Speaking and Training

I am currently booking 2018 speaking engagements for the following topics:

Teaching Our Children How to be Happy in a Society That Works Against Happiness

Happiness is a birthright. Unfortunately, the society in which we live trains our children how to form “sinking-thinking” habits that lead to unhappiness. There is a constant, streaming bombardment of “Bad News.” Young girls are encouraged to find power in sexuality, suffering, and entitlement. Addictive behavior is sensationalized and glamorized. Many in the media promote lying, deception, and revenge as profitable. There are even messages teaching how to get away with murder.

Where are the messages regarding the incredible power of choice, personal responsibility, and accountability? Why isn’t every growing child told that re responsible for their own happiness?

This presentation empowers parents with crucial parenting skills that will neutralize the negative impact that society has on our children.

This engagement will teach parents:

The immense power of thought.
The Seven “Happiness” Thought habits that are easy for our children to form, and will lead them to live an empowered life where they believe in and chase their dreams, as they grow into amazing world-changers.
Strategies on how to convey important messages to your children. All to often, we parents get bogged down in words, which are oftentimes tuned-out by our children. If we want our children to “hear” us, we have to be more creative. Metaphors, story-telling, and shared activities are powerful methods that are well received by our children.

Technology and Social Media is the New Neighborhood; Teaching our Children How to Safely Cross the Modern Street

After spending 17 years of my career in healthcare information technology — one the most sensitive industries in regards to privacy — I have become acutely aware of how information is shared, and how it can be exploited. Technology is advancing too fast for parents to keep up with it all. Our children, on the other hand, have no problem staying current on using technology, but they are completely unaware of the “life-altering” risks when technology is not used properly.

Our children are exposed to technology on a daily basis by their peers. In most cases, the intention is innocent. They are taught how to utilize new functionality in social media, technology and phone applications as a means of social interaction.

The problem is that the line between safe usage and dangerous usage of these modern, social tools is non-existent, cloaked by hard-to-locate settings that determine the technology’s behavior. But, there is hope. Parents can take control, and protect their children, while at the same time allowing them to safely experience social interaction and personal development in these modern times.

This engagement will teach parents:

“Modern” conversations that we need to have with our children regarding social media and technology. This is equivalent to the “look both ways before you cross the street” conversations my parents had with me when I was a child. There are new topics that parents need to discuss with their children; topics that did not exist when today’s parents were children. Believe it or not, even Emojis is a conversation to have with your children.
The vulnerabilities that our children unknowingly face.
Basic technology settings that will put up a safety net for your children, and prevent them from wandering into the unknown.
Applications, some seemingly harmless, that are potential danger-zones.
Helpful applications designed to help parents gain visibility into the “virtual, technology neighborhood” in which their children “play.”

Effective Dad-Skills for Raising Daughters

I believe men and women are equal in their ability to raise daughters or sons. I differ from my ancestors. I don’t spend all day chopping down trees for building materials and warmth or hunting bison while my family stays home. I am pretty sure I would suck at hunting bison. We live in a different time. The traditional gender lines and parenting roles are disintegrating. More women are working, and more fathers are willing to raise their children

This swing in parenting towards gender equality does not come without some growing pains. Much of this “engaged parenting” is new for fathers, especially for fathers of daughters. I was the least likely candidate to be a father of daughters. I was one of 4 sons, yet here I am, raising 3 daughters for the past 19 years.

This engagement will teach fathers:

How to gain the “trust” from other parents. For most of my daughters’ lives, I have been single and the primary parent. This is not common, and as a result, there were certain social mores that I encountered and overcame.
How to effectively interact with doctors, counselors, teachers and other influencers in your daughter’s life.
The art of emotionally connecting with your daughter.
“Dad” skills, or how to locate external resources that can assist with clothes, style, menstrual cycles, shopping for bras, and other unfamiliar topics.
How to teach your daughter to set boundaries, and stave off the messages from society that female power is in sexuality.