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Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline chosen as a "best parenting book"
Thursday, July 15, 2010

 

One of the biggest questions on parents' minds is who will take care of their children.

 

Whether you need full-time child care or just want to send your child to preschool one or two mornings a week, "It's a huge responsibility," says early childhood specialist Jessica Shields Flowers.

 

Flowers is offering "Choosing the Perfect Preschool/Childcare" 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Mount Pleasant Recreation Department's Park West Recreation Complex, 1251 Park West Blvd. off U.S. Highway 17. The cost is $20, and registration is required. Sign up at any town recreation department facility or www.townofmountpleasant.com. An additional class is being planned for February.

 

A former day-care director, Flowers says, "I know what questions parents have, and they usually have very good ones."

 

At the same time, what's right for one family may not be right for another.

 

"I am trying to help them get clarity in their own family and find a good match," she says.

 

Some of the variables are how discipline is handled, the center's beliefs on learning and play and how separation anxiety is handled. Flowers says she also advises parents to "get into a classroom and observe. Don't just meet the director and tour the program. Sit in there for 20 or 30 minutes."

 

Flowers launched Ripple (www.rippleeffect.us), an early childhood education and development company, in August. She also is leading a four-week "Parenting 101" class and a one-day "A New Mommy/Daddy or Mommy-to-Be" program through the recreation department.

 

 

Conscious Discipline® is a registered trademark of Loving Guidance™ Inc., (800) 842-2846.