• Parenting is the most challenging and most important job there is.
• Parents are the foundation of the family.
• Positive parenting skills do not come naturally; they are learned.

• Experience a warm and safe environment where they can feel comfortable sharing their experiences and learning about parenting.
• Learn about the Make Parenting A Pleasure® philosophy.
• Have an opportunity to get acquainted with each other and the facilitator.
• Set the Ground Rules for group interaction and establish childcare guidelines, if applicable.
• Complete Survey 1.
• Have Fun!

• The whole family benefits when parents find ways to nurture and take care of themselves each and every day.

• Learn about nurturing and taking care of themselves. They will leave the class with some exercises to practice.
• Be familiar with community resources – how to identify them and how to access them.
• Continue to build a trusting environment and mutual support among parents.

• Stress is a normal part of life.
• Reducing stress helps us feel more in control of our lives.

• Identify personal self-care strategies.
• Understand stress as a normal part of life.
• Identify individual causes and current symptoms of stress.
• Explore the relationship between stressors and self-talk.
• Discuss and practice some stress management skills. 

• Stress is a normal part of parenting.
• Managing stress effectively is critical to parenting children effectively.
• As parents we teach and model how to cope with stress.

• Identify a personal support system.
• Learn about long-term stress reduction techniques.

• Anger is a normal emotion.
• Anger as an emotion is always okay.  But how we act on anger can help or hurt our children and ourselves.

• Identify and understand anger as an emotion.
• Understand the importance of acting on anger appropriately.
• Recognize the physical and emotion feelings and self-talk that may accompany or precede anger.
• Develop a personal Anger Management Plan.

• Actions speak louder than words especially with our babies and young children.
• Effective communication begins with what we do.

• Understand the importance of communication as the connector for human relationships.
• Become more aware of their own nonverbal communication styles.
• Learn nonverbal and verbal techniques for communicating with babies and young children.

• Listening is at least as important as talking and often harder to do.

• Learn good Quiet and Active Listening skills.
• Demonstrate Quiet and Active Listening skills.
• Understand the importance of good listening as part of communicating effectively.

• Words are powerful and it is important to use words thoughtfully.
• Learning to communicate positively takes practice.

• Learn the importance of good verbal communication.
• Practice “I” Messages.
• Practice effective communication techniques with young children.

• Every child develops at his or her own pace.
• Understanding child development helps us appreciate our child and have realistic expectation for our child.

• Understand the concept of developmental stages.
• Learn a few key characteristics of their child’s stage of development.
• Be aware of resources for concerns about potential developmental delays.

• Paying attention to children when they’re doing well can keep them from “acting out” to get our attention.

• Learn positive attention skills:
  • Special Time
  • Showing Approval
• Develop a better understanding of the nature and value of positive attention and its relationship to discipline.
• Understand discipline as a way to teach children how to discipline themselves.

• In order for parents to make positive discipline decisions, they need to be aware of possible solutions.

• Learn some specific techniques that can help them positively influence and direct their children’s behavior.
• Have an opportunity to practice some of the techniques.

• While prevention is the best medicine, parents need strategies for their children’s challenging behaviors.

• Learn constructive ways of dealing with specific problem behaviors of young children, such as biting, hitting, and tantrums.
• Learn about Time Out as a disciplinary technique.
• Share parenting experiences that need discipline interventions.
• Discuss spanking as punishment.

• Developing positive parenting skills is an ongoing process.
• It is important to acknowledge growth and change in order to strengthen positive changes.

• Acknowledge the progress they have made, the skills they have learned and the goals they have met as a result of participating in Make Parenting A Pleasure.
• Set six-month goals for themselves and/or their families.
• Review high points and offer feedback for program improvement.
• Celebrate the completion of the Make Parenting A Pleasure class.