Turnaround Moments

In the StandUp Parenting Program, a Turnaround Moment for a parent is when a parent realizes that an action they took resulted in a real and lasting change in their own behavior, attitude, or actions to help influence a change in their child’s behavior, attitude or actions…  It could be an action or behavior that helped begin to rebuild a relationship or their own belief in their efforts to do the right thing for their family through the  StandUp Program.

The small changes we make build up to make us stronger, but we don’t always recognize the changes when we’re making small changes each week.  When we start out in the group, we recognize that we need to make changes in our own behavior and how we act and react in order to influence changes in our kids.  We begin to make changes week after week and the progress sometimes seems slow.

We keep going because we begin to feel better about ourselves and our families, and we’re encouraged by changes we see other parents making and that gives us hope.  We sometimes find that other parents in the group recognize our changes and our ‘A ha!” moments before we do.

We encourage each other in our support calls and in the group, but we don’t often stop to celebrate or recognize how significant those small changes are in rebuilding our families. Think about some changes you’ve made and see how they really are a “turnaround moment” when they begin to become second nature to you.  A Turnaround Moment is an action you took that you feel resulted in a change in you or may have influenced a change in your child.

Share briefly in a sentence or phrase, one of your own turnaround moments – ‘when I stopped handing out money’ – ‘I walked away instead of arguing’ – ‘When I invited a group member to meet with the school counselor with me’ – ‘when I  sincerely stopped responding with sarcasm and saw my responses were hurting and not helping’ Encourage parents around you to tell their stories to new members WHEN THE TIME is right to encourage parents with hope that they can rebuild their family.