I feel like my parents had an easier life than parents do today. There were less expectations on parents and less things to do and to get. At Christmas time, these expectations just get amplified as we seek to create the perfect Christmas experience for our kids. This idea of a perfect Christmas makes me look back and I ask myself, what were the best Christmas memories for me growing up? We didn’t have big plans to go on faraway trips; we didn’t have lots of presents; and we certainly didn’t have a schedule of events to attend [...]
What do you do when kids just don’t listen?
As a teacher with 25 years experience and a parent with 13 years experience, here is what I’ve learned about making kids listen. Listening is a habit. You have to make that habit automatic and routine. You want your kids to comply to your requests because it is second nature. So, how do we make listening and complying habits? Here are a 6 tips taken from my book, “You’ve Got This, Mom! A Mother’s Guide to Surviving and Thriving in Today’s Modern World. 1. Tell them what you want them to do If you want them to [...]
Meet the Teacher
You know that “Meet the Teacher” is a great opportunity to meet the educators who are spending most of the day with your child, but you may feel awkward and not know what to say or talk about. What is the protocol and purpose of this meeting? What should you expect at this meeting? Generally, parents are invited into the classroom to meet the teachers. Feel free to bring your child as a guide to show you around the school and the classroom(s). This is a great opportunity for them to use some social and oral language skills to [...]
Favorite back to school essential oils
No matter what anyone else says, Back to School has always been one of my favorite times of the year: the expectations of new adventures, the possibiliites of new friendships and the renewal of old ones, the excitement of the crack of a brand new notebook! Am I a geek? Sure. I love Back to School and I admit it! However, I recognise that Back to School can also present its own challenges: staying healthy around all those people in the classroom, anxiety of the unknown and concentrating when the teacher says to, just to name a few. Whether [...]
Are you feeling overwhelmed by the thought of getting School Supplies?
Get down and dirty on what you really need and why it's so important in this blog by Antonia Cetin, author of "You've Got This, Mom!" When I think of back to school, I think of pretty colours of magic markers and pencil crayons and notebooks. As a child, I used to love browsing through all of the new and colourful supplies, carefully choosing the treasures I would take on my learning journey. They signaled new beginings and adventures in paper! Now, shopping for supplies with my son, I still get excited thinking [...]
Back to school – starting the school year off right
Back to school has always been one of my favorite times of the year: it’s about fresh pages and new starts. It’s about wondering what we will learn, who we will meet, and who we will become. Everything is new and exciting from our supplies, to possible friendships, to new experiences. In new situations, children can be excited and anxious at the same time. As parents, we can support them by fueling the excitement and mitigating the anxiety. When children display anxiety, we can have them talk or draw about their feelings. What is it they are anxious about? [...]
Caring – A Teacher’s Perspective
CARING Differentiation in my classroom means caring about each individual student from the moment they walk through the door. It means caring enough to greet them individually and to hear what they have to say, and have others listen respectfully. It means caring to make them feel respected, valued, and loved. It means caring to set an example of how to treat others. It means caring to notice and to address students’ individual needs, and therefore improving my teaching practice for everyone. It means caring to highlight differences, to share them and to celebrate them. It means caring to [...]