Courtney Harritt

Yesterday afternoon I attended the summer Director's Series event put on by our Anaheim Hills' campus. Sandy McDaniel, local author and columnist for the OC Register, spoke for an hour and half about parenting to a group of 30 parents from the community. The lecture was energizing and funny, and the audience, a mix of Fairmont families and others from the public, had a productive afternoon despite all the laughing! Below is one of the tips I took home from Sandy's seminar and you can find more here.

Being introduced to a new adult can be scary when you're small. Instead of insisting that your child march right on up and make small talk, set your child up for success by giving the other adult a talking point and turning the meeting into a bit of a game. Here's a quote from Sandy's new book, Don't Feed the Dragon:

"Turn it into a game. ‘I see my friend, Leslie, coming. I am going to introduce you. When Leslie leaves, tell me what color her eyes are, okay?' Given a job other than to stand there and feel stupid, the child engages with the adult and may feel more comfortable. Also help the child in the introduction, ‘Leslie, this is my daughter Kathleen. She painted a very cool picture of a tree today.' Now Leslie has something to say to Kathleen and Kathleen can talk about her tree."

All Fairmont Director's Series events are free and open to the public as well as to current Fairmont families, faculty and staff. Don't miss Mark Hobbins' (founder of FamilyIQ) talk about the Teenage Brain on July 15th, and be sure to check out a listing of upcoming Fairmont events here. We'll be scheduling another event with Sandy soon, so stay tuned if you missed the event yesterday!