What is Sharing Parenting?

What is Sharing Parenting?

Sharing Parenting is an evidence based, Community Interest Company, based in Newmarket since 2009. We work in partnerships with Parents, Carers, Schools and Organisations, Children’s Centres, Community Groups and the General Public in Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, USA, China and the Middle East.

We deliver parenting support in the form of courses, workshops, taster sessions, one to one support and community pop ups.

Our aim is for parents to gain confidence and knowledge in their role as a parent, or professional supporting parents, in a non-judgemental environment. 

We believe that good quality, reliable parenting information and support should be available to all parents and professionals and we are working hard to ‘normalise’ parenting support.

When we start a new job we usually get training, on-going support and regular feedback. Even when we buy a new car, microwave or TV we can reach for the manual when we don’t understand how it works.

Parenting is the biggest and most important job we will ever do, so we feel it is it is normal and natural for parents to want to come along to our Sharing Parenting Courses, Workshops, Taster Sessions and Pop Up’s to support them in their parenting role as their children move from toddlers to teens and into adult hood.  

Many parents and professionals tell us time and time again that our programmes and support has made a significant difference to both their and their children’s lives. Don’t just take our word for it  – please see what our parents and carers say here and professionals we have supported here.

Our Mission

Sharing Parenting’s aim is to offer parents a supportive, informal environment, in which to gain information, knowledge and skills around parenting issues. 

Sharing Parenting Programmes

Our programmes include Courses, Workshops, Taster Sessions and One to One Support.

• Courses are usually 1 or 2 hour sessions held once a week, delivered over several weeks. This gives parents and carers the best opportunity to really use and practice the invaluable tips and strategies shared on each session. Courses include Raising Toddlers, Raising Children, Raising Teens, Dads Matter, Outside The Box (SEND), Sibling Rivalry, Let’s Play, Food For Thought, True Colours, Building Resilience, Mindfulness and Confident Parents, Confident Children.

• Workshops are usually one-off sessions delivered in one or half a day. This gives parents and carers an opportunity to learn invaluable tips and strategies shared at each workshop, which may be specific to a parenting issue or area such as An Introduction to True Colours, An Introduction to Building Resilience, An Introduction to Mindfulness and An Introduction to Confident Parents, Confident Children.

• Taster Sessions are usually one-off sessions delivered in 1-2 hours. These give parents and carers and flavour of our Sharing Parenting programmes and, as our parents and carers like them so much, they are often are the first step to signing up to one of our Workshops or Courses. Taster Sessions include Power Struggles, How To Talk So Kids Will Listen, Motivating Your Child Academically, Parenting Styles, Sibling Rivalry, Understanding Challenging Behaviour, Labelling, Effective Discipline, Birth Order, True Colours and Dads Matter.

• One to One Support is offered to parents and carers in their own homes or at another venue suitable for them. This can help with a specific parenting issue and/or to build confidence to then be able to sign up to one of our Taster Sessions, Workshops or Courses.

Schools and Organisations

We work closely with Schools, Children’s Centres and external organisations and also offer professionals workshops, courses and training and a range of opportunities to gain confidence, skills and knowledge in order to develop positive strategies for them to support parents in raising healthy happy children.

For more information please see our Support for Schools and Organisations page and Who We Work With page in our For Professionals section.

Facilitator Training

Sharing Parenting offers an opportunity to train professionals to deliver our programmes in their organisation to parents and carers who they support.

For more information please see our Facilitator Training page.

Continuous Professional Development (CPD)

Sharing Parenting offers professionals workshops, courses and training via a range of Continuing Professional Development modules to support building resilience in children, working one-to-one with parents and group work skills.

For more information please see our CPD page.

Work with Parents Accreditation

Sharing Parenting offers an opportunity for professionals to train to work with parents with accredited courses.

You can receive an accreditation  for attending the Raising Children Course for Professionals and our Work With Parents Course

Mentoring, Supervision and Support

The Sharing Parenting team feel it is important for all professionals and facilitators to have appropriate supervision for working with parents. We can support you in your professional role working with children where you can benefit from the wealth of knowledge and experience our team can share with you.

For more information please see our Mentoring, Supervision and Support page.

Corporate Support

As a Community Interest Company we put all our profits back into our business so we can offer our parenting support to parents and carers for free. There are many ways your business could support us and get involved with Sharing Parenting. If you have any other ideas please do contact us. We look forward to working with you.

For more information please see our Corporate Support page.

Sharing Parenting Principles

The Sharing Parenting programmes use materials taken from various frameworks, notably Alfred Adler, Rudolph Dreikurs, as well as the work of Eric Berne and Abraham Maslow. Our programmes are based on the principles of Social Learning Theories. Key Adlerian concepts underpin the Raising Children, Raising Toddlers and Raising Teens Programmes.

Educational Theories:

• Children are not born good or evil but can be ‘influenced’ in either direction
• If children continually misbehave that means there is logic beneath their actions. In other words children’s behaviour is purposeful, just like adults – everything they do has a goal
• Once the child’s goal is identified, parents can develop alternative strategies
• Adler stressed the use of natural and logical consequences when training children. He believed the best way forward for the child is to discover what works and what doesn’t work for them – by learning by experience. He had little use of punishment and reward systems
• Parents must be consistent with their own behaviour
• Encouragement is extremely valuable

Adlerian Concepts:

1. Cooperation

• Cooperation is a key word in Adlerian thought
• Whether a person cooperates is an indication of how much they value, or not value themselves
• Co-operation begins at birth with breast feeding as the first form of cooperation
• It is the bases for helping the child develop in society

2. Encouragement

• Encouragement is the KEY word in Adlerian psychology
• Encourage as we cannot change our behaviour in the past – we can only change our behaviour in the here and now
• Parental encouragement focuses on stressing the importance of the positive and letting children learn from disappointment. It is a negative event rather than punishment, which teaches the child to change their behaviour

3. Family Meetings:

• Encourage cooperation
• Encourage responsibility
• Give encouragement
• Supports children to be caring and happy

4. Mutual Respect

• Children have the right to be respected
• Parents need to earn and model respect
• Mutual respect underpins parenting

Please also see our Evidence Sharing Parenting Works page and Our Accreditations and Awards page.

You can also read feedback from parents and carers who have attended our programmes here and professionals we have worked with and supported here.

Please contact us to find out more or to let us know you are interested in any of the above by clicking the button below: