Nurturing Parenting Facilitator Training Information Page

The training will focus on incorporating the philosophy, skills and strategies of nurturing parenting. Participants will learn how to design home-based and group based parenting programs utilizing the proven lesson of the Nurturing Parenting Programs. A hands-on approach to conducting home and group based Nurturing Programs that includes facilitating weekly sessions, how to use program materials, videos and assessment tools, children’s and parents’ program activities, family home practice assignments, icebreakers, personal growth lessons, activities for personal power, alternatives to corporal punishment, building self-esteem self-concept and empathy in parents and children. Participants will learn how to use the online version of the Adult-Adolescent Inventory (AAPI-2) to gather pre and post program outcome data.

Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory:

The AAPI-2 has proven invaluable in assessing the parenting attitudes and child-rearing beliefs of parents and adolescents.Founded on five parenting constructs known to lead to abusive parenting the AAPI provides scores that profile parents at risk for abusing and neglecting children. For more info, visit www.assessingparenting.com

Philosophy of Nurturing Parenting:

The philosophy of Nurturing Parenting emphasizes the importance of raising children in a warm, trusting and caring household. It is founded on the belief that children who are cared for develop the capacity to trust, care and respect themselves, other people and living creatures and the environment.

The philosophy of Nurturing parenting is founded on seven principles:

Feelings of Attachment. Attachment means a bond between parents and their children that conveys a deep love that is unconditional. When children feel loved unconditionally, communication, trust and respect naturally follow.

Empathy. Empathy is the ability of parents to put themselves in the place of their children in an attempt to feel, think and understand what their children are feeling, thinking and understanding, and responding to them in a loving and respectful way.

Nurturing one’s self. Taking time in getting one’s own needs met, as an adult, forms the foundation of understanding and helping children get their needs met. Nurturing parents take care of themselves as well as their children.

Gentle Touch. Research has shown that children who experience warm and gentle touch in the form of hugs, pats, and massages develop and maintain healthy relationships throughout their life, as well as a healthy and positive sense of their self.

Discipline. Setting limits through family rules, teaching right from wrong through family morals, and teaching respect and worth through family values are all a part of a nurturing family. Discipline cannot be imposed, beaten into or forced on children but rather develops best by the children modeling their parents whose example they admire.

Expressing Feelings. Helping children and adults learn appropriate ways to manage and express their feelings, is a fundamental characteristic of a nurturing family.

Expectations and Self–Worth. Knowing what to expect of children as they develop plays a significant role in their self-worth. When parents have appropriate expectations, children learn that they are competent people, capable of pleasing others important in their lives