Are you looking to start a parenting group?

Being a parent can be a wonderful thing, but it’s a tough job that requires skill and patience. Unlike most things in life that require particular skills, children appear without instructions, and parents have no training. So while most of them might be coping fine, they need to know they’re not the only ones who are dealing with temper tantrums or answering back – and might appreciate a few tips and a little support in their important task.

Parents in your community, whether they’re new mums and dads, or parents of toddlers or teenagers, can often be silently crying out for help. This is a great opportunity for you to reach out.

There are several things you’ll need to consider before you start. One of the things to decide is whether you’re going to run a small, DVD-based group in someone’s home, or a bigger group in a community hall. Here are four recommended resources for you to consider, as you decide which is the best way for you to reach your community.

• The 21st Century Parent DVD from Care for the Family has eight short talks for parents by Rob Parsons including: setting boundaries, the testing child, and the power of acceptance. It also comes with an illustrated helpful hints booklet with notes, discussion questions and ideas for action. This DVD is enormously flexible, as it can be used by individuals, couples, or as a group discussion starter, and is great value at only £12.99. It is ideal for using in parenting workshops in schools.

  Visit www.careforthefamily.org.uk/21cfamily to view a wide range of additional material to support those running a group. You can access planning information, find press releases to enable you to advertise your group in local media! You can also download promotional materials and the user guide for free when you register a group on the website.The helpful hints booklets are also available in packs of ten for £4.99.

   

• Parentplay comes as seven detailed session outlines, containing icebreakers and questions for discussion, as well as a ‘messy play’ activity with the children that concludes each session, and a CD with extra material such as registration forms and weekly handouts.

  There is detailed information on setting up and running the course, but session leaders will need to be prepared to be outgoing enough to get group discussions going. Parenting principles are only outlined briefly, but the ideas for discussion are simple and thought provoking, and illustrate the principles well.

  Great for parents of under fives. Available from the Parentplay website at £19.99

   

• If you would like to run an accredited parenting course, then you may be interested in the parenting courses available from Positive Parenting.

  Positive Parenting are able to run parenting workshops, as well as providing training for parents and professionals to deliver the courses themselves. Undertaking the four day training course equips you to run their wide range of parenting courses, including the basic 'Time Out for Parents' as well as more specialist courses such as 'Time Out for Teenagers'.

   

• Fusion is a universal six-session family skills course, aimed at equipping families and family professionals with skills and strategies to help improve communication within the family unit. The course has six sessions (each session is an hour and a half) and has realistic parenting scenarios on DVD (many featuring parents who went on the original courses), and is designed to be accessible to a wide range of parents. Each course requires two facilitators, it is very helpful if they attend the one-day training course as this gives training specific to leading The Fusion Programme. www.betterparents.co.uk

   

All these resources can be used in any setting, and are equally suitable for use in both church and community groups.

Last Updated 25 November 2009