This is a guest post form Ergodespoina’s blog. To read the original blog post in Greek please visit HERE

When I graduated from Occupational Therapy School I thought, “Now what? Have I learned everything?”  I realized that I obviously hadn’t, so I continued to train and study. To this day, I learn new techniques and methods that help me enhance my clients’ rehabilitation progress, thus fulfilling my goals as a therapist and also the goals that my parents had set for me when I started. I trained in specialized approaches that, over the years, have helped me achieve desired results, sometimes more, sometimes less.

When the time came for me to become a mother I thought, “Wonderful. Now what? How am I going to learn it all?” I was actually lucky because my profession brought me in contact with children and parents and dealing with them made me better able to approach and communicate with my own children. Nevertheless, I was truly surprised to realize how differently we may handle our own children as opposed to the children we work with.  I needed to learn. I was so used to taking seminars on how to do things but when my children arrived, circumstances did not allow me that luxury so I had to rely on books, the internet, and speaking to friends and other moms to learn about parenting.

As time passes and our children grow, so do our family needs.  My needs as a mother have grown.  I want to communicate well with my children, understand them and their needs.  I want to know how to be the person they can rely on and share their worries with. I want to be there during their difficult times.  Yes, maternity is more difficult now.  When the children were babies, fatigue was my biggest difficulty. I realize that the tantrums and often intense outbursts that toddlers have are relatively manageable compared to when the children grow up and start going out into the world, beginning with school and moving on to other activities.  That’s when the role of the parent shifts, don’t you think?

This is why I decided to attend a two-day seminar called Empowered Parenting.  There were many things that kept me really interested, especially the experiential method of teaching the tools and techniques which can be used to:

• have a meaningful relationship with our children
• discover our weaknesses and traps into which we fall
• encourage / motivate ourselves and our children
• enjoy parenthood

The website of the company that organizes this and many other specialized seminars can be found HERE . Feel free to call them; they’re very polite and accommodating. The seminars are conducted in English by expert trainers whom you will have no difficulty understanding.  I had no problem and I hadn’t heard or spoken English in a very long time!

The first day of the seminar consisted of a mixture of facts, emotions and thoughts that had to do with me. I had to deal with understanding myself.

When we, as parents, want to improve our relationship with our children, the first thing that needs to be processed and put under the microscope is actually the parents themselves. Our feelings and the way we communicate with our children. This first day, therefore, was dedicated to the feelings of the parent and the recognition of these feelings.

The way the workshop is presented and conducted is interactive and experiential. A small group of people, who don’t know each other, enter into a process of expressing feelings through simple activities and role playing. Something magical happens during this process; emotions come out effortlessly and it all seems to flow so naturally.

On the second day, in the same experiential way, we learned tools and techniques that can be used to handle life’s situations but, most importantly, to handle one’s own feelings, thus avoiding being trapped by them. In so doing, we gain a more meaningful relationship with our family.

Needless to say, everything we learned in this seminar can be used in all our relationships since communication is universal.

The workshop is extraordinary and not tiring at all. By participating, you will find yourself as well as those pieces of yourself that may have gotten a little lost along the way. Don’t worry, it’s normal. It happens to the best of us and can be corrected with willpower and effort.

I don’t wish to thoroughly analyze this workshop because I know that i would not do it justice!  It is best to participate with a clear mind, without knowing what will happen next, so that you experience the full impact of the workshop, absorbing what you learn and owning it!

Feel free to ask me anything by commenting or messaging me. I will try to make a video on my YouTube channel analyzing at least one of the many techniques I learned. If you’re interested in something like that, don’t forget to send your comments. It is the meaningful things we need to share!