PARENTS ANONYMOUS Raising a child in the 21st century

You have a stubborn son who always creates troubles, and makes you a regular visitor at the principal’s office. He gives you headaches. How do you handle him? Whip him?
.
Think again. There are supporters out there that you can turn to. Consider Parents Anonymous.
.
“This is similar to Alcoholics Anonymous except that Parents Anonymous deals with family problems especially those that involve children,” says Ray Austin, chairman of the CNMI Chapter of Parents Anonymous.
.
Parents Anonymous, according to Austin, is not only for parents having troubles with their children; it’s also for children having troubles with their parents.
.
“If a parent has to be sent to court because of child neglect or child abuse, that parent could instead be referred to Parent Anonymous where he or she could be given some counseling,” says Austin.
.
Parents Anonymous Inc., the oldest child-abuse prevention movement in the United States, was founded in California in 1970. The organization has since branched out to 30 states, and spreading to the Pacific region.
.
The CNMI Chapter of Parents Anonymous is scheduled to be launched next month, according to Austin.
.
“We are in the planning stage. We have a steering committee with 12 members, and we are seeking sites for our weekly meetings,” Austin says.
.
Parents Anonymous is a non-profit organization that promotes common sense parenting. It is “dedicated to strengthening families through innovative strategies that promote mutual support and parent leadership,” Austin says.
.
Aside from community volunteers, Austin says, the local chapter of the organization is being supported by social workers from the Division of Youth Services and other related government agencies. The group is open to adults and high school students.
.
“If a parent is about ready to hit his or her child for some reasons, try to control the impulse. Parents Anonymous can offer them support. The group has professional counselors that can offer some counseling,” says Austin.
.
Austin says he and his co-organizers have seen the need to introduce the movement in the CNMI, which has been witnessing a constant increase in cases of child abuse.
.
“Child abuse has to stop. Saipan need to get into the twenty-first century way of thinking, and get out of the jungle-age thinking,” Austin says.