Skate 2 Educate is an event that will provide today's youth the opportunity to socialize with peers and be provided with resources and tools that encourage and promote healthy relationships. Skate 2 Educate will also provide opportunities for teens to receive information on teen financial literacy, college preparation, and MUCH MORE!!!! Teens will also be able to take part of the making of a public service announcement entitled,"The Relationship of A Lifetime". Each teen will be provided a tote bag with teen dating violence resources and trinkets. Entertainment will be provided along with FREE FOOD and door prizes!!!!!

The first 70 teens registered, will receive FREE skate rental and admission. Register below for your opportunity.

Date:  Thursday, March 22, 2012
Time:   6p.m. until 9 p.m.
Place:  300 Bizzell Midwest City, Oklahoma Century Skateland

_ Parenting With A Purpose
Columnist: Kelly Ramsey, MS


One of the greatest challenges facing families today is parenting children in a chaotic world.  This section will share with you research on parenting and raising children in the 21st century.  From cradle to college, parents will learn valuable lessons from the children in their homes and community. 

                      Come join us in the journey, as we unfold the skillful art of parenting with purpose.

  Stages of Parenthood Part I

Often when we look at a child, we can see them growing, from an infant to a toddler, slowly taking grasp of the world around them.  Children are learning the rules of society, how do set and understand boundaries and how to relate with others from watching the adults in their lives.  Have you ever identified with a parent when their child has  a tantrum in the middle of the store aisle?  Of course, you have.  We understand the struggle that the parent is experiencing.  The child is growing up, and changing, and his needs are changing as well.  As the parent watches this metamorphosis of the sweet infant to the screaming toddler, they are experiencing changes as well.  This is where the stages of parenthood become evident, and clarity of the developmental stages of children are best understood. 

Parenting is a process by which parents and children grow and develop, each influencing the other throughout their lives. Parents move through a series of six stages from pregnancy, when they prepare for parenthood and the birth of their child, to the time when their child leaves home to enter the adult world (Galinsky, 1981). Parents evaluate their progress as the child moves through each of these stages.

Expectations for their child's behavior and development are measured against the child's actual behavior and development; a parent's self-image may shift as he or she moves through the different stages of parenthood. This information is based on Galinsky's interviews with over 200 couples (Galinsky, 1981). For better or for worse, being a parent changes an individual forever. 

  Galinsky identifies six parental stages as : 

·         Image-making stage: Pregnancy

·         Nurturing stage: Birth to 18-24 Months or Autonomy

·         Authoritative stage: Two to four or five years

·         Interpretive Stage: Preschool Years through Adolescence

·         Interdependent Stage: During adolescence

·         Departure Stage

Join us next month for continued discussion of the Stages of Parenthood.  We will describe in depth each stage and how developmental stages of children affect our parenting.

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TEACHING TOO YOUNG?

It’s getting hard to know how much to teach your children. I have been deeply troubled the last few weeks between the massacre in Norway, shootings in the United States and general atrocities that are too many to mention.  I practice with my son homemade drills of saying no to drugs, alcohol and smoking. We’ve gone over the differences between talking with a stranger to be polite. Saying thank you, excuse me, etc. is different than telling your home address or telephone number. Talking with a stranger when you’re with your adult is different than talking to a stranger by yourself.

So when and how do I teach him to run and hide.  I’ve been contemplating for days how to even bring that up in a conversation without infringing on their sense of safety.  If you answered you can’t, then you are correct. What you can do is introduce a game to your children. Practice impromptu run and hide games just for the fun of it. Your children will think you are just playing a game with them but you’ll be practicing with them.

The early childhood practice of today is to tell your children why you are having them do something. Look both ways before you cross the street so a car won’t hit you and you become injured or dead. That’s all well in good unless your child is running full speed ahead toward the street. You don’t have time to explain what’s going on you just need them to listen immediately. A true emergency situation demands that they listen immediately for their safety.

There are truly things that I never thought about having to teach my child at six. It seems our children need know more and more at a younger age. I know our children are learning things much more at younger ages then we ever did. You can argue all you want about kids today, just like every other generation.  I want my son to be safe but I also want him to feel safe. That safety and security is vital to his learning process. A child that isn’t secure in their environment is worried about saying safe. When their brain is focused on their safety the brain can’t concentrate on learning. So we go back to what’s the answer. Playing games incognito is a choice. Who can go through the house the most quiet?  When do you know it’s an actual emergency. What do you do if something happens.  Regardless of home invasions, there is fires, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc that you need to plan for. Outside of Acts of God there’s always just general health issues. My mom picks up my son everyday from school and she often has him alone. My husband and I are closer to fifty then forty. Heart attack, stroke and other general ailments are possible. Our son has been trained on how and when to call 911. We pray he will never need this knowledge but want to prepare him for the worse but we pray for the best. Precaution is the medicine for prevention.

