Netmums Parenting Course: welcome
Welcome to the Netmums Parenting Course. Designed by UK charity, Family Links, it guides you through different topics, helping you to become a more confident parent within weeks. Find out more about the course and how to sign up right here ...
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Together with UK charity, Family Links, we bring you the Netmums Parenting Course – an eight-week email course that guides you through different parenting topics and situations, helping you become a more confident parent.
If you haven't already signed up you can read more about the course here.
If you have already signed up, thank you for joining our Parenting Course and welcome.
In this first instalment you'll find out about the building blocks of confident parenting known as 'the four constructs' as well as taking a quiz to help figure out where things are for you right now (and where you'd like to be by the end of the course).
Ready? Keep reading below to start your journey to less tantrums (from you, as well as the kids!) and a happier household all round.
After all, if we always do what we've always done, we'll always get what we've always got.
Change begins here ...
The building blocks of confident parenting
The Parenting Puzzle book is based on four building blocks that we call the Four Constructs. These provide the foundation for positive relationships and confident parenting.
Building blocks: the four constructs
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1. Self-awareness
Being self-aware means knowing what we do and don't like, what our needs are, and the effect our responses have on others, including our kids.
This can help us to nurture our own self-esteem, as well as that of our kids.
Children who feel good about themselves are more likely to go on to have happy and fulfilled lives, and are less likely to hurt themselves or others.
2. Appropriate expectations
Children grow up in different ways: physically, intellectually, socially and emotionally. We need to match our expectations to what they can actually do, encouraging their development without being way ahead or way behind them.
If we expect too much or too little of them, children tend to become rebellious, or frustrated and give up in despair.
We also need to have appropriate expectations of ourselves as parents – we won’t always do things the way we want to and some days we’ll feel better about ourselves as parents than others.
The perfect parent is a myth. Most parents are doing their best and are good enough most of the time.
3. Empathy
Empathy means tuning in to someone else’s feelings and understanding their emotional point of view. We don’t have to agree with how they behave – just be sensitive to the way they feel, and accept it.
Feelings drive behaviour - if we can understand and acknowledge the feelings, difficult behaviour will often disappear.
Children who are treated with empathy and respect will learn to be empathetic and respectful towards other people, and understand their own feelings. They're then less likely to act out those feelings in ways that might hurt themselves or others.
4. Positive discipline
OK, so you may now be thinking that all this talk of empathy and self-esteem is fine, but what about discipline? Children need discipline to learn what behaviour's OK and what's not - discipline is about teaching and guiding our children, in a positive way.
Positive discipline focuses on praise, rewards, giving choices, negotiating and responsibility.
Learning what behaviour's OK and what's not isn't always easy. It’s often different at grandma’s, in the supermarket, in the park or at home. Your kid will only learn that it's OK to kick a football in the park, and not at the shops, if adults teach them.
Quiz time!
So, how familiar are you with these four building blocks? Over the next few days, we're going to give you some ideas and strategies to try at home with your family.
Before you start this journey, it would be helpful to have a think about where you are now, and it'll also help us to know if the programme helps you in any way.
If you can, take our quiz, below, before the course begins:
If you have a copy of The Parenting Puzzle book, which accompanies this programme, you might like to look at Chapter 1. (You can purchase it here, if not.)
We hope today’s email has made you step back and think – we’ll be in touch again tomorrow with some ideas for you to try at home.
Chat to other parents
Chatting to other mums who are taking the course can be really handy. From sharing tips to motivating each other, get more help and support from fellow parents here in our chat forum.
Sign up to the Netmums Parenting Course
Find out more about the course here. Or, to get the content delivered directly to your email, sign up below ...
