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If you want to become a better dancer, you take dance classes. Want to improve your moves on the basketball court? You’ve got to be consistent with practice to get those reps in at the free-throw line or from behind the arc.

Dancers and basketball players aren’t bad at dancing or playing ball, but they take classes or hit the gym regularly because they want to be better at something that’s important to them.

That’s the philosophy behind Positive Parenting Program – Triple P, as Kimiko Williams calls it.

Williams is a public health educator in Franklin County who administers Triple P in the four-county area.

She wants to break the stigma that the people who take parenting classes must be “bad” parents.

Triple P is for those who want to become even better parents.

She spoke with WIZS’s Steve Lewis on Thursday’s segment of The Local Skinny! and shared program goals and how parents can participate.

The Middle “P” in Triple P stands for parenting, and Williams said the program is designed for people who are in a parenting role – you don’t have to be a child’s biological parent.

“It’s for anyone who wants to help better understand how to work on behavioral issues with children,” Williams explained. Maybe you’re a grandparent who is raising grandchildren. Or perhaps you’re the guardian of a niece or nephew. Whatever the relationship, Triple P can help grownups come up with a set of tools, tips and strategies to de-escalate undesirable behaviors or to keep them from arising in the first place.

“Triple P is designed to help families figure out ways to discipline, enforce discipline,” Williams said. It helps people identify and understand which ways are useful for their own set of circumstances “to allow families to have a healthy loving environment.”

The Triple P concept began in the late 1970’s in Australia and later made its way to the U.S. Researchers worked with families in individual training sessions, making home visits and then offering suggestions for addressing particular problem behavior areas.

It’s all about working with families on ways to manage their child’s behavior effectively and confidently, she said.

“We all want children to grow to be healthy, well -rounded people,” Williams said. “The goal is to do it in a way that we’re not threatening our children, that we feel comfortable and confident as a parent…making sure that we’re raising them in a way that is conducive to that particular family.”

Consistency is a key component, she explained. So is understanding about natural development. She wants to make sure that parents have realistic expectations of their children, too.

Parenting can be a lot – with work, home and all the day-to-day things, it can be overwhelming.

Triple P helps parents realize that parenting isn’t an impossible task and works to break down the problem to figure out what’s triggering the issue.

“If you want them to be respectful, you have to teach them,” Williams said. “Children are not born knowing what to do.”

It may take some time – more than once, twice, three times or more – for children to understand what it is you need and require of them.

Triple P helps parents manage those certain situations without becoming overwhelmed…having a specific strategy or strategies can help a parent remain calm and help them to think through the situation before it even happens, she added.

Want to learn more about being a participant or about becoming a Triple P practitioner? Contact Williams at 919.496.2533 ext 2335 or klwilliams@franklincountync.gov.

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