Session 1 –Welcome to the Terrific TWOs®

Key Concepts

• TWOs are at a magical age, eager to learn and excited about all they already know and can do.
• TWOs are positively motivated in their behavior, and we can help them learn positive ways to get their needs met.

Goals – By the end of this session parents will:

• Understand the Terrific TWOs philosophy.
• Experience a friendly and safe environment where they can feel comfortable sharing their experiences and learning about parenting.
• Agree on group guidelines.
• Learn about normal developmental issues for TWOs.
• Understand that they are learning along with their children and can use this series to explore new ideas and grow as parents.
• See themselves as friendly guides who help their children sort out which behaviors work best, in the larger world and within the family.

Session 2 – Who Are We as Parents and Families?

Key Concept

• Parents are more effective teachers and friendly guides when they have a clear understanding of their own values and their goals for their children.

Goals – By the end of this session parents will:

• Have a clearer understanding of their long-range goals for their child.
• Learn how to encourage learning in their TWO that is consistent with those goals.
• Have a clearer understanding of their values and value conflicts.
• Understand that they are their child’s first and most important teacher, and see this as an opportunity.
• Understand and respect their own parenting style, and make more conscious choices in their parenting.

Session 3 – Who Is Your Child?

Key Concepts

• Each child has a unique combination of temperamental tendencies, which has both strengths and challenges.
• Parents can provide experiences for their TWOs that encourage healthy development in These areas of strengths and challenges.

Goals – By the end of this session parents will:

• Become more aware of and appreciate their children as individuals.
• Think about how their own temperament fits with their TWO’s temperament.
• Understand that each temperamental tendency has strengths as well as challenges.
• Learn how to design experiences that help their children develop confidence and skills in areas of challenge. 

Session 4 – Words That Work

Key Concept

• Parents have a powerful influence on their children’s developing communication skills.

Goals – By the end of this session parents will:

• Understand the power of their words and body language.
• Learn communication tools called “Words That Work” to guide their TWOs.
• Learn ways to encourage TWOs’ language development.

Session 5 – Setting Your Family Up for Success

Key Concept

• Parents can help prepare TWOs for the “game of life” by using family guidelines, developing routines, and being one step ahead of the game.

Goals – By the end of this session parents will:

• Develop a set of basic family guidelines or principles.
• Learn about the value of family patterns and routines.
• Learn how to be one step ahead, and set their families up for success.

Session 6 – TWOs’ Journey to Self-Discipline

Key Concept

• Parents can be their children’s best teachers and guides on the journey to self-discipline.

Goals – By the end of this session parents will:

• View discipline as an opportunity to teach and guide their children.
• Consider their children’s development, individual differences, and their own values when guiding their TWOs.
• Learn how to think through a problem behavior to identify what the parent wants to teach and how to begin.
• Develop learning and teaching plans for what their TWOs “don’t know.”

Session 7 – Strategies for Effective Discipline

Key Concept

• Parents can learn principle-based tools for loving and effective discipline.

Goals – By the end of this session parents will:

• Have tools to use to problem-solve as a family.
• Learn some specific strategies that can help them positively influence their children’s behavior.

 
Session 8 – Upsets and Meltdowns: Theirs and Ours

Key Concepts

• Parents and children have similar reasons for their upsets, yet developmentally, they are very different.
• TWOs need their parents’ help in learning about both their own and others’ emotions.

Goals – By the end of this session parents will:

• Become more aware of their own emotional responses to situations.
• Understand upsets from their child’s point of view.
• Learn ways to prevent and repair upsets.
• See the importance to the family of taking time for emotional refills.

Session 9 – Moving Into the Outside World

Key Concepts

• As their world expands, children will have other influences in addition to their parents.
• Parents can use what they have learned in the series to help their children deal successfully with these outside influences.

Goals – By the end of this session parents will:

• Learn how to communicate their family values to influential people in their children’s lives.
• Be proactive about guns, commercialism, and unsafe people.
• Be a media-wise family and make thoughtful media choices.
• Know how to empower TWOs to eventually handle outside influences on their own.

Session 10 – Celebrating Our Families

Key Concepts

• Play is important to both TWOs and their parents for learning and for adding joy to family life.
• Many of the parenting skills, strategies, and ideas from the Terrific TWOs will last a lifetime.

Goals – By the end of this session parents will:

• Learn about the value of play for both TWOs and adults.
• Share ways to create low cost, low stress family fun, including holiday, seasonal, and daily fun.
• Recognize the progress they have made, the skills they have learned, and the goals they have met over the series.
• Celebrate the completion of the Terrific TWOs program.
• Make future plans, both for their families and for the group.