Portola Middle School News

Dear Portola Parents,

Wow! Thank you to the 50 of you who showed up for the parent ed. event tonight. The attendance was fantastic and the presenter, Paul Lewis, was fabulous!

Thank you to Ms. Van Hook, for arranging the Title I Funds that paid for the speaker and the childcare, to Sharon Johnson, Portola PTSA Board Secretary, who did all the legwork, to Kara De la Paz for the refreshments, and to Cathy Garza, President, PTABayside Council for recommending Paul to us.

For those of you who missed it, at the end we brainstormed our "Top 8" list of what we most wanted to share with all of you.

Among other things, Paul taught us:

1. It's about power. Your basic adolescent brain feels powerless.
2. We parents need to be flexible in our thinking and use our creativity in our parenting.
3. Ignore the "verbal vomit."
4. Teach our kids to be intellectually independent (don't rush in and bail him/her out at the last minute.)
5. Moods are contagious. Be aware of your own moods.
6. Ask more questions than you make statements. Beware of "Blah, blah, blah!"
7. Mutual respect is important.
8. No matter what, our kids still need us!

His contact info is:
(925) 944-5523
cyberpaul@gmail.com

His website, which has the pages he referred to in his talk tonight is:
www.2veritas.com

The software he recommended for helping control what your kids have access to, online, is "Webwatcher."

The website he recommended with the image of the normal brain vs. drug use brain is www.amenclinic.org

Parents gave this event a "thumbs up," and we plan to invite Paul back to Portola!

Portola Parents Care!

--- Joanna Pace, Portola PTSA President