Coaching Skills for Parents

What is coaching?

Coaching is a relationship that helps people unleash their most powerful authentic selves in every aspect of their lives leading to enhanced personal relationships, greater confidence and satisfaction.  At its heart, coaching is about learning and expanding the way we observe the world and ourselves in it.  In coaching, we become aware of our limiting habits, attitudes and behaviors and use that to discover the best version of our authentic selves.

What are coaching skills and what do they have to do with parents?

As coaches, we help our clients “shift their way of being” by getting deeply curious with our questions and sharing specific distinctions and models that help us with a new way of seeing things.  We focus in on the body (breathing, posture, and physical self awareness), emotions (what emotions we experience and what they’re telling us) and language (the descriptive and generative language that we use to create new possibilities in our way of being).   These are the skills coaches use to help our clients and that we will be sharing with parents in content-specific, coach facilitated group learning sessions comprised of a diverse group of parents.  As parents, we can not only leverage what we learn to grow ourselves personally but we can also:

• Become intensely aware of how modeling both our limiting habits and our best traits contribute to how our children observe and operate in the world.
• Leverage these skills to be a different type of observer for our children (noticing their bodies, emotions, and language) to help them become their best versions of themselves.
• Discover distinctions we might share with our children for them to practice!

How does this program work?

This program includes monthly one-on-one coaching sessions with a monthly group learning session.  These two formats work together to offer coaching breadth and depth

One-on-one coaching:

Learning this skills is great, but to maximize that learning, you need to be “in the work,” meaning personally engaged and invested in self awareness and growth.  We do this through individual client-focused coaching sessions.   We recommend meeting at least monthly with your coach to dig deep into your concerns.  You’ll work with your coach to create practices to achieve your personal development goals.  NOTE:  Coaching conversations are confidential.  You will discuss this and other ethical concerns with your coach in your first meeting.

Group learning:

When we work in small groups of learners we invite even more observers to our learning party, exponentially growing possibilities!  This group is connected by a desire to learn and a passion for parenting.  Your coaches will present content on a new model or distinction each month and facilitate a highly collaborative discussion with your learning group about the topic, how it applies to you as a person, and also how it applies to you as a parent.  NOTE: Group learning sessions may be recorded.  You will be asked to consent to this recording at each call.

What age kids should I have to participate in this program?

Any age.   It is never too early or too late to begin this process.  Parents of infants may not be sharing specific distinctions with their babies in a little one-on-one coaching session just yet, but they are able to practice modeling them so that when they are ready to talk about them, the parents are well versed and have already laid a foundation by demonstrating these key elements.  Parents of older and even adult children can benefit from shifting their observers and opening up a dialog to help their older children shift, deepening relationships and building trust and intimacy.  Parenting is like learning.  It doesn’t stop at a certain age.

Contributing to our Work Together

We believe that coaching strengthens relationships and when we coach parents, we strengthen families.  This is our motivation for doing this work and it is our desire to making coaching available to anyone who is open to learning and growing. We believe cost should never be a barrier to growth.

We welcome your contribution in ANY form.  Here are just a few ways you can contribute:

• Regular attendance:  We consider active commitment to and participation in group learning sessions to be your most valuable contribution to this community.*  We use eventbrite.com to register, track, and communicate with attendees and we encourage you to attend often.
• Feedback and testimonials:  Providing feedback and suggestions to help us continue to deliver a valuable program.  We also appreciate written testimonials.
• Permission to record:  Group sessions are all recorded and may be made publicly available at the discretion of the coaches and with the permission of the attendees.   Coaches may request permission to record
• Growing our community: invite friends and colleagues to participate in group learning sessions and to learn more about coaching.
• Promoting the program:  do you participate in groups or networks that could benefit from coaching work?  We are always open to introductions to groups that we can speak in front of to share more about coaching.
• Financial contributions:  While we don’t require one, we welcome financial contributions that allow us to continue to make services available to our community.  Consider what is feasible for you WITHOUT being burdensome.  If you are interested in guidance on current market rates for coaching, please feel free to ask your coach.  Payments to your coach are accepted via paypal.

*We cannot stress enough that when you join a learning group you are already contributing to the work of strengthening your community!  Whether you are participating as a listener, by sharing your own observations and experiences, by volunteering to be coached, or by coaching others, you are creating this community of learners and investing in all of our growth.