The Institute for Professional Parenting offers The Miracle Child Parenting Series, a parenting class developed by the creator of the Causal Theory, Dr. Faye Snyder, psychotherapist and author. This eight-week series is intended for parents, family members, caregivers and non-parents who want to learn more about personality development, and healing from childhood pain. Our classes provide therapists with 16 continuing education units (CEUs) and fulfill the requirement of court-ordered parent education.

Classes are taught by our expert team of therapists, interns, and coaches at our two locations in Valencia and West Los Angeles. This parenting series is not specific to any religious or cultural background and can enrich the parenting skills of any parent.

The Miracle Child Parenting Series is dedicated to the development of healthier, happier, smarter, and more compassionate children by heightening and fine-tuning parental awareness. Parenting is the most important profession there is, and most of us don’t realize our power to heal the world by healing ourselves and our children. The way in which we parent our children sets them up for success or struggle.

To register and pay for classes or to purchase class materials click here

Week 1: HOW TO MAKE A PERSONALITY
We begin by introducing The Miracle Child Parenting Series as an approach to preventive psychology. We provide an overview of the field of psychology and parenting philosophies that have contributed to (and sometimes detracted from) the knowledge we have today. We provide the necessary ingredients for a healthy childhood, which are discussed in depth in the classes that follow. This iincludes a discussion and understanding of the four main causes of pathology: abandonment, neglect, abuse, and emotional repression.

Week 2: PREVENTIVE DIAGNOSIS
We continue our approach by looking at personality disorders and considering how they were inadvertently created by well-intentioned parents. The goal of this lecture is to introduce, in detail, how specific unhealthy parenting techniques lead to unhealthy personalities and to discuss how to prevent such disorders from developing. We believe that by teaching parents how personality disorders are created, they will understand the results of their actions and participate in corrective techniques. This class is also designed to inspire collective social responsibility for all children so we may take stronger measures to solve the problems leading to anti-social and criminal behavior.

Week 3: HEALING
In this class we teach about the psycho-spiritual process of healing, which occurs in an environment of love, support, empathy, and understanding. As parents, our job of healing is twofold. First is self-awareness; we teach that healing our own childhood prevents us from reenacting it with our children. This requires courage and surrender to the healing process. Secondly, we teach how to heal our children by cultivating a love of truth and having faith in our remarkable physiological design to learn from our mistakes and self-correct.

Week 4: STAGES AND AGES
This class outlines levels of reasonable expectations during childhood development . Children have varying physical, mental, and emotional needs at various stages and ages. It provides an overview of childhood developmental stages from birth through adolescence and how parents can best help their children through these stages. Among topics discussed are bonding, attachment, separation, potty training, tantrums, and the formation of identity and later courtship.

Week 5: IMPRINTING
The causes of behavior discussed in this lecture reflect back on developmental stages from Week 4 and introduce the concept of imprinting, a profound yet simple concept: What goes in must come out; what doesn’t go in can’t come out. Imprinting is completely unique to each child, with no two children imprinting the same experiences, not even in the same family. Imprinting accounts for fundamental uniqueness in personality, behavior, attitudes, and often, beliefs. We learn to see clearly that the root of our child’s actions is most often our own actions, especially those directed toward our child.

Week 6: FAITH PARENTING
In Faith Parenting, we learn how to relax and let the child be curious, explore, solve problems, and learn from her mistakes. Faith in our children is an important aspect of our theory of childrearing, based on the premise that all children are born good and that our belief in them is necessary for them to flourish. We also learn the necessary boundaries and limits that will provide security and protection.

Week 7: DISCIPLINE
Our discipline class provides the foundation for effective and appropriate cause and effect discipline, using natural consequences. When you presume that your child was born good and you raise him in a state of faith, very little discipline is necessary other than setting and enforcing limits. We teach parents how to discipline to provide guidance, and how to correct out-moded or ineffective methods of discipline.

Week 8: RELATIONSHIPS (& GRADUATION)
The relationship between parents is the prototype for all relationships and what children emulate. There are significant dysfunctional concepts which permeate our society that can lead to difficult and hurtful human interactions. Conversely, there are principles which give life to relationships and facilitate clear, truthful communication. Relationship skills, or the lack of them, show up on the playground, in the classroom, at home, and at work. Modeling relationship skills for your child will help him interact with his world in a healthy, rewarding manner.