Gail Root coaches parents: Give children roots and wings

Update, fall 2013:

• Kaid Benfield of the Natural Resources Defense Council published “A City with No Children” in Atlantic Cities, Nov 11, 2013, addressing the situation of how most kids today have far fewer, if any, opportunities to bike, play, and just be outdoors!
• As a writer, my professional work has included the topic of child safety. And on that topic, one of the resources I have long recommended most highly is Protecting the Gift:  Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane) by Gavin DeBecker. DeBecker counsels wisely: Keeping children safe is not a matter of saying “Don’t talk with strangers” and directing children in similar well-intended but harmful ways.
• Gail Root is a local resource I have likewise highly recommended, for 25 years. And now Gail has opened Roots and Wings Parent Coaching, offering services by phone or email as well as in-home.

Gail can help parents sort out the often conflicting, confusing advice heard as they travel the road of parenting. From newborns to adult children, if you have concerns about how to best support kids, Gail welcomes you to contact her.

For parents and others concerned for the well-being of children, teens, and young adults that are specifically bike-related, start here:

• Kids Bike to School [and elsewhere]
• California bike laws and personal safety–with tips for kids
• Bicycle culture and youth
• Bicycling Carmel–Children growing up streetwise
• Safe Routes to School–and elsewhere:  Complete Streets Act
  
• Safe Routes to School resources in Spanish
• Teaching Children Well:  Bike safety and bike tech education
• Salinas youth and others for bikes:  Bikes make life better
  
• Salinas youth lead the way in Monterey County bike community firsts
• The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander
• Children Celebrate Cycling at the Sea Otter Classic
• Back to the books–and bikes (tips mostly geared to older students in Monterey County)
• Race to Nowhere
• Singletrack High

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The below was previously published August 21, 2009

What Do Harlem Children’s Zone and Monterey County’s Parents’ Place Have in Common?

California’s Central Coast public radio station KUSP-Santa Cruz rebroadcast this evening a “This American Life” program about Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone and Paul Tough’s book Whatever It Takes:  Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America.  Click here to listen to the program audio clip.

In Monterey County, CA, parents are similarly supported through Parents’ Place, a program of Pacific Grove Adult School that serves families throughout the entire county.

Replicating these successful programs, which support parents of children ages 0-3 yrs, is one of our wisest social investments.  Geoffrey Canada began his work in 1970, and the documented results of Harlem Children’s Zone are dramatic.  Gail Root founded Parents’ Place in 1988, which has likewise demonstrated the power of parent education and support.

Because the approach of these parent educators seems so basic, it would be easy to minimize their importance.  That would be a huge mistake.  The work of these social leaders, and others like them,  is astoundingly effective and critically needed.

In times of severe budget cuts, these nonprofits need help to continue their life-changing work. To make a donation, visit Friends of Parents’ Place or the Harlem Children’s Zone donation page.