The greatest reward parents can give their children is verbal praise, an early childhood and parent trainer said Thursday at a parenting workshop for faculty and staff.

That was part of the advice passed on by DeVonna Wicks, who gave a presentation titled “Developing Responsible and Independent Children.” The “Lunch and Learn” event was a part of the Child Care Network, which is a pilot program through Camp Fire USA.

Wicks discussed parenting skills from disciplining to teaching responsibility skills. She said it was important to redirect children’s negative behavior in a positive way.

“We want to teach our children to make good choices for the sake of making good choices,” she said.

The event was open to all university faculty and staff.

Financial Services employee Bridget Ledesma, who has three children ranging in age from 7 to 18 years, said she thought the presentation was more beneficial to parents with toddlers.

“I don’t know if I necessarily learned anything new,” Ledesma said. “It was more of a reinforcement.”

Future parents Matthew and Lindsey Millns said they found the information extremely helpful. Matthew Millns was one of the only fathers in attendance.

“It’s nice to have both spouses come in to a lot of training that we do because communication isn’t always great at home8212;we forget things,” he said.

Wicks said she had given parenting presentations for more than eight years. Thursday’s seminar defined many terms that relate to parenthood and raising children, including the “Seven R’s of Responsibility.”

Camp Fire USA and the university began their partnership in April to help faculty and staff find child care. For information on other upcoming events, call the human resources office at 817-257-7979.