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David Dooley
Bakersfield, CA
Recent Activity
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David commented on the article |Aren't parents the most important teachers of character?
Parents who engage in parenting behaviors and practices generally recognized as supporting the healthy physical, emotional, and intellectual development of children, and reject parenting behaviors and practices generally recognized as disrupting the healthy development of children automatically raise children of good character.
Since parenting is how character is taught, shouldn't parenting education be a priority?
Media-based parenting education for young people is the most efficient way to improve the quality of parenting in a community. Improvements in the quality of parenting will translate into improvements in character.
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David commented on the article |Parent involvement is a popular catch phrase. Politicians, pundits, administrators, and others do believe that parent involvement is a magic bullet. I’d like to add my two cents worth by identifying an error in thinking.
Parent involvement is not a remedy! It is a characteristic or attribute of a far greater concept. It is an nth piece of a 1000 piece puzzle called “best parenting”. Parental involvement in a child’s education is just one of countless best behaviors and practices common to parents who employ parenting skills that nurture and support their child’s best interests.Myopic educrats would have us believe that parent involvement, like the self-esteem movement of a decade ago, is another magic bullet. Baloney! Quality parenting, and everything that entails, is the key! Parents who engage in best parenting behaviors and practices automatically fulfill the emotional, physical, and intellectual needs of their children. The question ought not to be... how do we get parents involved at their kids’ school, but how do we populate our communities with parents who embrace all of the parenting behaviors and practices generally recognized as being beneficial for children!
Here’s an answer to that question that deserves thoughtful consideration. I'm an advocate of community-based parenting education for young people...that is young people, kids, being taught best parenting behaviors and practices in an effort to prepare them for the responsibilities of parenthood. I believe parenting education for young people could be a tremendously powerful and proactive means for preventing child abuse, substance abuse, and other forms of violence.
I feel strongly about teaching kids how to parent because preparation for adulthood is the reason we educate children, and parenting is by far the most important job they’ll have as adults. Additionally, trying to identify, round up, and change the parenting behaviors and practices of every adult who needs intervention is next to impossible for practical reasons.
I was thinking the education could take the form of both free and paid, permanent yet evolving, public service messages on radio, television, billboards, print, products, and the internet designed to teach young people how to engage in parenting behaviors and practices generally recognized as supporting the healthy physical, emotional, and intellectual development of children, and reject parenting behaviors and practices generally recognized as disrupting the healthy development of children. I can envision appealing school age spokespersons delivering these messages.
Does this idea have merit? If it does, how can I turn my dream into reality?
