Dear Friends,
It’s great to catch up with clients who have attended our Training Days, and to hear how they are successfully putting the skills and techniques into practice in their work.
After attending our two-day training, Julie O’Neill, Learning Mentor at Erith School in Kent, devised a 12-week parent coaching course, using the “tool kit” we provided. Julie has gone on to deliver this programme – under the title “Parent Empowerment” - with her colleague, Colleen Mitchell-Buggam, not only to the parents at Erith School, but also to those in the surrounding community. Julie told me that she and Colleen are “learning mentors and part of the Excellence in Cities Initiative introduced in this borough in 2002”. Parents who attended their first course declared it to be “brilliant”, and now take part in a “follow on” support group, led by Julie and Colleen, in which they “revisit the programme, and work on self esteem and social and emotional well being.”
Julie described her role in this way:
“We do try to show our parents how fundamental good parental skills are to their children’s development, but we also highlight how important it is to our parents that they are the managing directors of their family, and their well-being and self-esteem are our priority. This in turn enables them to feel confident to find their own solutions to the, sometimes very complex, challenges they are experiencing with their teenagers”.
LEARNING TO BE A PARENT
Julie and Colleen’s parents are not alone in feeling challenged by the enormous responsibility of parenthood - we can all feel overwhelmed when we first become parents. Knowing that the small person we hold in our arms is totally dependent upon us for everything can be a daunting prospect!
It often comes as a shock to new parents to find out how utterly and fundamentally their lives are changed with the birth of their firstborn. But the most important thing to remember is that we all need to learn to become parents. It’s not a skill that our society seems to value highly, and yet it is one of the most important we will ever acquire. We need to understand that learning anything new takes perseverance, time and experience, and to be kind to ourselves and each other, as we make the journey into the unknown territory of being a parent.
EMBRACE CHANGE
Just when we feel we are “getting the hang of things”, we find we need to adapt to new changes! We can be sure of one thing – that our children will grow and change very fast, and we need to be adaptable in order to respond to those changes. The newborn becomes a toddler within a year, and before we know it, nursery, primary school, then secondary school appear on the horizon, with fresh challenges for both us and our child. As our children grow, they will push against the boundaries, and - yes, we will make mistakes - but if we remember the message “no failure, only feedback”, we can learn from them.
SUPPORT
Parent groups like the ones Julie and Colleen run in Kent are a great means of providing support and a place to share anxieties and concerns with other parents, who may well be experiencing similar challenges in their family life. Parents will often remark “It’s such a relief to know I’m not the only one who is having problems with ……” or “It’s so good to share concerns with others in the same boat”.
There may be a similar group in your area, or you may be just the person to start one yourself!
With our best wishes,
Norma and Dawn
If you are interested in taking part in one of our Training Days,
we are currently taking bookings for our next
INTRODUCTION TO PARENT COACHING TRAINING DAY on
26th SEPTEMBER 2008.
Email : enquiries@parentcoachingworks.com for details, download a booking form from our website www.parentcoachingworks.com or
Phone Norma on 020 7586 5933 or Dawn on 01793 852494
if you would like more information.