On a beautiful Saturday this past weekend scores of Latino families turned out at the East Lake library in Minneapolis for an afternoon of MediaWise activities from our early childhood program: through-u: Families are MediaWise®.

In the parent discussion group that I led there was one main question from parents: “What can I do with my children when they are young to help them be successful in school later on?”

The Say Yes to No and through-u recipe for success made a lot of sense to these parents:

            Þ Limit media.

            Þ Read and talk with babies and toddlers.

            Þ Establish a secure connection with babies.

            Þ Teach young children self discipline through limits and consequences.

            Þ Use No as a parenting strategy.

These parents were fired up and still talking parenting strategies with each other in the parking lot an hour later.   Do you have a pre-schooler?  What Say Yes to No strategy can you share with other parents?

David Walsh