The Jewish Home n
J a n u a ry 2 , 2014
46
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A True Gem in our Midst By Chaia Frishman The challenge of raising children is daunting in our fast-paced world. The parenting questions seem to be getting harder. We worry about our children’s growth and ponder. How can we motivate and effectively encourage them to facilitate healthy emotional growth? In conjunction with the Jewish Education Project (formally known as the BJE), our local yeshiva and day preschools worked for many weeks and created a parenting program that would inform and empower our community’s preschool parents. With the support of Mrs. Susan Remick Topek, the JEP’s Yeshiva Day School Director for Network for Nassau and Queens Counties, the Director’s Network and the Diamond Program, the Parenting Enrichment Program was born. You might have heard about the success of Diamond’s Summer Program where for over 18 years, hundreds of parents and families from all over the country have learned effective parenting and behavior management tools.
Program directors, Yitzchok Goldberg, MS, and Yossi Feintuch, LCSW, teach proven and practical techniques to help families and children. Another gem in our community is a group of preschool educators who unified for the benefit of our future. The Directors Network is a group of early childhood directors from Bnos Bais Yaakov, The Brandeis School, Gan Chamesh, Gan Eden Preschool, Ganoni, Gesher, HAFTR, HALB, HANC, the JCC, The Jewish Academy, Long Island Hebrew Academy, Maggie’s Day Care, North Shore Hebrew Academy, Shulamith, Yeshiva Darchei Torah, Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island, and Yeshiva of South Shore. Their goals are simple. “The group meets regularly once a month to discuss curriculum trends as well as issues and concerns relating to the young children in our care. Our decision to meet with the Diamond Program came out of these discussions. After hearing their presentation, we realized their program could provide
all of our parents with a wonderful opportunity to learn parenting techniques that would benefit everyone,” explains HAFTR’s preschool director, Cyndy Goldberg. The Directors Network was not choosing blindly. Many had seen much of Diamond’s success. “Neighborhood preschool directors are very familiar with the program because they have sent families to us and they saw how effective the techniques and parenting program was. They joined forces to open up the parenting portion to the community,” comments Yitzchok Goldberg. He adds, “The reason our parenting program is so successful is because the focus is on training the parents to develop a framework to understand behavior, while at the same time giving them practical research based-methods that are effective in creating healthy home environments.” The course will be hosted in a different school each of the five weeks, underscoring the unifying energy
brought out with this initiative. For that hour, participants will learn together as not simply parents who send to diverse schools, but as members of one community reaching for the common goal: raising happy children. “We are really excited to work with all the school to execute this pioneering event,” says Shaya Lieber, Associate Director of the Diamond Program. “What better way to model working with others in the community than to collaborate with parents from different schools?” The Parenting Enrichment Program will run from 7:30-8:30 on the following dates at the following schools: January 14th, Yeshiva Darchei Torah; February 4th, HAFTR; February 11th, Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island; February 18th, HALB; February 25th, Yeshiva of South Shore. The cost is $150 per couple, $75 per single. For more information, please contact: 347- 730- 1166 or info@DiamondProgram.org.
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