Ages 5-16 · Jerauld County, SD county · Book 4, Discernment

Parenting Workshops — Jerauld County, SD

Jerauld County is one of 66 counties in South Dakota. Libraries here are already the place families ask about screens, and they are almost never given anything to hand over.

An evening that sends parents home with a question and an inventory rather than a list of apps to ban.

The book behind it

Ellis Abel and the Two Wolves Within

“Choose what you feed within.”

Notice what shapes your inner world.
Awareness makes choice possible.
Feed the thoughts that strengthen you.

Ellis Abel is a character series. Volume 4 carries the value discernment, and the story does the teaching. There is no doctrine in it and nothing for a family to opt out of, which is why it runs in Jerauld County, SD in public schools, libraries, clubs and living rooms without changing a word.

Read about Ellis Abel and the Two Wolves Within · The whole series

Five sessions in Jerauld County

Session 1
Read one chapter, no questions the first night
Session 2
Second night, ask what part they would change and why
Session 3
Third night, tell them a time you got this wrong yourself
Session 4
Fourth night, they pick the family's one step for the week
Session 5
Fifth night, come back to it and say out loud what changed

What Jerauld County, SD leaders ask first

Is parenting workshops in Jerauld County, SD a religious program?

No. Ellis Abel is a character series. Each volume carries one named core value — this one is discernment — and the story does the teaching. There is no doctrine in it, nothing to opt out of, and it is used in public schools, libraries and secular programs as readily as anywhere else.

What ages does this work for?

Ages 5-16. The story is read aloud, so a child who cannot read yet is fully in it, and the discussion prompts are written in two bands so one adult can hold a mixed-age room.

What does a Jerauld County, SD program need to run this?

A room, an adult, and thirty minutes. No kit, no screen, no prep beyond reading the page before the children arrive.

Can we run it as a drop-in rather than a series?

Yes. Each session stands alone, and the arc is stronger if they come back, but nothing breaks if a child only ever comes once.

How a session actually runs in Jerauld County

Step 1
Two voices, named out loud
The story gives a child a way to talk about their own inner argument without having to admit anything embarrassing. Children in Jerauld County, SD will describe the harsh voice in detail once it belongs to a story rather than to them.
Step 2
List what actually went in today
Not a lecture about screen time. An honest inventory of one real day — watched, scrolled, played, heard, said, and said to themselves — written down by the child, with the adults doing their own list at the same time.
Step 3
One question, good on any platform
Who made this, and what do they want from me. It works on a video, an ad, a group chat, a game's shop and a chatbot, and it will still work on whatever replaces all of them. That transferability is the point of teaching a question rather than a rule.
Step 4
Change one input, and say which
One thing, chosen by the child, changed before the next session. Not a screen-time limit imposed from above — those are complied with rather than learned. Then come back and ask what changed, without grading the answer.