Parenting groupREPORT ON PARENTING SEPTEMBER 2009

The summer months have been a quiet time for us for running parenting groups, but now requests are coming in thick and fast, which is very encouraging.

A programme for parents of children under 5 will start in October at Kineton, where a group of young mums meet regularly for coffee and are very keen to share the highs and lows of parenting. This will be led by Karen, Yvonne and Felicity working together. The planned programme at The Rock in Warwick, mentioned in my previous report, has not happened yet, but will, I hope, start in the New Year.

Frances, our facilitator in training, and I will be running a group for parents of children who have special needs at Alcester. This has come about through our contact with Extended Services. We have also been asked to run the programme What should we tell the children about relationships and sex? next summer at Alcester. Some parents of teenagers have requested a programme for them and this will probably happen in the New Year.

An exciting event we have been asked to participate in is a Roadshow for CNNV (Churches Network for Non Violence) The idea is to lead parenting workshops to help parents think about more positive ways of dealing with behaviour they don’t like without smacking or hitting their children. The event takes place from November 7th to 11th in Coventry Cathedral. This is a great opportunity to promote positive parenting.

Karen Morris has completed her facilitator training and will shortly receive her certificate. Many congratulations to Karen.

As a group of facilitators we generally meet up to 3 times a year to discuss what we are doing and share our thoughts and ideas and twice a year we try to meet for a meal.

Our facilitators are dedicated and enthusiastic about parenting and I would like to thank them for the time and commitment they give to this very valuable and important MU project. Please do contact me if this work is something you feel called to do as we can always do with more facilitators.

Diana Sliwinski