Planning Family and Parenting Programs
- The phone rings- it is the school principal and wants you to speak at the PTA meeting next month on some aspect of parenting.
- During a coalition meeting, the group determines that parenting education is critical for the school success of children in the XYZ neighborhood. They want you to be the facilitator of the initiative.
- As you are packing your brief case to leave the office, the phone rings. With urgency, the caller begs you to fill in for their speaker who has fallen ill at the last minute. You are due to present in 1 hour.
No matter how the parenting program came to be, if you are considering planning a parenting education program, there are many aspects to consider. Here is a simple checklist to help you in planning:
1. Is the program a one time guest speaker engagement?
2. Does someone simply want you to fill an hour, or are they really interested in educating parents?
If the answer to these two questions is yes, then having information ready to go is the answer. Sometimes it just is good public relations to meet these sorts of needs. Some of the units in this series will be useful to you.
3. Is there a group of concerned community educators who value the place good parenting plays in the lives of children?
4. Are there parents who really want to learn about how to be effective with their children?
5. Is there a mandate to deliver parenting education to a particular audience? If the answer to these questions is yes, then a more detailed planning process is necessary. You will need to think through the following aspects:
Planning a Parenting Education Program Considerations
- Understand the presenting issue and who the stakeholders are
- Conduct a needs assessment with a sample of the potential audience
- Outline general goals and specific learning objectives
- Carefully select a way or ways to deliver the parenting information and knowing your audience
- Consider ways to evaluate the effectiveness of the initiative and select and evaluation method
- Report outcomes to the stakeholders
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the complete planning guide
