Dragon Mom

01/25/2010

Play is the system we have evolved to facilitate the development of higher intelligence.
Nathan Wallice, Neuroscience Educator

In her book, Dragon Mom: Confessions of a Child Development Expert, Janet Gonzalez-Mena addresses her challenge of being a child development expert and a real parent, about the gap between what society expects from the perfect parent and what can happen in the real world. In the book she talks about the first emergence of Janet, the Dragon Mom:

"I was new to my parenting career. The dragon was unknown to me. So far, parenting had been entirely positive. I felt nothing but love in my heart for this precious new child of mine. I certainly didn't feel anger, I remember thinking this was the happiest time in my life.

"You can imagine how surprised I felt to find myself in the living room of our small apartment screaming, "Shut up!" in the direction of the bedroom where my baby was crying. I swear those words just came out of my mouth on their own.

"I had been a 'good mother' up until then — all three weeks of his life. My baby had responded by behaving like a 'good baby.' But not this time. I had done everything right. I had changed, fed, burped, rocked, and cuddled him. He just wouldn't stop crying.

"That moment of frustration brought ugly, unmotherly words out of my mouth. When I heard them, I was nearly crushed by the overpowering weight of tons of guilt crashing down on me....

"I don't remember what happened next, but I'm willing to bet that I went right in and smothered that poor baby in marshmallow ooze. I don't know if my sugary glop stopped the crying or not, but I probably felt better. That was the real beginning of my parenting career."

Great Resources on Parenting

Exchange has packaged six of its parenting resources into a single Parenting Tool Kit and is offering the entire set at a 33% discount. Separately these resources would cost $189, but we are offering the entire Parenting Tool Kit for only $126. The kit includes these great Exchange resources:

The following Books/CDs:

The Top Ten Preschool Parenting Problems
Parent Relations: Building an Active Partnership
Dragon Mom: Confessions of a Child Development Expert
The Complete Parenting Exchange Library

The following Beginnings Workshops:

Parent Conferences
Parent Involvement
Meeting the Needs of Today's Families

The following Out of the Box Kits:

Family Conferencing: Asking and Listening
Making Families Welcome

Enhanced Childcare Fee Management
Combine your family & child information with a powerful fee management system to maintain a complete history of all family charges, deposits and payments.

Take a Test Drive: Get a free trial version of EZ-CARE2 Center Management Software!

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.