Sacred Heart Villa’s administration is working on a five-year Christian parenting initiative. The Villa wants to partner with parents and caregivers to nurture family faith. Research done in the past twenty years has affirmed the role of parents and families as the most significant influence on the religious and spiritual development of children. We are working with someone outside of our school who is submitting a grant to help us with this proposed plan.
Kris Doder, our executive director, has invited our parents to share their thoughts, ideas, and questions on Christian parenting. She asked the parents how the Villa staff can support Christian parenting and caregiving in the home or in a small family network. Parents were encouraged to email their ideas to Kris. At our parent meeting on January 19th, parents sat at circle tables and contributed to a conversation about Christian parenting. Each table created a list of challenging parent topics that they need help with or could benefit from using available resources. All this feedback will help the Villa in planning resources, speakers, activities, and workshops that would be beneficial in supporting the needs of our young families. The spiritual and religious formation of young parents will have significant influence on their children’s faith and values. We hope we can help families learn, adapt, and embrace time-honored practices to share their Christian faith and values with their children. If you have some suggestions or were not present at last week’s meeting and wish to offer your input, you can email Kris at kdoder@sacredheartvilla.org . By supporting Christian parents and caregivers, who are role models for their children, we hope to enhance the parents’ positive relationships with their children.