Let’s be honest. What parent couldn’t use some sound advice from time to time? Regardless if your child is a newborn or a full-grown adult, it’s important to have strong resources to help us through the parenting journey.
Nearly one year ago, AdventHealth launched ParentCare, a program dedicated to offering free, trusted advice and personal answers from expert parenting coaches. The program not only connects parents to experts, but also to other parents within the community who might be facing the same joys and challenges of raising children and maintaining strong relationships as kids age.
As part of the ParentCare program, AdventHealth offers Coffee Talks, which are free, virtual events covering various parenting topics such as developmental milestones, family nutrition, care tips for new moms and parenting adult kids to name a few.
Tricia Rausch, RN, with AdventHealth Shawnee Mission is one of the experts who participates in the Coffee Talks and reaches out to parents after the events to gain valuable feedback.
Rausch was part of the most recent Coffee Talk focused on adult children. She found that participants felt the information was very helpful and have asked for more resources regarding that age group.
“This phase of parenting does not get near the attention it should,” said Rausch. “Nobody is talking about the emotions we go through when our children don’t need us as much. We had a good discussion about our feelings as well as the importance of letting them make their own decisions even though those decisions may lead to setbacks and heartache, which is tough to watch as a parent.”
Although the ParentCare Coffee Talks are fairly new, AdventHealth experts see lots of potential for the program in 2023. They plan to continue Coffee Talks in the same format, but want to record the sessions to share online and through social media. They are also looking at community partnerships for live events and plan to include events at schools as part of their community benefit program.
“We spent most of our first year marketing ParentCare and communicating what it’s about,” said Rausch. “Our hope is that our second year will be focused on building community and providing more resources for Kansas City area families.”
The topic for the next ParentCare Coffee Talk is Engaging with Your Grandkids: Creative Ways to Connect In-Person and Long Distance. The event is scheduled for Wednesday, November 16 from 7 to 8 pm. To register or learn more, click here.
