Mothers’ Union has a series of information sheets that can offer practical advice to parents at different stages in the parenting journey.

These can be downloaded from here:

Getting ready for the birth of your baby – a series of suggestions of things you might like to think about as you prepare for the birth of your baby MUParentingLeaflet-GettingReadyToBecomeAParent

Stay at home or return to work – a series of thought provoking questions and ideas to help you consider whether or not you should, or want to, return to work after the birth of your baby MUParentingLeaflet-StayAtHomeOrReturnToWork(Jan2004)

Responding to sibling rivalry – a series of practical suggestions to help you deal with the issues that can arise from having more than one child MUParentingLeaflet-RespondingToSiblingRivalry

Communication with young teenagers – a series of practical suggestions to help you talk to your teenagers, not cause them or you embarassment, give them space, settle arguments and start to let them go MUParentingLeaflet-CommunicatingWithTeenagers(Feb2005)

Support for parents – a series of contact details for organisations that can help you fulfil your role in one of the worlds most important, difficult but rewarding jobs MUParentingLeaflet-SupportForParents(Feb 09)

Parenting teenagers:
‘It’s OK not to be a perfect parent!’

There are so many pressures on teenagers today, distracting at best and some potentially harmful, that many parents start getting anxious as their child approaches adolescence, or try to pretend that this won’t change things. But inevitably, it will.

So a facilitator, trained under the Mothers’ Union Passionate about Parenting scheme, adapted a series of sessions about parenting children in their teenage years, based on the book and DVD by Paul and Christine Perkin, published by David Cook. A second facilitator assisted in running the evenings.

Having done the course, most of the group said they were doing something differently as a result of it. For example they changed how they started conversations and how they negotiated boundaries with their children. One suggestion from the published material was a way to encourage the whole family to say how they are feeling; this was enthusiastically taken up by one member’s family as a result of the course.

Course topics included a look at the teens’ world, communication with teens, building self-esteem, boundaries, sex and money. There was insufficient time to discuss food fads, substances and internet safety so the group opted to have additional sessions to focus on these.

Everyone enjoyed coming, were open to new ideas and were relieved to find they were in the same boat as other parents.