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Reaching parents

Baby's First Word
Centre for Parent and Child Support
CHANGE practical handbook for parents with learning disabilities
CAPT baby safety booklet for parents with poor literacy
Early Home Learning Matters: A good practice guide - from the Family and Parenting Institute
Family matters - an article for childminders and nursery practitioners on working with parents
First and Foremost series - resources from Pre-School Learning Alliance
Fresh start - reaching teen parents (Summer 2006)
Happy eaters - using role play to reach parents
I Love... - a book to encourage young parents to talk to their babies
Know How leaflets
National Occupational Standards - Work with Parents fact sheet
Parenting Education Materials from NCVCCO
Parents Plus - practical and positive support for families
PEAL - parents, early years and learning
Reaching parents - producing and delivering parent information resources
Talk To Me - information sheet for young parents
Where do parents turn for advice? - NFPI research review

The Centre for Parent and Child Support (CPCS)

The CPCS was originally established to help child and family services communicate more effectively with the people they serve. The Centre is commissioned by organisations from the health, education, social care and voluntary sectors to improve the design of their services, enhance the skills of their staff, and evaluate what they do. Its aim is to enable service providers to work in partnership with children and their families, to develop promotional and preventative strategies, and to provide families with holistic care, that takes account of their psychological and social well-being.

For more information visit CPCS.

CHANGE

CHANGE has produced the 'You and Your Baby 0-1 Year' book as a practical handbook for parents with learning disabilities. It has clear and easy to understand words and pictures on looking after a baby in the first year. It is also available as a CD-Rom Picture Bank.

For more information tel: 0113 243 0202, email changepeople@btconnect.com or go to Change People.

The Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT)

The CAPT has produced the 'I'm only a baby but.' baby safety booklet. It is a quick-reference, picture-based booklet for busy parents or those with poor literacy. It uses a baby to introduce the accidents that babies are most likely to be hurt in and explain what parents need to do to keep their baby safe. Modern, colourful illustrations bring the baby's advice to life. It costs £22.50 plus P&P for 50 booklets.

For more information call CAPT publication sales on 020 7608 7368.

Early Home Learning Matters: A good practice guide

The Family & Parenting Institute, with funding from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), has published Early Home Learning Matters: A good practice guide by Kim Roberts. Arising from the work of the DCSF’s Early Learning Partnerships Project (ELPP) and Parents as Partners in Early Learning (PPEL), the guide is a resource for all early years practitioners and those involved in planning and implementing services for parents of children from birth to age five. It combines messages from policy and research with examples from practice, parents’ experiences and information about resources that are available to support practitioners in their work with parents. This guide accompanies the Early Home Learning website, from which resources to share with parents can be downloaded.

To order a copy of the guide visit the Family and Parenting website.

First and Foremost series

A collection of books targeting parents to help them support their children during the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Each of the six books contains ideas for applying the key themes and principles of the EYFS to everyday life to enrich a child's learning and development in the early years setting. Titles include Listening Together, Playing and Learning Outdoors, Music and Dance, Numbers, Shapes and Problem Solving, Being Me, and Mark Making and Representation. They are available to order individually or as a set.

For more information and to order visit Pre-school.

I Love...

A book produced by educational publishing company Kid Premiership to encourage young parents to talk to their babies from day one. It features cartoon graphics to appeal to teenage parents/carers and convey important messages about the importance of communicating with babies. The book retails at £3.45 and significant discounts are available for large or repeat orders.

For more information visit Kid Premiership or call 01484 536553.

Know how leaflets

The DCFS has produced a range of free booklets addressing parenting issues. They are designed to help parents and carers with parenting skills, to provide advice on children's learning and development, and to raise awareness of health issues. The leaflets could be used by practitioners and early years settings to assist parents with specific issues or as a general source of information.

They can be downloaded from Parents Centre.

Work with parents fact sheets

Parenting UK (formerly the Parenting Education & Support Forum) has produced a fact sheet called the National Occupational Standards - Work with Parents. NOS is a framework for good practice, made up of nationally agreed statements of competence that describe what people need to know and be able to do to deliver quality parenting education and support services.

For more information visit Parenting UK.

Parenting Education Materials (PEM)

The PEM website was initially set up by The National Council of Voluntary Childcare Organisations (NCVCCO), and is now called Children England. Visitors to the website can search for books and other materials on various aspects of parenting. The website is currently managed by Parenting UK.

For more information visit Parenting Education Materials or call 020 7284 8370. Email:admin@parentinguk.org.

Parents Plus

The Parents Plus programmes are practical and positive video-based parenting courses. The Early Years programme is designed to support parents who want to maximise their children's learning, language and social development, as well as reduce behaviour problems. It is suitable for use with parents of children within the normal range of development as well as those with children with special needs such as ADHD, speech and language and other development problems. Topics include promoting children's language and development, helping children concentrate and learn, and encouraging and supporting children.

For more information visit Parents Plus.

PEAL

Parents, early years and learning (PEAL) is a consortium project run by the National Children’s Bureau (NCB), Coram Family and the London Borough of Camden. It was originally funded by the DCSF and continues to provide training through the Early Childhood Unit of the NCB. It provides training for practitioners on how to build effective partnerships with parents to support their child's early learning, as part of the Early Learning Partnerships Programme. It has a particular focus on working with parents in disadvantaged areas and builds on research on the most effective ways of engaging parents with their child's learning.

PEAL provides a free two-day training programme, which was initially piloted in Camden, built on what works best and why to support parental involvement. It considers that parents and professionals bring different expertise and knowledge to the partnership. The PEAL training and supporting materials explore and build on the key elements of the PEAL model; authentic relationships, communication and partnership.

The two day training is split with the first taking place in the setting and the second with the trainer. A free resource pack is given out to each participant. For more information visit PEAL.

PEAL has produced a book called Parents as Partners in the Early Years Foundation Stage which examines the evidence base, outlines the principles, requirements and guidance on working with all parents and provides a framework for practice. The book will help practitioners to examine practice and to build parents' confidence as the first and most enduring educators of their children. Buy the book online.

PEAL for Parents posters - PEAL has developed 10 posters that depict ways in which parents help their babies and young children's learning and development through play and every day activity. The posters have been used in parent workshop sessions and for displays to inform parents of research findings and to generate discussion. They are available now as a set of 10 for £10.00 by calling 020 7843 6064.