About Circle of Parents: Participants
Who is Circle of Parents for? Anybody in a parenting role who wants to talk with other parents. A participant explains:
“I think anybody that is willing to listen to anybody else’s problems, to give positive opinions [would benefit]. I think anyone that could listen to them and communicate and help others.”
Participants talk about a wide range of topics at meetings and are parents of children of all ages. Below, a few describe the program to a potential member:
“I’d say, if you want to, I know of a group that I think is really wonderful. And the reason I think that is because week after week I’ve been going to this group, and I just notice all these people over the last couple of years have come in.””Some stay with us and some don’t, but we’ve had so many different people. And I’ll think to myself, aw, this isn’t going to work for this person. And then they come and everyone accepted the person and the person fit right in. We all made them feel welcome.”
“It’s just a group where I think you can just feel free to talk and be open, and people will listen to you. If you don’t want to talk you don’t have to; you can just listen. But it just gives you a lot of support and really a lot of good ideas for what to do with kids when things get tough. And just knowing that you’re not dealing with them by yourself. I think it would really be helpful if your kids are kind of getting to you. And even if they’re not.”
“I’d make it like I was talking to my mom. Like, you need to come and see our group. You’re always telling me what to do and how to do it and that I’m being a bad parent. And because I’m a single parent, maybe if you came to group you’d understand what it’s like to be young and have two kids and deal with the problems.”
“I’d say, Oh, Charlie, you should really check out our group. It’s a stress-free environment and we have a very good time. We cover everything from toilet training to menstruation. We even talk about PMS. Now, we understand that there are a lot of men that are single parents these days, and a lot of them are raising daughters.”
“We have some very good opinions, and you can come to our group and talk to us about all of these things. We certainly won’t set out to embarrass anybody, and we have a good time. We cut up, we make light of some pretty stressful situations. And usually you leave feeling very good.”
“We exchange phone numbers, we kind of network helping each other find tutoring services or free activities in the community. We all know that it’s hard to get a dollar to stretch. And we try to organize things between our own children so that we get to spend more time together outside of the group. And our kids interact well with each other.”
“And sometimes kids that have stressed-out parents tend to be stressed-out kids. These kids unwind while they’re there; we unwind. It’s just a very nice atmosphere. And you certainly don’t have to join; there’s no cost to it. Come and check us out. Try us, and I’m sure that once you come you’ll enjoy it so much you’ll keep coming.”