Student Section of MCFR

At the December MCFR conference, we started a new student opportunity. We will now be holding a student/new professional poster session at all of our conferences in the foreseeable future. We developed this opportunity as a way for students to gain experience presenting their work locally in a forum with minimal pressure. The MCFR members are a warm and welcoming group and their interest in students is genuine. They are the perfect group to engage in conversations that provide valuable feedback in a supportive way.

We had a wide variety of topics presented including: implications of race related socialization for Black youth, creating a solution map, youth-adult relationships in community-based programs, language choice of bilingual mothers, the psychology of adoption, communicative and structural openness in adoptive kinship networks, and sexual attitudes and behaviors. Each of these topics provided a unique perspective on working with families.

Please click to read more and find out how you can participate at the next conference.

Continue reading "Student Poster Session" »

Posted by Kristin Schneider at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I recently attended a week long workshop put on by Jean Illsley Clarke (a highly regarded author of various parenting books and consultant for the field of parent education) This workshop was an intense week of practicing my facillitation skills with the material in the book titled, "How Much is Enough?" by Jean Illsley Clarke, Connie Dawson, and David Bredehoft (Prof. at Concordia St. Paul). The phenomenon of "Overindulgence" in families is growing, and this book helps parents as well as professionals identify overindulgence (too much, over-nurture, soft structure), and guides you through the process of moving back onto the "middle of the nurture/structure highway" to a more balanced and supportive parent-child relationship. I would recommend this book to anyone that has a family or works with them because our society is constantly sending us messages encouraging overindulgence; making it a struggle to not overindulge ourselves, let alone those in our care. The best part of this book is that it is backed by research (conducted by David Bredehoft). They have gotten feedback about the experience and consequences of overindulgence from people that were overindulged as children as well as those that currently overindulge their children (currently on study 6 & 7). Here is a link to their website: www.overindulgence.info. I would love to continue the conversation of overindulgence with anyone interested. I will leave you with the Test of Four to identify overindulgence: 1. Does it keep the person from learning developmentally appropriate tasks; 2. Does it use a disproportionate share of personal or family resources; 3. Who's needs are being fulfilled (parents or child); 4. Was harm done to anyone or anything? This handy tool can be used with parents and children, to identify your own overindulgence, or with any other relationship.

- Thanks to Jean Illsley Clarke, Connie Dawson, and David Bredehoft (and the many other players) for the hard work and determination in getting this information out into the world, and for providing me with an unforgettable learning experience at the workshop.

Posted by Heather Cline at 8:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)