There isn’t a manual on how to be a parent, but Manchester Community College just wrapped up a training program on how to become a parent leader. Last week, 16 New Hampshire parents graduated from the Parent Leadership Institute, part of a national training program that teaches parents how to make changes in their local community over the course of 20 weeks.
The change Nashua mom Chesley Marvin wants to see is a mandatory 60-minute minimum for recess in New Hampshire schools. Marvin said getting the chance to play outside for two 30-minute sessions has a lot of benefits for kids and teachers.
“Kids are just much too distracted. They need the time outside,” she said. “It's an important part of the instruction, and once you give them that appropriate amount of time outside, they will have better focus in the classroom”
She started a New Hampshire chapter of Say Yes to Recess and is currently working on getting signatures for a new law in the State House.
The parent leadership program was founded over 30 years ago in Connecticut by Elaine Zimmerman, who spoke at the graduation ceremony. She described it as a “democracy school” that gives parents the tools they need to make change, like learning how to advocate at the legislature or talk to the media.
“Frankly, none of us are really taught how change happens so that we stay away from it,” she said. “They're missing when that change moment could happen because they don't know. It’s not like change is magical.
For Manchester mom Elizabeth Karaim, change starts at home. She said that emotional intelligence is often taught in professional settings, but is equally important in a family. She wants to see more emotional intelligence among families, starting with her own toddlers.
“To be able to name the emotion and, and really set a way to explain it to them can be very challenging,” she said. “Especially when they have a fit and just throw themselves on the floor because they're not getting to walk across the street by themselves or whatever the case may be.”
For other families, Karaim is hosting a peer-to-peer support group that helps participants to regulate and communicate their feelings.
Other projects from the cohort included an initiative to stop bullying, one that supports the Manchester library, and one that creates a support group for parents of children who have a mental illness.
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