Fishful Thinking Friday: Overview.

So the name "Fishful Thinking" may you leave you wondering "What the heck?".

"Guide to Secret Fishing Spots"?

"Guide to Best Sushi Restaurants"?

How about "Guide to Raising Optimistic, Resilient and Empowered kids"?

Yep.

The last one.

Pepperidge Farm has joined forces with Dr. Karen Reivich to develop an initiative that promotes parenting for possibilities called Fishful Thinking.

As you know from yesterday's post, I spent this past weekend with Dr. Reivich and 9 other moms who make up the "Fishful Thinking" Faculty.

Dr. Reivich is the real deal.

Not only is she the co-author of "The Optimistic Child" and "The Resilience Factor" and heads up cutting edge research studying the benefits of optimism and postive thinking- She is also a mom.

A mom to FOUR kids.

I am always a bit wary "self-help" programs and to be honest, there are only a handful of parenting books I've read that aren't totally confusing or unrealistic....

I need hands on techniques for real world situations. My staff are in their 20s, they need specific technuques, not academic theories containing words that require a PhD to dissect. FT provides just that... ideas, suggestions and activities that really work.

I also believe that there are all kinds of parenting styles that work. Many of you with multiple children know that many times, you have a different style for each of your different children!

In my view {in the past 15 years I have worked with 1,000s of kids}, Fishful Thinking's approach to Optimism, Emotional Awareness, Goal Setting/Hope, Resilience and Empowerment can be used successfully with all types of kids.

As a summer camp director {and mom}, I consider it my responsibility to stay current with the latest in child development ideas- some grounded in true research, others, passing fads. I have access to and attend conferences for many different schools of thought concerning kids. Very few have come close to being as well researched, presented and executed as Fishful Thinking.

One of the greatest things I took away from the symposium was that my son needs to be sure of what his strengths are.

My job, as his mom, is to set up situations and tasks that highlight his strengths. {This is a big for me, as my son's strengths are totally different than my own.}

Ultimately, I want my son to believe that things are possible.

That if something doesn't work, instead of quitting, he looks for a new approach.

A new solution.

Fishful Thinking helps parents to help kids do just that- and so much more.

I don't want to overload you in one post, but I have so much more to say.

I have already begun working Dr. Reivich's strategies and techniques into our camp staff training.

As a family, we have started using them at home.

Armed with this information, parents, teachers, coaches, etc can absolutely make a difference.

A great place to start is this Quiz regarding your child's Resiliency.

And, a wonderful piece on Emotional Awarenes.

As always, I would love your feedback.

Next Friday, I will post about Optimism and offer a link up. I would love to have you write a post about optimism {anything about optimism, doesn't have to be related in FT} and link it back.

I think I will do a little mention on SITS too, so those in the link up can get some extra traffic!

Of course, there will be some kind of contest/giveaway involved....