Parenting is a sacred duty, and parents need help in carrying it out.Such is the basic philosophy behind a new parenting organisation thought up by a local doctor.After hearing about all the recent violence in the community, Cheryl Peek-Ball decided that more needed to be done to help parents raise their children to be productive citizens.She launched a new group, Conscious Parenting Movement. Two parenting lectures are planned for this month.“In the middle of December there was a violent event in the community,” said Dr Peek-Ball. “In the last month the level of community violence has escalated, and I felt angry about that. This was unacceptable for our community. I had been thinking of starting the Conscious Parenting Movement for awhile, because we have to address this. There are ways of addressing the symptoms which is the violence and ways of dealing with the root cause. I think that lack of education and opportunity is a real root cause of what we are seeing in our community.”The Conscious Parenting Movement is an initiative put together by a handful of community members. It reflects their desire to share parenting wisdom, insights and specific skills with other families in Bermuda.“This is a time when our community urgently needs this,” said Dr Peek-Ball. “All this originated in my head, but I can already tell that other people are on the same wave length because many people have come up and offered to assist. Clearly, it is an idea that is widespread. The idea is that parents need help, because the challenges of this century and even the last century were so great. There are lots of parenting resources but not enough, obviously. So this is one more.”Dr Peek-Ball is senior medical officer at the Health Department. The Conscious Parenting Movement is a personal project.“I am not a parenting expert, my background is in health,” she said. “However, because I am in health, I do have a lot of access to people who are experts.”The first lecture will be called ‘Why We Must Educate Our Children’ and will be given by professor Booker Peek of Oberlin College in Ohio. The second will be given by Bermudian Melodye Van Putten on the Ashay programme.“The Ashay programme provides some historical context for teaching children of colour, and really all children, about the glorious history that is to be learned from the African continent,” said Dr Peek-Ball. “It gives a sense of personal and ethnic pride. It is one of the many things that make children aspire for great things, to know that their forefathers did great things.“Our first two talks are focusing on education, which is one of the core determinants of well being in life and health. What I am hoping from there is that I will be able to invite other knowledgeable speakers within our community. I think most parents take education seriously, but taking it seriously theoretically and taking it seriously on a day-by-day, moment-by-moment basis is a different matter.Do we turn off the television? Do we monitor them adequately? Do we spend time reading with them every single day? Do we watch what they eat?”She hopes that this movement will spread from Bermuda to other countries, and therefore have an effect worldwide.“I want to encourage people to think of parenting as a sacred job that you need to be prepared for, and need support for,” she said. “It is so people approach parenthood with the right spirit and expectation. Luckily, there is so much to get inspiration from there are a lot of spiritual traditions that people can get their parenting wisdom; there are a lot of psychological education literature. We should use all of that to help us. That is what Conscious Parenting Movement is about.”Dr Peek-Ball and her husband, Anthony, have two grown daughters Kelsey, 21 and Chloe, 25.“Chloe is an educator who is studying to [work in] elementary school education,” said Dr Peek-Ball. “The other one is in her senior year in college. It was the most defining relationship in my life. That is what I most identify with being a mother. I was blessed with a lot of resources. I have a wonderful husband, Anthony Ball, who is a teacher.“I had two parents who are incredibly supportive and Anthony also has two parents who are incredibly supportive. We had resources. We still have them. In my personal experience the most challenging stage was in their late teens when they were asserting their independence.”She said these were difficult times for her, because it marked the period where she had to start to let go and let them lead their own lives.“I had the support for them when they were little,” she said. “They were planned children, and I was excited and things unfolded as I expected. I was in control, but there comes a point when they assert their own personalities. Sometimes, it comes against what you were planning for them.“It was about learning how to back off as a parent and to have faith that they will use what you have taught them, and the values you have given them. Parents don’t just need parenting support in the early years, they need it right the way through. It doesn’t get any easier when they go to middle school, which is difficult socially and can be difficult educationally.”Future talks will focus on planned parenthood and the early months of parenting. It will touch on topics such as breastfeeding.“With conscious parenting, the expectation is that you won’t become a parent until you are at least prepared emotionally with resources to parent,” said Dr Peek-Ball. “You need to take the job extremely seriously and get the support you need from the community, and from your family to do the job.“Becoming a parent by accident happens more than 54 percent of the time in North America. I work at the Department of Health and we have done some informal surveys and found our numbers are more like 80 percent of the time pregnancies are unintended. That right there puts you behind the eight-ball.”The Conscious Parenting Movement also hopes to set up a mentoring programme between more experienced parents and new parents just coming into the fold.‘Why We Must Educate Our Children’ will be held on January 15 from 5pm to 6.30pm at the Baha’i National Centre on Brunswick Street. The Ashay programme lecture will be held on January 22 from 5pm to 6.30pm in the same location. Both events are free. Refreshments and a children’s play area will be provided.Contact Dr Peek-Ball for more information on 293-2517 or cepeekball[AT]gov.bm.