LAC LA BICHE - For the past four years, Lac La Biche County FCSS has hosted the Holding Space Book Club for parents, to give them a chance to get together in a relaxing environment, share supper, conversation and life experiences.
Participants of the program discuss a specific book related to parenting. The Holding Space Book Club is starting up again in April and, according to Christine Martin, a community outreach worker with FCSS, the book chosen for this year is “The Parenting Handbook - Your Guide to Raising Resilient Children,” written by Tana Johnson and Tammy Schamuhn.
The book, Martin said, is an amazing resource that covers information about kids from infants to the teen years and everything in between.
“We will discuss things like technology, structured and unstructured play, discipline for older children and teens, and basically anything else the parents would like to discuss,” she said.
The objective of the Book Club program is to get parents together to discuss some of the issues, challenges, and topics that surround their parenting journey. Each participant receives a copy of the book that is used for the sessions, which they can keep.
Martin said the evening sessions are divided into three chapters each to discuss. However, parents who participate in the sessions aren’t expected to read every word.
“We all know how busy our lives can be, so we don’t want to put any unrealistic expectations for the program. So, each week we loosely follow the chapters that we are focused on, but quite often, the natural progression of the conversations among parents takes us in different directions,” Martin said.
According to information from Lac La Biche County FCSS, this year’s Book Club for parents will start on April 2 and, except for April 17, will run every Thursday until May 1. The sessions run from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and take place at the Bold Centre.
One of the best aspects of the program and the format that is used is that there are parents from every different social circle who have kids of all ages, said Martin. The value in the experiences and different perspectives is invaluable, she added.
There are parents of teenagers who can give guidance regarding some of the parenting strategies that may have worked for their family when their kids were younger, but the program also includes the perspectives from parents of younger children who are finding their way in a world that is vastly different than it was even a few years ago.
“The value of seeing things through these different lenses is amazing and the parents really seem to appreciate the rich conversations that take place,” Martin said.
While parents who attend the sessions discuss various topics related to modern parenting, they also have a chance to socialize and cheer each other on during the meetings.
“Quite often these strangers become friends who continue to connect even after the book club is over.”
