Parenting Children course

Someone once said, 'Before I was married I had six theories about bringing up children. Now I have six children and no theories.' Parenting is a skill. Few are trained for it in any way apart from their own experience of being parented. As more adults carry the scars of dysfunctional family backgrounds into their own marriages, the need for training is becoming more apparent.

Mark and Lindsay Melluish, based at St Paul's Church, Ealing put together the Parenting Children course which has been published, along with the Parenting Teenage course, under the Family Time banner.

The material has also been produced as a book for parents to read for themselves, but attending a course
is a wonderful opportunity for parents to connect with other parents facing similar issues and for friendship and support groups to develop.

Family Time courses also present churches with opportunities to build bridges into local communities and meet parents at their time of need. They're ideal for use in your local church but they could go equally well in a school, community centre or in a home - anywhere a group of parents can gather.

The aim is to empower parents to move from simply surviving family life to being proactive in leading families that are strong and healthy - families that seek to make a difference in the communities where they live. Family Time is based on Christian principles and aims to equip and envision every parent, whether Christian or not, to deal with the many issues they come up against in family life.

Course materials

The course is designed to last for six sessions. Familiarise yourself with the material by reading the Parenting Children book.

Each guest will need a copy of the course handbook. It contains notes for each session, exercises, and suggestions for 'taking it further' at home with their partner.

There are also session notes and PowerPoint presentations available for download, publicity posters and invites plus a set of DVDs which cover the sessions that you can use to help prepare the material to present yourself or to play to the group all available via the web site www.new-wine.org/free-media/family-time.

Course format
The course has six sessions.Each session has a certain amount of material presented from the front, a variety of exercises for people to do individually or in pairs, a discussion time and a crucial, social time when people can get to know one another and share stories.


Babysitting

A lack of babysitters can be a real hindrance to parents doing the course and ideally you want both parents to attend the course together. If the church can offer babysitters (be aware of the need for CRB checks) that may be the deciding factor as to whether people come or not.

On-going support
Encourage parents to link up and support one another - this often happens naturally as people make new frinds on the course. Groups may organise informal evenings together after the course finishes, but you might consider arranging a course reunion about three months after you finish.

You may become aware of specific support that the church can offer some families. It is also good to be know of local organisations that can provide professional advice for particular issues that families may face.