Being Aware Parent/Child Events

Christi Zerega, LPC,  founder of Aware Counseling, started the Being Aware parent/child event series to raise awareness about the increasing challenges we as parents and professionals face today. The first event, ‘Being Aware: Big Feelings, Cooperation and More’ explores the ways our body language, choice of words and actions, and how we listen, influence how our children feel about themselves, their relationships, and the outside world. While genetics, food, physical movement, stress, technology, and media-culture all play a role, the single most important factor determining children’s behavior and emotional health is how we interact with them. Additional events include, ‘Being Aware: Evolved Interactions’ and ‘Being Aware: Emotionally Resilient Families.’

Children are hard-wired for connection. We all are. Through working with a team of counseling professionals and gaining insight into how we interact with children, we can better cultivate emotional intelligence (motivation, self- regulation, self-awareness, empathy, and social skills) and the connections needed for children to understand, express, and moderate their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

At the event, while parents participate in an interactive discussion on effective ways to deal with everyday challenges (meltdowns, tantrums, sibling fights, defiance, anxiety, etc.), children will participate in a mindfulness, manners, yoga, and art class and learn about the basic principals of mindful behavior ‘Mindfulness and Manners’ class with Aly Murphy, author of The Manatee Finds Mindfulness and The Manners Contract. Children will learn about the basic principles of mindful behavior through hands-on and interactive games and crafts.