As a church we want to support family life amid the pressures of modern living and our parenting course aims to do just that. We meet as an informal group of about twelve parents, male or female, married or single, to explore subjects of interest to us as parents, share ideas and skills and encourage one another in dealing with problems. We hope this will help to reduce tension and create a more relaxed and cooperative atmosphere in the home, so that parents have more fun with their children. We would encourage both parents to come along where possible.

We will be using the tried and tested Parentalk materials and the sessions will incorporate a variety of activities, including video clips, discussion and practical activities. No-one will be put on the spot to share more than they want to. There's also a magazine to take home and keep, containing points to ponder and practical, helpful hints from the sessions.

The course will not tell us all we need to know about parenting - every family is unique- and it is not a child care, teaching or psychology course. Rather it is an opportunity to:-

• Get to know ourselves better as parents and build on our strengths
• Share with other parents and so discover that we are not alone in the issues we face
• Discover ways of enhancing and building on the relationship we already have with our children
• Develop skills that will support us
• Have fun and carry that into our relationship with our children

Our next course is for parents of children aged 0-12 years and will run on 8 Monday evenings, starting in January 2008. The dates are:-

January 14th, 21st, 28th
February 4th, 11th, 25th
March 3rd and 10th

To book a place, you can get a leaflet with a booking form from the Church Centre office or download it from this website. Please return it to St Mary's Church Centre as soon as possible. Places are limited so it will be first come first served.

The Parenting Course Leaflet (plus booking form)
can be downloaded here.