Nov. 6--DANVILLE -- A local mom and child development expert will offer some advice to parents raising kids in today's fast-paced world.

An inundation of media messages and peer pressure can make kids feel entitled to the latest trends in toys, clothes and electronics and parents unknowingly reciprocate the feeling by making up lost time with extravagant gifts.

The pressure on kids and adults can be a lot to deal with. Parents can find some tips and advice on how to deal with the issue next week at Danville Area Community College.

Ana Nasser, the Danville Area Community College child development center director, said with so much going on in people's lives -- for many at DACC, a full school schedule, coupled with work hours -- finding quality time is hard.

"We want to do a couple things," Nasser said, with the talk.

One is teach parents to communicate effectively and another is having appropriate expectations.

No matter how old their children are, whether preschoolers or teenagers, all children need to know what their parents expectations of them are, she said.

"What expectations we're putting into them and what do we want from them?" she said. "That is our goal as a parent."

Pressures from society sometimes conflict with the values parents want to impart to their kids, she added.

Sometimes out of guilt, parents will buy the latest toy for their kids, but only find out kids don't appreciate it or the work it took to be able to buy something nice.

"They want to follow the trends," she said of kids. "'My friends have it; when am I going to get it.' Parents don't now how to deal with that."

Sometimes kids open the present and have more fun playing with the box it came in, she quipped.

Assisting Nasser with the class will be Emily Kennett. Kennett is a teaching associate who's also a single parent of a young child.

Nasser has taken many classes on child psychology and child development. Most of her education, however, she says, has come from experience

Belinda Dalton-Russell, the DACC associate vice president of student services, said the college is trying to accommodate more students' suggestions for campus seminars.

Surveys from last year indicated many students had an interest in parenting classes for kids of all ages.

"Once they reach the junior high school age," Dalton-Russell said, "parents want more strategies for communicating and building better relationships with their children."

COMING UP

The Danville Area Community College Child Development Center will host a free seminar called "Parenting in the 21st Century" from noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Bremer Conference Center room 110.

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