Virginia Beach City Public Schools’ Parent Connection welcomes Dr. Katharine Kersey, the latest in a series of guest columnists offering insight, research, and commentary on all facets of parenting. This month’s column, The 101’s: A Guide to Positive Discipline – Living the Golden Rule, is available now on the school division Web site, vbschools.com. Dr. Kersey discusses positive discipline practices that parents, caregivers, and teachers can use to build and maintain respectful, loving, and caring relationships with children. She also offers discipline strategies that can be used in common disciplinary situations that keep adults and children connected in mutually respectful ways.

Dr. Katharine Kersey is one of Hampton Roads’ foremost experts on early childhood development and education. She is a professor of Early Childhood Education and chairperson of the Department of Early Childhood, Speech Language Pathology and Special Education at Old Dominion University (ODU). Dr. Kersey is the author of three books on parenting and co-author of a fourth book, The First Year Teacher, which was published by the National Education Association. She has appeared on numerous local and national television programs including CNN and Oprah to discuss parent, child, and family issues. In addition, Dr. Kersey’s interactive CD-Rom, The 101’s: A Guide to Positive Discipline, received three national awards for standards of excellence.

Parent Connection links families to educational materials, workshops, activities,
and community resources which support child development and success. A monthly calendar of events and classes is available on the Parent Connection page of the school division Web site. Parents, grandparents, and citizens who wish to receive Parent Connection information via email can sign up for vbschools x-tra, the division’s online subscription service, or email parent.connection@vbschools.com. For more information about Parent Connection, contact Melissa McQuarrie at 757-263-1936.

###