The Parents’ Network: SE London - Weds 29 March

A little while ago I put a call out on the SE23 Mums Facebook group asking if anyone was interested in forming a group that meets once per month to talk about parenting issues?

I’d read loads of really good parenting books (because I’ve often felt like 'Gah! I don’t know what I’m doing!). My favourites are No Drama Discipline, How to talk to kids so they listen and how to listen so they talk, Positive Discipline and Buddhism for Mothers. I also do a lot of soft skills training in my day job and offered an assertiveness for parents workshop to an informal parents group at work and it was really well received. I offered to run the same workshop, basically summarising the key points from the books I’ve read with lots of interactive exercises and discussion points to the local women’s institutes, but they’ve declined my offer saying (understandably) that because not all of their members are parents it wouldn’t be too well received.

I basically want to form a group that’s part book review/ part speaker series/ part action learning set. I’m keen to share and gain knowledge and while online groups are a fab resource, I’d be interested in some in person discussions.

I’m pleased to announce that our first meeting of our local parent group is taking place on Thursday 14 July 8-10pm at the function room in the Railway Telegraph.

I’m tentatively calling the group ‘The SE23 Parents Club’, please let me know if you can think of a better name.

In any case, I do hope you can join us to meet other parents, discuss discipline techniques, share your experiences and problem solve. All are welcome including: LGBT parents, mums, dads, adoptive parents, single parents etc. This will be a very inclusive and supportive group and although theory and expertise will be focused on gentle/positive parenting all are welcome.

The first meeting will focus on ‘Dealing with tantrums’.

But future meetings will focus on:
-Developing empathy
-Managing conflict with your child
-Assertiveness with your partner/other adults
-Effective praise
-How to say no
-Cooperation between siblings
-Starting school
-Discussion on gender norms
-Managing screen time/online safety

…and more!

If you’re interested please RSVP by sending me a message. Hope to see you there and let me know if you have any questions.

Great idea, hope it goes well

I won’t be able to make this meeting, but hope to make a future meeting.

Bereavement might be good to add to the list. I lost my Dad at 8 years old & it took me until age 16 to get over it (although you never get over it).

I had a phone call tonight (about just half hour ago) to say my 13 yr old son’s NaNa died last night, it’s hit him hard but he’s now fast asleep in my bed now & will have lots of cuddles from me.

I think I’m clued up on how to deal with this as I had a similar experience as a child, but not all do.

Feeling so sad for my little man right now & hope to make him feel happy soon

Hi Pauline,

Sorry to hear about your loss, both your dad and your son’s nana. Bereavement is definitely a difficult topic and one that many of us could use support in, especially in comforting children, as parents. I’ve seen that http://www.childbereavementuk.org/ do some workshops and so I may try and get in touch with them to see if they would be intersted in helping us run a session in the future. Thinking of you and your son.

Thanks Diana for your reply, I think this is a great idea!

I’d be more than happy to speak about personal experiences as both when I was a child dealing with this & how my son now deals with it.

My son has decided he doesn’t want to speak about it right now & forget about it. This doesn’t surprise me as I done the same as a kid until I was ready to deal with it, I felt very angry inside as a kid & didn’t feel comfortable sharing.

Me & my son are having little chats right now rather than overwhelming long chats, and lots of fun things in between so as not to make it the main thing in our house, think it’s working

Please feel free to contact me anytime & hope you have a fab weekend.

Just wanted to post an update here to say that our next meeting is tomorrow Wednesday 24 August. We’ll be meeting at The Honor Oak Pub from 8pm.

We’ve amended the name of the group to explicitly welcome parents from neighbouring postcodes in SE London but the ethos of the group is the same. It’s an opportunity for parents to discuss discipline techniques share your experiences and problem solve.

I started this group because I had ideas in my head about the kind of parent I didn’t want to be. But I didn’t know what discipline techniques existed or the best ways to talk to my daughter. I know there’s no right way to parent but there’s a lot of helpful evidence based theory on positive parenting. I didn’t have the time or the money to take on parenting classes which also strangely felt shaming to me. So, I read a lot and it was helpful but I wanted to discuss some of these techniques I was learning about with other parents. I think we can learn a lot from each other’s experiences and online forums are great but in person meetings felt even more appealing.

