In order to ensure the success of your first meeting, you might want to have a pre-meeting. This pre-meeting can be a short phone call just to prepare the parent for the first meeting where you’d want to clarify:

• Expectations of parent to meet with you for 8 weeks;
• The need for parent to work on assignments and personalized parenting action plan;
• That this program uses a heart-based approach as opposed to the reward-punishment model;
• Filling out the Coaching Agreement and Release of Information Form;
• Filling out the Child Behaviour Inventory;
• Getting set up on BPU 301P;
• Watching the Welcome and Week 1 videos in BPU 301P.

An often asked question by parents is, "How do I explain to my child why I'm doing this with him and not with others in the family?"
Here's a suggested answer you might give to the parent to share with the child.

You are ___ years old and you're doing well in a number of areas of your life, such as _________, ________, and ___________. I've noticed that a challenging area you sometimes experience has to do with ___________________. I know you'll want to overcome that challenge as you're maturing and growing. I'll be working with each of your siblings on areas they need to grow in. But this one area is especially important for you. It will help you to be a better student, a better team mate, and eventually a better employee or employer. It will even help you in your own family someday as you are a father or husband. I'm eager to help you be successful so I'm looking for strategies to equip you. This is going to be great. It will take work but, in the end, you'll be stronger. And, likely you'll be able to help others in this family and outside of this family as well. So, that's why I am partnering with you to work on this particular area in your life over the next several weeks.