Secure Attachment

Parenting Seminar—Secure Attachment: Helping Your Child Get the Best Start in Life Saturday, June 5, 10:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. (Lunch included.) Appropriate FOR: Adult Admission: $60 General; $50 Skirball Members; $40 Full-Time Students Advance registration required; register on site, online, and by phone beginning Wednesday, April 21, 11:00 a.m. We live in a time when many obligations and distractions can disrupt the vital parent-child bond. Yet emerging research supports what we have known intuitively about the importance of these early relationships: that babies and toddlers experience numerous benefits related to health, intellectual capacity, and spirit when cared for by people they love and with whom they have developed a secure attachment, such as a par

In this compelling seminar, spend a day at the Skirball to hear the latest thinking on attachment theory from leading experts in the field. Gain specific knowledge that can immediately help with the challenges of raising children today and provide a strong foundation for their future. Find out how healthy attachment incorporates the ability to separate from our children and help them transition to secondary caregivers. Discover what to look for when choosing day-care and school environments.

Designed for parents, expectant parents, and potential parents, the program includes two keynote lectures, lunchtime discussions, and a series of afternoon workshops.

Keynote Speakers: Sir Richard Bowlby—President, Centre for Child Mental Health, United Kingdom—lectures to health care professionals and the general public, using personal insights to promote a broader understanding of the work of his father, Dr. John Bowlby, on attachment theory. He supports a range of organizations that address challenging attachment issues.

Mary Hartzell, MEd, is a child development specialist, parent educator, and co-author with Dan Siegel of Parenting from the Inside Out. She is director of the nationally recognized, Reggio-inspired First Presbyterian Nursery School, Santa Monica, and has taught children, parents, and teachers for more than thirty years. Her acclaimed CD series on parent-child relationships have improved the lives of children and their families for decades. Dr. Hartzell has an MA in early childhood education and psychology from UCLA and runs a private consulting practice.

NOTE: WHEN REGISTERING FOR THE DAYLONG SEMINAR, ENROLLEES WILL BE REQUIRED TO CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING WORKSHOPS.

Seminar Workshops

THE ESSENTIAL ROLE OF FATHERS IN THE ATTACHMENT PROCESS
Facilitator: Sir Richard Bowlby
Children need a parent, a primary attachment figure, to provide them with emotional security within the family. But who helps children develop their social skills and gain confidence in the world outside the family? What are the experiences that children require in order to succeed in Western societies? Are the development of emotional security and social skills of equal significance to the long-term development of boys and girls?

TRIANGULAR ATTACHMENT
The Expanded Attachment of Multiples
Facilitator: Betsy Brown Braun, multiple-birth parenting consultant and founder, Parenting Pathways, Inc.
This workshop will explore the ways in which twins, triplets, and higher-order multiples experience attachment to parents and to one another, as we look at how their unique relationships can work for and against them.

CHOOSING AN ATTACHMENT-READY CAREGIVER
Facilitator: Robin Williams, MA, Coordinator, Early Head Start Programs, Bremerton, WA.
Hiring someone to help care for a young child is a reality for many parents today. This workshop will outline important indicators that can be used when choosing this significant partner in a child's early learning and development.

NONVIOLENT PARENTING TECHNIQUES
Facilitator: Ruth Beaglehole, MA, Founder, Center for Nonviolent Education and Parenting.
Physical violence is never an option when dealing with children. In this workshop, caregivers and parents learn how to avoid using emotional violence during even the toughest situations. Participants will learn how to set respectful boundaries, foster emotional intelligence, and create the parenting relationship they want with their child.

TRAUMA-PROOFING YOUR KIDS
Facilitator: Maggie Klein, MFT, RN, family therapist and Somatic Experiencing faculty member
This workshop will teach parents how to prevent and resolve trauma when their child has experienced something overwhelming. Participants will learn simple skills to eliminate or reduce symptoms based on the principles of Somatic Experiencing, a method for releasing trauma and fostering resilience developed by Dr. Peter Levine.

POSITIVE PARENTING
Raising Happy, Secure, Confident Children
Facilitator: Dr. Gina Lyons, psychologist
Learn to deepen and strengthen the parent-child relationship while increasing communication, cooperation, and harmony within the family. This interactive workshop provides a unique integration of information from the fields of child psychology, developmental psychology, and positive psychology to teach parents strategies for launching their child on the path to a happy, meaningful, and successful life. Participants will learn the keys to developing an enduring sense of happiness for themselves as well as for their children.

ATTACHMENT THEORY AND BRAIN RESEARCH
Early Relationships and Their Direct Effect on Development
Facilitator: Dr. Connie Lillas, author and Director of the Interdisciplinary Training Institute in Los Angeles
Attachment directly influences the growth of a child's developing brain. Learn how infants internalize attachment relationships on a "procedural" memory level that they can then draw on to regulate emotions, explore relationships with others, and shape their expectations for future relationships.

SELF-EXPRESSSION, CONNECTION, AND PLAY
Facilitator: Mary Beth Trautwein, Director of the reDiscover Center
Children's spontaneous, creative self-expression increases their sense of competence and well-being in the present and well into adulthood. In this workshop, participants will learn how to use open-ended materials to help children make meaning of their world, connect with their caregivers and build resilience.