The Incredible Years Basic Parenting Programme in Ballymun
Hello everyone and welcome to the Incredible Years Basic Parent Programme. Let us introduce ourselves - we are Elaine Fahy, Mary McHale, Val Keating and Cathy Kiernan and we are all staff of CAFTA, an agency that has been working with the community in Ballymun for over twenty years. We are the trainers on the IY Basic Parent Programme and we want to use the autumn issue of yblive to let you know a bit more about what we do!
As you know Parenting is the toughest job in the world and there is no manual given to you when you have your baby. Well, the good news is we now have an exciting fun training programme (with a manual!) right here in Ballymun and it gives parents new skills to help support you and your children.
Better still, our parent programme is linked with six schools in Ballymun and in each of those schools they are running Incredible Years programmes for children. Of course IY is not just here in Ballymun – it is run in many communities around Ireland and in many other countries as well. The best part is that numerous studies have demonstrated that parents, teachers and children all get really positive results from IY.
We began the Incredible Years Parent Programme back in February 2008 with two trainers, Elaine and Mary. Demand for the programme has grown and so far over 80 parents have completed the training. Right now we have three programmes running – Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – with ten parents in each group. Val and Cathy recently joined the team so that we can respond to local demand and provide enough training for all the families who are interested!
This is how the programme works: The programme is run over twelve weeks one day a week for two and a half hours and two of us lead each group. We run the programme in various local venues such as BRYR, the Axis Centre and the parent room in local schools.
We explore interesting topics such as
- Helping your child learn through Play
- Effective ways of Praising and encouraging your child
- Rewards for new behaviours
- Effective Limit setting
- Time Out and other consequences (Positive Discipline)
- Problem Solving
- Review and Celebration
Each week we follow a format where we have group discussions, small group practice, and home activities feedback. During the twelve weeks you meet other parents who are making changes just like you and have fun, get support and achieve something important. Another ingredient of the programme is the ongoing support you will get from us the Parent Group Leaders before, during and after the programme.
We will be running nine Basic Parent programmes during 2010 and will start three of these in January 2010. If you are living in Ballymun and would like to find out more information or put your name down for the upcoming programmes give us a call – we would love to hear from you.
- Elaine Fahy 087 6173667
- Mary McHale 087 6347001
- Val Keating 01 8832134
- Cathy Kiernan 01 8832134.
