Saturday, February 9, 2008

Coach - Mentor - Advocate

Isabelle Zehnder is a Certified Family Coach offering coaching to parents and to teens. She offers convenient telephone coaching as well as in-person coaching and workshops. Call 360-723-5253 or e-mail coaching@positivefamilysolutions.com.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Parents and Teens Unite! Offering Parents Hope, Solutions, and Empowerment

Dear Parents:



Remember the days when your child looked lovingly into your eyes and said, “You’re the smartest person in the whole wide world?” Wow, what a great feeling that was!

Then, without warning this same child looks into your eyes and says, “You don’t know what you’re talking about! You don’t know anything!” Wow, what a blow to your ego!

Parents often wonder what they’ve done wrong to deserve such treatment. The good news is likely you’ve done nothing wrong.

Welcome to the world of Adolescence!


Do you feel like your teen or pre-teen is a complete stranger? Have the lines of communication been severed? Is your teen making poor choices or struggling in school? Do you feel all hope is gone? Are you running out of options? There is HOPE!

Today many pre-teens and teens are more attached to their peers and to the peer culture than they are to their own families. Many are making poor decisions that negatively affect their lives, and yours.


What can you do to prevent the diminishing attachments between you and your kids?


How can you create a world at home that allows your kids to feel a “connectedness” that they more readily create with their peers?


Is it possible to reconnect? YES!

Many of today's kids have been thrust into a blended family situation that might not be blending so well.

What’s the answer?

It is possible to create peace in an environment that is filled with anger and blame.

Raising a child is one thing. Raising an adolescent is quite another. Children move through several stages from childhood through the teen years.

We act as the managers in our children’s lives when they are young by scheduling appointments, providing transportation, and organizing events.

As they make the shift into adolescence our role as parents needs to change. Teens want and need to become the managers of their own lives.

We all know the benefits of coaching … sports teams hire coaches to give their players instruction and direction. Individuals hire life coaches to help them determine and achieve their personal goals. Companies hire coaches to help generate new business ideas, to increase employee satisfaction, and to increase profits.

Three Layers of Learning™Positive Family Solutions™ has found a winning combination for parents ready to delve into becoming their teens’ coach, the Three Layers of learning™.





First, an interactive experience-based coaching relationship is developed between parent and coach. The coach asks the parent for his or her desired outcomes.

Next, throughout the coaching relationship your coach will provide you with learning and developmental tools, including Parent as Coach, written by Diana Sterling. You will then have the opportunity to read, reflect, and observe what you have learned.

And finally, through coaching, weekly reading, and practical homework assignments, you will have the opportunity to immediately put the skills into practice. These skills can then be applied to everyday life.

The benefits of coaching are ever-reaching. While working to become your teen's coach you will find that you too will benefit from the experience. One client recently said, “I’ve seen a positive change not only in my kids but in myself as well.”

So, let us train you to be your TEEN’S coach!

The fact is … many of today’s parents were raised in homes where they felt silenced, like they didn’t measure up and that’s not what they wanted for their child. Yet they struggle to find ways to open the lines of communication with their teen. As a result many parents have lost hope.

With the support of a skilled coach parents and teens can coexist in an environment rooted in Trust, Support, Respect, and Understanding - an environment free of punishment and undeserved guilt.

Coaching creates Harmony when once there was Discord - Joy when once there was Despair - Peace of mind when once there was Confusion.

By making the shift to Appreciate, to Understand, to Support, and to Respect our children and our spouses, teens and pre-teens can experience healthy connections in the home with parents and outside the home with their peers.

If you are intersted in exploring if coaching is right for you, call for your complementary consultation (360) 723-5253. We offer one-on-one telephone coaching, workshops, and in-person coaching.

Sincerely, Isabelle Zehnder
Family and Life Coach
Positive Family Solutions™
http://www.positivefamilysolutions.com/
coaching@positivefamilysolutions.com