SERVICES FOR CHILDREN 0-5
Parenting
Have you heard the saying that children don’t come with a manual? Well, it’s true, and that’s why every parent and carer that you know has probably needed a bit of help at some point in time.
What do we do?
When you’re a parent or carer there will probably be lots of times when you’re in a situation that you haven’t been in before. These might include:
- Being a brand-new parent looking for some re-assurance or to meet other new parents
- Not knowing how to cope with tears and tantrums, especially when you’re in the middle of a supermarket
- Re-assuring a child because mummy or daddy doesn’t live with them anymore
- Squabbling between brothers and sisters.
You might just need someone to give you a boost or offer you that little bit of advice, or you might be in the mood for something more, like learning why your child is acting like they are. Whatever you want, we’re here for you, and because everyone’s needs are different we have lots that we can offer.
Being a Parent
The Being a Parent programme is an exciting course run by parents for parents. It begins with a coffee morning where you will get to meet everyone, and is followed by another eight sessions looking at:
- The relationships between you and your children
- Understanding and managing both of your feelings and emotions
- Learning to really ‘listen’ and talk with your child
- Encouraging positive behaviour and looking at discipline
- Reducing stress levels at home.
Sessions are really interactive, with lots of discussion, role play, demonstrations and sharing of experience. You will have opportunities to think about what your life was like as a child, and about how your past experiences might be affecting the way that you are a parent today.
By the end of the course you will have learned lots of practical communication skills for everyday life to bring up confident, happy and co-operative children.
If you’re wondering if this is for you, below are just some of the comments from parents who have attended past courses.
What you said:
“The being a parent course has helped improve behaviour at home as well as helping us learn new strategies and understanding the importance of acknowledging emotions.”
Five to Thrive
By joining Five to Thrive you will take part in five fun filled practical sessions where we share ideas to help you support your child’s brain to grow. There will be handouts, activities to try at home as well as time to chat and share with other families. We know that a child’s body grows better when we give the child good food, and just in the same way your child’s brain grows better when you do five simple things that feed the growing brain – Respond, Engage, Relax, Play, Talk. And that is Five to Thrive!
Still not convinced? Did you know that nearly all our brain cells are in place when we’re born, about a hundred billion of them, but they aren’t yet working? They only really start to work, and the brain only begins to grow, when connections are made between the cells in response to what is happening to us and around us.
In the first year of life the brain doubles in size, with a million connections forming every second in your baby’s brain, and in the first three years the brain grows and changes faster than it ever will again. This means that everything happening to your baby is shaping their brain, and the most important thing that happens to your baby is you! Everything you do when you are with your baby sparks connections in their brain, turning connections into pathways that the child can use again.
What you said:
“We had an idea of what we thought we had to do to support our child, but since attending the five to thrive we’ve realised there’s lots more we can do to support him that we didn’t even know about.”
New Parent, New Baby
Come along to meet other parents with young babies (0-8 months) and share ideas for activities to enjoy with your baby. This six-week programme (based on Five to Thrive) builds week by week and will cover:
- Meet and greet
- Creating a canvas footprint
- Dental health
- Looking after yourself
- Ideas for play and making sensory bottles
- Visit from the librarian
Baby Steps
Baby Steps is a parenting programme that gives you extra support when expecting a baby. It is for both first time parents and those who already have children, and it will help you to prepare for your new baby.
Joining the programme starts with a referral from either yourself, your midwife or health professional and so if this is something that you would like to find out more about, please speak to us on 0800 970 4669.
The programme starts when you are around 24-30 weeks pregnant when the facilitators will contact you to arrange a home visit to tell you more about the course and for you to meet them. Parents like getting to know the facilitators before the group sessions and it helps them give you the right support.
There are six antenatal sessions which are interactive and fun, run by an experienced midwife/health visitor and family support worker. They take place at children’s centres where you can access other groups and support after your baby is born.
After your baby is born the facilitators will visit you at home, then there will be three postnatal sessions when everyone in the group has had their baby. Often mums are invited to attend other groups such as baby massage at the children’s centre when the Baby Steps group has finished.
Relationships
Adults sharing parental responsibilities often have difficult conversations with each other, but sometimes these can lead to ongoing conflict which has a negative affect on children’s wellbeing and development. We can support you, to work with your partner (including separated partners), to understand and develop practical ways to work through disagreements and arguments.
Me, You and Baby Too – Having a baby is one of the biggest changes you can go through. You and your partner may be tired and stressed, and may argue more.
Getting it Right for Children – This course is designed to help you (and your separated partner if they wish) to communicate better for the sake of your children.
Arguing Better – This course is all about finding ways to communicate during stressful times.
1 to 1 Support
There are times when everyone needs an extra bit of help. If you’d like to find out more about our one to one home visiting service, please see our 1 to 1 Family Support page.
