About Us

BY ARLENE F. HARDER, MA, MFT

The Childhood Affirmations Program was launched in the late spring of 2005 by to help parents raise resourceful, resilient and compassionate children. With more than one-hundred pages and many more links to other websites, resources and books, our purpose is to bring you the best material we can find so that you can develop the confidence and practical skills that make parenting so much easier.

The funding of the website will come from several products that will be fully developed by the fall of 2005. These will include:

Affirmation cards

To help parents remember the affirmations that children need at each stage of growth, we have developed several items that remind parents of the tasks their children need to master at that stage of growth.

Some of these are cards preprinted with a picture and others are personalized photo-affirmation holders in which you can place a picture of your child together with affirmations for that developmental stage.

All of the cards are 5" x 7" and have a magnet attached to the back that allows it to be hung on a refrigerator, file cabinet, or office cubicle as a daily reminder of the skills children need for healthy development.

A special CD

This unique audio CD takes you through a gentle exercise in which you can experience the needs of children at each age. In using this CD, you can not only recognize the importance of words of encouragement for your own children, but also discover the affirmations you may have missed growing up. This CD is offered as part of other products, including our e-books.

E-books and Workshops for Teachers and Parents

We have created material that will complement and expand the twelve strategies for raising resourceful, resilient and compassionate children . Some are designed just for parents and others are offered to educators who lead workshops for parents. They will cover such topics as:

How to instill in your child a love of learning

How to teach your child to think clearly and to solve problems

Managing your emotions so you can help manage your child’s emotions

How to define and express the values you want to develop in your children

Understanding how the rules and rituals in your family of origin may help or hinder your ability to be an effective parent

Contributors and Affiliates

Beverly Adams, artist and poet

Ann Brazil, creator of TimeOut Tot

Dr. Kerby Alvy, director and creator of the Center for the Improvement of Child Caring Discovery Tool for diagnosing developmental delays

Eva Fugitt, teacher and author of He Hit Me Back First!

Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D., creator of Quintessential Careers

Arlene F. Harder, MA, MFT, Director of the Childhood Affirmations Program

Suzanne J. Kessler and Wendy McKenna, parents and writer for the We Behave website

Kathleen M. Marcos, information associate at the ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics at the Center for Applied Linguistics

Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, founder and Director of Montreal Children's Hospital's Asthma Centre and Pediatric Consultation Centre

Zara Snapp and Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States

Christina Baglivi Tinglof, mother and creator of the mom-in-the-middle website

Ilene Val-Essen, Ph.D., psychotherapist and author of Bring Out The Best—In Your Child And Yourself

Joyce and Barry Vissell, relationship specialists and creators of The Shared Heart Foundation