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In
the beginning: Active
Parenting Publishers (APP) was founded in
1980 by Michael H. Popkin, Ph.D., a former child
& family therapist in Atlanta. “I
thought it would be effective,” recalls
Dr.Popkin, “to use two technologies that
were very new at the time— videocassette
recorders and home computers—to present
parenting education in a whole new way.”
The first three years of the company were devoted
to research and development. Dr. Popkin learned
that computers were still too costly and
cumbersome to be integrated into a parenting
curriculum. (How times have changed!) In the
early 1980s, however, VCRs were spreading like
wildfire.
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1983 First in video: In
June 1983, Active Parenting incorporated and
introduced the Active Parenting Discussion
Program, the world’s first video-based
parenting education program. It was a huge
success. As a result, the company was ranked in
the 242nd spot on the “Inc. 500” list
of fastest growing companies for the five-year
period ending in 1989. “At the 1984 American
Psychological Association conference,” Dr.
Popkin recalls, “Dr. Benjamin Spock stopped
by our booth and watched a few scenes from the
video. He turned to his colleague and said,
‘This is the future.’ It was one of
those great moments that helped me realize all
the work was going to be worth it.”
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1989
The teen years begin: The
popularity of the Active Parenting Discussion
Program soon led to demands for a teen
curriculum. The first program video was hosted by
actor Dick Van Patten, famous for his role as a
loving father on the television drama “Eight
Is Enough.” Active
Parenting of Teens was revised and updated in
1998 to address emerging concerns of parents. |
1980s
Training Leaders: From the
beginning, Active Parenting Publishers has been
committed to providing the best in parenting
education- and that includes training group
leaders. In 1988 the 3-day Training
of Trainers seminars were begun as a way to
increase the number of parenting educators in
communities across the world. Former school
counselor (and avid Active Parenting leader)
Susan Reed, M.Ed., joined Active Parenting in
1990 as Director of Training, and under her
supervision hundreds of Leader
Training Workshops have been held all over
the country.
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1991
Yes-Yes helps children: In 1991
Dr. Popkin and co-author Susan Greathead decided
to use Active Parenting principles for a
character-education program for children called Free
the Horses: A Self-Esteem Adventure. This
curriculum teaches children to pursue their
dreams, develop their talents and build values
such as avoiding negative peer pressure, keeping
a positive attitude and working together. The
children in the video are accompanied by the
always positive mascot Yes-Yes (left). |
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Parenting crosses cultures: In
1998 APP joined forces with Children’s Healthcare of
Atlanta to produce its first Spanish-language
program: ¡1,2,3,4Padres!,
for parents of young children. This was followed
by Padres
Activos de Hoy (for parents of children ages
5 to 12) in 1999. In addition, partnerships in Canada,
Korea, Japan
and Sweden
have helped spread the Active Parenting message
throughout the world. |
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Active
Parenting Publishers enters cyberspace:
ActiveParenting.com was launched in 1997,
providing a wealth of information to educators
and parents (including the very popular online
catalog). Then, in 2001, Active
Parenting greeted the new century with yet
another new approach to parenting education: Active
Parenting Today Online Groups. The online
class provides video, activities and group
discussion, too—but the classes
“meet” via the Internet. |
| 2002 Active
Parenting...Now and in the future:
What better way to celebrate a 20th anniversary
than by thoroughly updating the flagship program?
The new Active
Parenting Now, a revision of 1993’s
Active Parenting Today (itself a
revision of the original Active Parenting
Discussion Program), features all new video,
added discussion of current topics, research
tools and more of what educators have been asking
for. And as part of APP’s ongoing commitment
to keeping up with new technology, Active
Parenting Now is our first program to be
offered on DVD as well as VHS. |
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Reprinted from Leader
magazine.
Copyright 2003 by Active Parenting Publishers, Inc.
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