“When I started Parent Champions, I was a very negative person, if anything was going right I would always think it was going to go wrong. But not now I always look at the positives because if I have it in my mind that everything is going to go wrong then it more likely will.
I see now that if I want something good to happen then I have to think good.
Another thing that I wasn’t very good at before I started Parent Champion was listening to my daughter, she’s not even two yet, so sometimes I can’t understand what she is saying and to be honest I didn’t really listen. Since this course I have learnt there are different levels of listening and I was listening at the worst level. Now I listen in the best way and have learnt that she says so much that actually does make sense. I now have little conversations with her.
When I had my daughter I thought that I didn’t matter anymore, that I had to think of just her and put how I feel aside, I now know that if I think of myself as well then she benefits from it just as much as I do.
Before the course, I wasn’t very confident around new people, I would keep myself to myself, not express my opinions or feelings. Also I would never stand in front of people and speak publicly, but in the last eight weeks I have opened up so much and have been able to express my opinions and ideas.
I also went to a meeting to talk to a group of professionals about Parent Champions to say how it had changed my life. I was nervous about it but I got up in front of 20 people and told them of my experience. It was one of the most scariest moments of my life but, it was also the most exciting and exhilarating thing I had ever done. After I finished I felt so great, I couldn’t stop smiling and everyone was telling me how well I did. It was such an achievement I never would have done this if it wasn’t for the course.
In the course, every week we were asked to do Success Diaries so that we all could recognise that we do have successes as parents no matter how little it is, it’s still a success. This has helped a lot because I never thought I was good at anything and that whatever I did was a failure and to be honest it made me quite depressed but after doing the Success Diaries I realise I am not a failure and it makes me happy.
Another thing I learnt is, the art of meditation. I have heard about it before but wrote it off as a bunch of rubbish. I realise I should have been more open minded about it as it really does work. Before each session started the group closed their eyes and emptied their heads so that all the bad thoughts would leave our minds. I thoroughly enjoyed doing it because it made it easier to work and listen. Sometimes I found it hard but after practicing it at home it got easier and easier and now I feel confident enough to know I can do it.
This ‘Empowering Families’ course has helped me in so many ways, it has made my life a lot easier and I’m a much happier person which makes my daughter happier too, which makes me happier and so the cycle keeps going.
I have met some fantastic people in the last 8 weeks. People who I have become good friends with. We now meet up at each others houses to have a coffee and a chat.
If I hadn’t been given the opportunity to be a part of Parent Champions then my life would still be the same as before and that’s not a good thing. I also wouldn’t have met the people I have.
I would like to thank Alan and everybody else for helping me in a very difficult time of my life. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have come this far.”
Ms K. Parent
(note: Ms K. you are the one that has done all the hard work to make these achievements possible, well done. Alan)
