Woodbury Reports, Inc.
Bonners Ferry, ID

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Parents - Help Yourself First!

Chris McDuffie of Turning Point Addiction and Recovery Services
On The Woodbury Report
January 6, 2015

Chris McDuffie, CEO and Founder of Turning Point Addiction & Recovery Services, was the guest on The Woodbury Report with Host Lon Woodbury and co-host Mary Romero, January 6, 2015. Turning Point Addiction & Recovery Services is a private educational consulting firm specializing in placements for those with addictions. In his seminars, McDuffie recommends parents read two books: Excellent Sheep by Bill Deresiewicz and Nurture Shock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. Chris then asks parents the following question; "Are you causing undue stress in your children's lives?"

McDuffie encourages parents to hold up a mirror and ask themselves a few important questions. Is my parenting style working? Am I creating a happy and healthy kid? Am I doing this right?

"Communication is key when parents are talking to their children," McDuffie explained. Perhaps it is even the "indirect" talking that your kids are hearing. We don't know how they hear and handle our sarcasm, or yelling, or what they really might hear is that our main concern is school and grades. Maybe they don't understand the back-handed compliments.

McDuffie challenges parents to examine where their parenting skills come from. Are the skills from old traditions, the way you were raised? Did these skills work for you when you were a child? Did you learn parenting skills? What skills did you learn? Who taught you? Were your parents good role models? McDuffie encourages parents to determine if the skills they learned are something they want to continue to pass on to their children; or maybe this is an opportunity to 'stop the madness'?

McDuffie concedes that what we really want as parents is to raise and nurture our children. He offered some tips for doing so:

• Stay mindful
• Ask questions, engage with them
• Set goals and reasonable expectations
• Use the resources that are out there when needed
• Try to get them to be resolute and be 'risk takers,' that is let them learn to fail and recover
• Have them learn for the sake of learning, rather than following a path or the norm

Contact:
Chris McDuffie
844-437-7371 x10
ChrisM@MyTurningPointBegins.com
www.myturningpointbegins.com