HIGHLAND PARK : Center to Offer Parenting Classes

The Northeast Community Clinic will begin a free class Thursday that aims to teach parents how to better raise their children.

Eddie Farias, who has taught such courses for 14 years, will conduct the classes from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Thursdays for the next 10 weeks at the Highland Park Family Resource Center, 840 N. Avenue 66.

Parents who have taken his class improve their discipline techniques, communicate better with their children and have even become more active in their children’s education, Farias said. In these families, there is now less yelling and physical punishment and more open communication, he said.

As participants get more comfortable with the class and its doctrine, many times they draw on their experiences to suggest remedies to other parents, he said.

“When I started a group for the first time, a lot of the parents were shy and reserved. It was the first time they were participating in that type of program,” Farias said. “After awhile you start seeing that they got more articulate and they started talking about their personal lives more.

“Now when I go out to different schools, I notice that the parents are the leaders themselves,” Farias said. “They’re out there working with parent groups in their schools.”

Often, parents realize that the methods their own parents used could now be defined as abuse, Farias said.

“I used to hear a lot of horror stories about how parents were abused, emotionally and physically, and you can see that they’re still scarred. It’s still fresh in many cases,” he said.

The group focuses on four points: setting rules about what kind of behavior is acceptable and what duties the child must do around the house; implementing those rules with good supervision; being consistent, and providing an abundance of love and affection.

The classes are sponsored by the Northeast Community Clinic, the Latino Family Preservation Project, El Centro Del Pueblo and the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Information: (818) 403-8080.