A variety of free parenting courses are available across the county at times to suit you.
Parenting courses
Parents and carers sometimes need extra support or information to help with parenting and to build a strong and positive family life.
The council offer a variety of free parenting courses that are available both virtually and face to face across the county. Attending a parenting course offers the opportunity to meet other parents, share stories and build informal support networks.
Parenting programmes can help families:
- develop their confidence, skills, knowledge and understanding of parenting
- learn effective parenting strategies and promote their child's development
- develop skills in understanding and responding to their child's behaviour
Registering for a local parenting course or an online parenting course
To register your interest in a parenting course please complete this form and someone will contact you. For further information please contact your local Child and Family Centre.
We also offer courses for parents regarding Reducing Parental Conflict.
The Incredible Years Webster Stratton course is supported by paediatricians. It can have a positive impact on all children. It includes information for those with neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD and Autism.
The programme is 10 weeks of two hourly sessions delivered in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire. We offer day courses and evening courses to suit your individual needs.
The school age parenting programme:
- builds strong positive parent-child relationships
- reduces harsh discipline
- increases positive behaviour with attention, praise and encouragement.
Parents learn how to:
- monitor children after school
- set rules regarding TV, computer and drug use
- support children’s homework
- partner with teachers to promote the child's academic, social and emotional skills.
Trained Incredible Years® facilitators use real-life situational videos to support the training. The videos stimulate parenting group discussions, problem solving, and practice exercises.
Parent feedback
- I feel stronger as a mother and a person as I now feel I have the confidence to put the new steps in place.
- I thought my child had ADHD or something, but I realised that it was the way things were at home.
- The course has completely changed my life and given me a new confidence to do new things.
- The course has changed my parenting for the better.
Enquiries
Please contact your local Child and Family Centre for further information.
Standard Teen Triple P is a course that offers support to parents, on a one-to-one basis, of teenagers up to 16 years. Following a family assessment, parents:
- set their own goals
- learn ways to encourage positive behaviour for teens
- teach their teens new skills such as problem solving, conflict resolution and self-regulation.
Over 10 sessions, parents identify the effect on teenagers’ behaviour and set their own goals. Parents also learn ways to use appropriate consequences for problem behaviour such as:
- breaking family rules
- taking inappropriate risks
- emotional outbursts.
Who is it for?
Parents or caregivers who have concerns about their teenager’s development and behaviour. You may have concerns that:
- your relationship with your teen is not positive
- that your teen has not learned independence and self-regulation skills
- that you have not found an effective way to discourage inappropriate or risk-taking behaviour.
Parents are most likely to benefit if they can commit to completing the 10 weekly sessions.
Enquiries
Please contact your local Child and Family Centre for further information.
Group Teen Triple P is a course delivered over eight weeks . It is for parents of teenagers up to 16 years who wish to learn a variety of parenting skills. Parents may be interested in:
- promoting their teenager’s development and potential or
- they may have concerns about their teenager’s behaviour.
The programme involves five two hour group sessions of up to 12 parents.
Parents actively take part in a range of exercises to learn about:
- the influences on adolescent behaviour
- setting specific goals
- using strategies to promote a teenager’s skills development
- manage inappropriate behaviour
- teach emotional self-regulation.
Parents also learn how to plan around risk-taking behaviour and risky situations. There are three (15 to 30 minute) individual telephone consultations. These are to help parents with independent problem solving, while they are practising the skills at home.
Who is it for?
Parents or caregivers who:
- have concerns about their teenager’s behavioural problems
- simply wish to prevent behavioural problems from developing
- have completed lower-level interventions and have not achieved the goals they want.
Parents need to be able to commit to all eight sessions.
Enquiries
Please contact your local Child and Family Centre for further information.
Standard Stepping Stones Triple P is a programme for parents of children with additional needs. It is aimed at families of children with a range of disabilities, such as:
- intellectual disability
- autism spectrum disorders
- cerebral palsy
- elevated levels of disruptive behaviour.
Standard Stepping Stones Triple P begins with a full assessment of parent-child interaction and family issues. The course provides parents with support in managing their child’s behaviour across various settings:
- disobedience
- fighting and aggression
- temper tantrums.
The focus is on understanding problem behaviour and teaching the child skills they can use to replace misbehaviour.
Over 10 one-to-one sessions, parents learn to:
- set their own goals
- work out what changes they would like to see in their child’s behaviour
- learn strategies to promote positive behaviour and deal with misbehaviour.
Who is it for?
Parents or caregivers of a child with a disability (up to 12 years) who:
- have concerns about their child’s moderate to severe behavioural problems and
- are able to commit to up to 10 regular individual consultations, either in a clinic or in the family home.
Enquiries
Parents interested in attending a parenting course should initially contact the:
- Early Years Provider
- School
- Child and Family Centre
- Health Representative
who will be able to advise you on the referral process.
We know that parenting at any stage can be a challenge, from reading baby cues to toddler tantrums, growing independence to teenage emotions.
That’s why we’ve partnered with In Our Place to offer free courses to help you understand how best to support your child.
Why do a parenting course
If you’re struggling with an aspect of your child’s behaviour, or simply want to be prepared for the changes ahead, these courses are for you.
The courses are:
- Completely free
- Designed by experts in collaboration with parents
- Split into bite-size chunks that you can complete at your own pace
- Interactive, including videos and quizzes
- Accessible on mobile devices
It’s an easy way to add to your parenting knowledge whenever you get a spare few minutes, it could be on the bus to work, waiting at the school gate or during a TV advert break.
You can either read or listen to the course content, and the courses are available in multiple languages.
Who the courses are for
These courses are for you if you are:
- Pregnant, or your partner is pregnant
- A parent or carer of a child aged 0-19
- A teenager (there are specific courses just for you)
What courses are available
Choose from a range of courses including:
- Understanding your baby
- Understanding your child: from toddler to teenager
- Understanding your child with additional needs
- Understand your child's mental health and wellbeing
- Understanding your teenager's brain
- Understanding your feelings - for teenagers only
- Understanding your relationships
What others have said about the parenting courses
"This course has been an absolutely invaluable gift to me. It has and will change so many aspects of my life. I am undoubtedly a better parent and more rounded and fulfilled person as a result. Some aspects have literally been like "Eureka" moments to me! I WISH I’d known all this years ago." - Understanding your child: from toddler to teenager
"Well presented information, with enough biology/explanation to fully understand the changes that are taking place - also good/helpful suggestions of how to accommodate the teen years - thank you." - Understanding your teenagers brain
How to access free online parenting courses
1. Got to the course library on the in our place website
2. Enter the access code PARENT24
3. Fill in the form to create an account
4. Pick a course and start learning
We will continue to deliver flexible and accessible programmes. We want to enable you to access support that meets your families needs.