OVERVIEW

What is Parenting in the Real World:
Kids Don’t Come with Instructions?

Parenting in the Real World: Kids Don’t Come with Instructions is an interactive parenting workshop designed to help parents of children from birth through 4 years cope with stress so that they can be better, more effective caregivers. The class consists of six 90-minute sessions conducted in a small group setting and led by a facilitator. There is also a final session dedicated to a graduation and family celebration. The kit contains everything organizers, facilitators, and participating parents will need for a successful course.

Who is Parenting in the Real World for?

Who should attend?

• Parents of children birth to 4 years of age
• Busy parents juggling families, work, school, and other obligations
• Parents interested in spending more quality time with their kids and
  less time feeling tired or stressed

Who can conduct the class?

• Community groups, child care centers, churches, schools, or any
  other organization, big or small, interested in helping parents
• The kit includes tips for organizing and holding the class, recruiting
  parents to participate, and how to keep parents involved.

• The facilitator does not need to be an expert in child development. The kit is
  designed to walk the facilitator step-by-step through the course material.

What makes Parenting in the Real World unique?

Parenting in the Real World is designed to reduce the stress of low-income parents.

Parenting in the Real World confronts issues like limited resources, not understanding normal child development, disciplining children, being exhausted, and trying to juggle personal life and a job with being a parent. Much of the course (including the video) is based on advice from real parents in real situations who talk frankly about their struggles and the solutions that work for them. This class encourages parents to talk about their experiences, share ideas, and come up with remedies for reducing stress that work for them and their families

What does the program cover?

The material focuses on:

• Increasing parents’ understanding of normal child development
• Developing and improving skills for stressful situations such as discipline

• The importance of forming a secure relationship with your child and ways
  to encourage it
• Strategies for balancing work, school, and family

• Reminding parents to take time to nurture themselves
• Forming a community of support for parents

The seven sessions are:

Session 1: Getting Started
Session 2: Growing and Learning: Keeping Up with Your Child’s Development
Session 3: Positive Discipline Is Teaching
Session 4: I’ll Be There for You
Session 5: Juggling Work and School with Family
Session 6: Taking Care of Self
Session 7: Graduation

For more specific information on the key points covered in each session and to look at sample handouts and portions of the facilitator’s script, click here:
SESSION MATERIALS.

Has the program been evaluated?

The Parenting in the Real World kit was tested in three Early Head Start centers in Atlanta, Georgia. Parents were given questionnaires about their levels of parenting stress, feelings of competence and satisfaction, and levels of depression both before taking the class and after the course finished. The evaluation included control groups of parents of children in three similar early child care classes. Parents and facilitators were invited to separate focus groups after the course ended to discuss their experiences and to suggest improvements.

The evaluation and feasibility study showed that parents who participated in Parenting in the Real World experienced significantly decreased levels of depression and increased feelings of parenting satisfaction and competence. Attendance levels remained high throughout the course, and the parents and facilitators gave each session very positive evaluations. Many parents commented on the support network that the class community created. Some parents are now helping each other with baby-sitting and other parenting tasks. Every parent said that they would recommend this class to a friend.
Facilitators found the kit contained appropriate and relevant content and was easy-to-use and well organized. They each agreed that they would continue to use Parenting in the Real World for their parenting classes.

For more information, contact us at childwellbeing@taskforce.org