Supporting parents…

SN Case study2 SN Case study1
SN Case study2 SN Case study1

SN (parent) had found our programme on Twitter and was keen to enrol such was his commitment to learn more about how to support his son’s learning and development. He was seeking to demonstrate to social workers and court officials that he was sufficiently committed and equipped to engage with gaining access to care for his son.

Research by Professor Charles Desforges says that in the early years, parents have ten times more influence over their children’s learning and development than any setting. His findings state that what parents do is more important than who they are. In other words, how involved parents are with their children’s learning is crucial in securing the best outcomes for their children.

With an understanding of the importance of quality parental interaction, we supported SN to gain the knowledge, attitudes, skills and habits to support their children to thrive in a warm, safe, language rich, enabling environment.

The programme is divided into 6 parts, each with a particular focus surrounding the Development Matters framework and updated revised EYFS framework (2021). During each session SN was highly engaged, insightful and reflective and was able to gain confidence in how to further support his little boy with communication and language, personal, social and emotional development, physical development, literacy and number work.

Impact

After each session, SN would take on board all the tips, ideas and strategies to promote quality interaction and use age- appropriate activities and games with his son. An example of this was the ‘Cheerio Challenge Game’. Keen to support his son’s fine motor skills, SN had his son stacking Cheerios on a piece of spaghetti using the pincer grasp which is crucial for handwriting eventually. Things that SN tried were written down on a ‘Wow’ moment which helped SN to appreciate the significance of what he was doing with his little boy.

SN has learned many skills on this programme and a deeper understanding of his son’s emotional well-being. SN knows what to do to engage his son, how to make him laugh and how to support him when he’s upset.

This little boy will benefit significantly from having a dad who has completed our programme as his dad has been given the tools to support his future learning as he grows. Keeping in touch with SN is part of the, ‘Help Your Child Thrive’ process and SN is keen to maintain a network of support, such is his passion for ensuring his son has the best possible outcomes.

“As a parent, I was keen to improve my parenting skills as my son develops quickly through toddlerhood. ‘Help Your Child Thrive’ programme stood out to me as a training course which would be perfect as they cover the key areas of development my son will be going through. When I met the course leaders, I was impressed in their experience with children and felt I was in great hands. The course was split into key areas of development such as emotional wellbeing and numeracy, meaning it was easily digestible information with exercises and games demonstrated at each time which I could do with my son to aide his development. The course leaders personalised discussions to my son’s personality so that I could understand much better how to support him whilst also giving me ideas on how to interact with him better. I feel as though the course has greatly increased my confidence as a parent and will keep in touch with the course leaders for any additional support and ideas I may need in the future.”

SN, March 2023