One Year's Supply of P.E.T. Vitamins Delivered!
Dear readers, today I celebrate a year's worth of posts -- all 47 of them!
With the hefty gratitude of a new blogger, I want to thank Gordon Training International for sharing quite a few of them on their Facebook page and on Linked In. I also appreciate others spreading the word and joining my mailing list.
And the blog wouldn't exist without the permission and generosity of my family!
My husband and three children (in case you don't know, I use pseudonyms for them) have been willing to share the goings-on here because they see the value in openly learning from dilemmas that are not so different from other families. Thank you for your proofreading, feedback and support!
It's been therapeutic and given me greater clarity as an instructor to turn a P.E.T. eye onto things like:
- My own mess-ups: tantrums (mine); summer camp grief; homework; reading & Mandarin; zero holiday spirit; and internet safety
- Little kid stuff: P.E.T. with the under 5s; how to confront wee ones; teaching congruence even at an early age; answering "Who do you love more -- me or the baby?"
- GUILT -- I had to let that one simmer a long time
- My "easy child" who absorbed so many unintended lessons & beliefs
- Sibling strife
- That incendiary issue: gaming
And, hearteningly, many have written in to describe benefits they are deriving too:
“I so love your blog. As a P.E.T. instructor in South Africa I can so relate . . . Once again you were my inner voice today with your ‘she makes it look so easy.’ Even though I often experience a lot of ‘failures’ in my personal relationships, I am not where I used to be. Thank you for your Vitamins, I take them repeatedly every week. Think of it as ‘taking care of the caregiver.’”
“The needs versus solutions aspect of this case was eye-opening for me, a great learning. And the incident — not having an updated iphone — was so everyday that it makes me aware that any interaction is an opportunity to grow & connect. Gotta start P.E.T.”
“Had a rough morning today with intense feelings of resentment toward my children as I cleaned and served and made lunches and my request for help went unanswered. Gave a heartfelt lecture in the car (I know it’s a big roadblock). My daughter left the car for school silent. As soon as she shut the door, mysteriously my iPhone began playing over Bluetooth ‘I Won’t Give Up’ - took just a few moments of listening and the tears are still flowing...not just because good parenting is so damn hard, but I feel your love and support with me 7,000 miles away. ”
“You really inspire me with your honesty and humility. I cried as I read this post . . . I could so feel the pain of the memory remembered for both you and Martin. Your kids are blessed to have you as their mum! It’s a joy to see how united your family now is and how you are pouring out into the community from your experiences. Thank you and bless you for taking the time to blog and run courses!”
“I’m so impressed with how you identify Gordon’s skills and relate them to real life, everyday, modern examples covering a large age span. I am in awe of how you relate the theory to the practice and then strengthen them with the most appropriate and meaningful quotes and logic from his books. I’ve been referring your blog to friends including past course participants.
Your blog comes at a very timely moment for me as it’s been over a year since I taught P.E.T. . . When one is not doing classes, and has several decades of wrong habits, it is easy to fall back into the old ways. . . . I hope you keep all your examples in the archives somewhere and don’t delete them! Thank you so much for this inspiring blog.”
“Thank you for your openness, honesty, and humility. I liked the way you were able to discuss the interaction with your son in terms of the P.E.T. skills. Similarly, I’ve found it useful to be able to name the skills with my children, to help repair our relationship. I sincerely appreciate your reflections on your family life as you put the P.E.T. skills into practice, and the way you contrast pre- and post- P.E.T outcomes. And thank you to your family for allowing their stories to be told, so that we can learn from your lived experience. ”
A few years ago, I read Debbie Ford's The Dark Side of the Light Chasers. She shares David Simon's words on the concept of dharma:
[D]harma, or purpose, holds that there are no spare parts in the universe. Each of us enters the world with a unique perspective and set of talents . . . When we are living in dharma, we are in service to ourselves and to those affected by our choices. We know we are in dharma when we cannot think of anything else we would rather be doing with our life.
-- Page 174 (emphasis added)
In her last chapter, Ford encourages readers to create a mission statement, "an affirmation of who you want to be in the future."
I wrote this for myself:
And that's what I'm doing as a P.E.T. instructor and joyous blogger. Thank you for celebrating this first anniversary with me!
Wishing you peace in parenting,
Catherine
I would be remiss if I didn't include these two professional endorsements. I so appreciate them, Michelle and Kathryn!
“We love sharing Catherine’s Blog ‘P.E.T. Vitamins’ on our website as well as on our social networks—her personal stories about how she utilizes the P.E.T. skills in her life are inspiring and very helpful to our readers. Her writing is rich, captivating and full of passion.”
“Catherine Banson’s ‘P.E.T. Vitamins’ blog does what it says. Parents reading it are invigorated, inspired, skilled-up, and above all given hope that happy, harmonious and effective parenting is possible. Catherine bravely shares her current real life parenting stories, her challenges, reflections and turn arounds in witty, insightful and easy to read style.
Catherine’s goal is not to patronise nor make parents feel guilty, instead she practically shows how she has introduced to her family Parent Effectiveness Training, a time tested skill-based methodology of effective communication tools that produces loving, close relationships. With 35 years of experience in this method and as an Instructor trainer to Catherine I can vouch for her expertise, passion and sincere desire to support other parents in their parenting journey. Bravo Catherine for ‘P.E.T. Vitamins’. Effectiveness Training Institute of Australia (ETIA Ltd) wholeheartedly endorses your work.”
