Parenting courses and advice

Although parenting can be very rewarding there may be times when you feel in need of support. There are options available to help during these times, which include parenting courses and services offering parents information, support and advice.

Parenting courses

These can help your relationship with your child by helping you understand or communicate with them better. This can help improve confidence in your parenting and create a happier home environment.

There are a wide range of parenting courses for parents and carers of children of different ages, including those who have Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) such as Autism and ADHD.

Courses can take place face to face in local venues such as family centres and schools, though some may be offered online. Courses vary in length; they may be one off sessions or last for a few weeks. There will usually be a small cost, though sometimes support can be given with this.

You can find details of parenting courses and other support services for families on our Family Information Directory. We have also provided the details of some courses below:

  • Parenting Puzzle Workshops are courses which encourage parents and carers to enjoy bringing up children and get the best out of family life. They offer positive, practical ways of guiding children, so they learn to handle both their feelings and their behaviour.
  • Talking Teens are courses which help with some of the challenges that come with Parenting teenagers. They help parents to understand teenagers better so that family life is calmer and happier.
  • Relate offer a range of counselling from trained counsellors, including various aspects of family life and parenting. This includes support with Parenting teenagers and advice on how to deal with the challenges parenting teenagers can bring.

Courses for parent/carers of Children and Young People with SEND

Additional courses can be found in the Surrey Local Offer directory or on the Course and training for parents page of the Local Offer website.

Online parenting courses

More parenting courses are now delivered online, some suggestions for online courses and advice can be found below:

  • Solihull online parenting guides if you are a Surrey resident, you will be able to have free access to these guides. The guides cover a wide range of topics and include tips from childcare, education and NHS health experts
  • Family Lives Parents Channel TV contains a large amount of videos, which answer parents questions and concerns regarding topics like wellbeing, behaviour and learning.
  • Family Links Parents Webinars offer 60-minute webinars for parents of children aged 0 to 19, they aim to improve family relationships and wellbeing.
  • Talking Teenagers contains interviews with experts, who offer advice to help parents of teenagers with some of the issues they might face.

Family learning courses

Family Learning offer courses for parents and carers to help give children a positive start in life and support their learning and development at home and school.

A wide range of free courses are offered online, from parenting and wellbeing to Maths and English for parents who speak English as an additional language.

Full details, including how to sign up, are available on the Family Learning web page. You may also like to find out more about Family learning in the video below.

Family helplines

These are usually free and offer confidential information and advice about any concerns you may have about your children or family. You can talk to them about any aspect of family life including children's behaviour, teenagers, adult relationships, separation and divorce, grandchildren and step parenting issues.

You can find details of some popular helplines for families on this shortlist of services from our Family Information Service Directory.