Lisa Baldwin Editor-in-Chief sits down with Gwendown Poteat, Lifewize Coordinator.  One of the many program offerings Hope Pregnancy offers.  The Lifewize program provides classes in healthy decision making, goal setting, and life skills in areas of abstinence, prenatal and baby care, and teen parenting to High School and Middle School students. At this time the program is servicing three schools: Oklahoma Centennial, Capitol Hill, and PC Academy. All programs are focused on providing :

H-------Health
         O-----Opportunities
  P----Prevention
                E----EMPOWERMENT
For volunteer opportunities with this program, please contact Gwendolyn Poteat at (405)414-4673

HOPE PREGNANCY CENTERS  provide FREE pregnancy tests and information on fetal development, abortion education, post-abortion syndrome, medical referrals, adoption referrals, community resources, parenting, abstinence, sexually transmitted diseases screenings, Christian growth, FREE maternity clothing and infant clothing.
Parents can also accumulate crib cash to purchase needed items for baby.

Two locations to serve you: 10327 N. May (405) 755-5433
or 
1624 S.W. 82 (405) 688-7800

 The hope of Hope Ministries is that  as each individual comes into a Hope Pregnancy Center,
he or she would find Christ’s love.

  The summer is full of challenges for most families. There are additional costs that can really eat away at your budget. If you have children that need to attend child care you have the full rate cost you must pay instead of the school year cost. If you have younger children the cost remains the same. However, there are additional activity costs during the summer. It seems like every time you turn around its snow cones, swimming pools, petting zoos, amusement parks or off campus activities. Goodness, it can add ten to twenty dollars to your child care bill each week. If your child stays at home with a parent or grandparent then there are additional costs to keep them active during the summer. In the Oklahoma City area we have the Metro Family Magazine.

There website is http://www.metrofamilymagazine.com/ , a Google search will find something in your area. The Metro Family is a great resource. One of the things I particularly like is it informs you about happenings in OKC. They take all the information from different resources and put it in one source. As a parent I’m able to go to the guide and know what’s happening around me. They list the cost or if it’s free. I requested email alerts so now I’m able to read the different events and plan for them before they happen. Prior to the notifications I read about most of the events after they had happened. It takes a little research but it is well worth the effort. As a parent you are your child’s most important teacher. You aren’t able to teach your child everything but you can help them experience life by taking them on different outings. We all know they get expensive over time so using the guide to help you know when free items are offered is a great resource.

Many of the museums, historical buildings, etc. have free or reduced prices during the year. If you visit during these times it’s busier but I find it worth the savings! Another great resource is http://www.facebook.com/thefrugalgirls or www.frugalgirls.com . The site has listed items you can obtain for free. Yes, that’s right FREE. The free items are from food to e-books that you can download. They update the area weekly if not daily. I suggest liking their page on Facebook to save the continuous emails. They also offer summer ideas. You might be full of thoughts in the beginning of the summer but by the end of the summer your idea meter might start to run low. I’m sure there are many other sites I haven’t mentioned. Check with friends and family and see if they have found a great site. Often times we learn something great from one of our friends or family members because they were at the right place at the right time. Summer ideas can come to us from all sorts of places now having the time to do all of it … that’s another story!

As a parent I feel it is my responsibility to teach my child as much as I can in the short amount of time he will actually listen. My child is a high energy six year old. He likes to be busy and engage his active energy level. He has lessons to be learned seven days a week. Not because I want him too but because he wants too. Personally, I’d prefer a few nights to just to relax. When he wants to take a night off we take a night off. As a family we split up his lessons. His father takes him to some, I take him to others and his grandmother takes him as well. What can a six year old possibly be so busy learning? Two to three days a week he goes to Tae Kwon Do in his effort to obtain his first degree black belt by the time he’s eight.


This is a dream he’s had since he was two and saw his first Bruce Lee movie. Two days a week he has swimming. His grandmother has been adamant that he learn to be an expert swimmer. My cousin died when he was just five from drowning. It is a loss that is still felt deeply even though it occurred decades ago.  One day a week he takes guitar lessons. His father and he share a love of music and so do he. His most important lessons are of faith. As a parent I cannot be everywhere my son is. Even though I attempt to teach him to make positive choices, be aware of his surroundings and make the right decisions.


The bottom line is between school, friends and family he makes many of his decisions when he is not with me. How many children have ruined their futures by making one wrong decision that leads to other wrong decisions that lead to life altering consequences? The only preparation I can give my child is to empower his choices. How can I do this? I can do this by making sure that he has the necessary tools to make appropriate choices. In our family we talk about what Jesus would have done and the expectations of God the Father. Although, I can’t be with my son 24/7. God is.


Even at six my son knows to listen to the Father. He knows that I bow to what God says. If there is ever a time that he feels that what God has told him is different then what he has learned from me or his dad then he should do what God tells him, without conflict. It would not anger me or sadden me. I will be very proud of his choice and support him. If there is any conflict, it would be mine and his dad’s. As a teacher and as a parent I must empower my son for all things, even his choices.