No. 51 Parenting # 1

Facilitator______________
Date___________________

Group Session Plan from FUSN (developed by Bobbie Sproat and Judy Zacek)

Chalice/Candle Lighting

Opening Words:

You get so soft when you get sick.
Your cheeks glisten, the red tinfoil
they wrap poinsettia plants in.

Your body becomes white and limp as dough
that has not been cooked. Your eyes get dark and bright,
maple syrup boiled down.

When you get sick you become an edible thing.
Knocked out with fever as if with sex, you lie on the bed
shining like a long loaf stuck with glazed fruit.

The house seems
to circle around you
slowly. I circle around you, a wild
animal near a fire. I remember
I would kill for you. I remind myself
it won’t be necessary.
Sharon Olds, Portrait of a Daughter

Check-in/Sharing

Topic/Activity:
We have all been parents in one way or another. It is a difficult, often puzzling, and usually trying experience. Generally the relationships we create with our children change us as much as they do them. What has been the most rewarding aspect of your parenting, the most difficult, the most unexpected. Is there any advice that would have helped you?

Select the topic and location for the next meeting

Check-out / Likes and Wishes

Closing Words:

Unconditional love is loving your kids for who they are, not for what they do . . . I don’t mean that we like or accept inappropriate behavior, but with unconditional love we love children even at those times when we dislike their behavior. Unconditional love is not something you will achieve every minute of the day. But it is the thought we must hold in our hearts every day.
Stephanie Marston