Our August meeting will explore best practice ways of ‘how to say no’. We’ll cover saying no to adults and toddlers and we’ll have plenty of time for problem solving and action learning. We also need our group constitution passed so that we may be recognised as an official community group and apply for funding for events. We’re thinking of a mindfulness event for parents and we’re going to bid for funds to screen a film. If you have other ideas or want to join the committee please let us know.
The idea is that our group will cover a range of topics including:
-How to deal with tantrums
-Developing empathy
-Managing conflict with your child
-Assertiveness with your partner/other adults
-Effective praise
-How to say no
-Cooperation between siblings
-Starting school
-Discussion on gender norms
-Managing screen time/online safety
And more….
You’re welcome to attend all our meetings or just those that appeal to you. We’ve got a website that you can check for more info (http://separentsnetwork.wordpress.com/) and also a mailing list.

The sessions will vary with some basic theory and best practice and may feature interactive role play or case studies, action learning/problem solving, book reviews, a film screening with discussion or guest speakers.
The idea is this will be a community space to help build confidence in parenting. Every session is free to attend. All are welcome including: LGBT parents, mums, dads, adoptive parents, etc. This will be a very inclusive group and although theory and expertise will be focused on gentle/positive parenting, all are welcome.
Hope you can join us.

Hi All- Another update to say we are meeting on Wednesday 28 September at the Honor Oak Pub 8-10pm. This month’s topic is Managing Difficult Behaviour. We’ll go over some positive parenting techniques that can help you cope with difficult behaviours and put our heads together for some problem solving.

We’ve decided that we’ll be meeting on the last wednesday of the month to make it easier for people to diarise. Do hope you can make it! Let me know if you have any questions. All are welcome

Hi all- The Parents’ Network are meeting this Wednesday 26 October from 8-10pm in the Honor Oak Pub to discuss gender roles in raising our children. We have collaborated with a local meet up group, South East London Feminist Parenting and will be co-hosting this meeting.

As always all are welcome! We will discuss what it’s like to raise boys and girls as well explore terms like gender fluidity and myths around gender neutral parenting. We will watch a short film clip and there will be some recommended reading but otherwise come along for this informal discussion.

Heads up, our meeting next month will feature a professional nutritionist who will be talking to us about fussy eating and childhood nutrition.

We meet regularly on the last Wednesday of the month and you can join our mailing list and find out more here: https://separentsnetwork.wordpress.com/.

Hi everyone, our next Parents’ Network meeting is on Weds 30 November. As always we meet on the last weds of the month from 8-10pm in the Honor Oak Pub.
I’m particularly excited about our next session which is focused on healthy eating. Come along to gain a better understanding of the basics of providing your child balanced, nutritious and delicious meals and ensure a happy relationship with food and calm feeding times. Local mum and qualified nutritionist Sune Markowitz-Shulman will share some practical advice on nutrition for your children and discuss some handy tips when it comes to fussy eating.
The session will cover:
Balancing blood sugar and why this is important
Comparing ‘healthy eating food pyramids’
Poopie police – what are your kids stool telling you about their health
Fussy eating
Practical tips and recipes
All of our sessions are free to attend and inclusive to mums, dads, carers living in SE London. Hope to see you there.
If you’re not on the mailing list you can join here: https://separentsnetwork.wordpress.com/ or find our FB group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/157629884697620/
Future sessions we are planning include raising bilingual children, mindfulness, and a workshop on establishing healthy sleep habits. If you have other ideas please let us know.

Hi all- the group I set up a few months ago, The Parents’ Network SE London, are running a workshop on language skills for bilingual children on Sat 28th Jan.

The session itself is being run by UCL BiLingo (www.ucl.ac.uk/bi-multilingualism). Dr Merle Mahon, a speech and language therapist with a specialism in EAL (English as an Additional Language) , and Dr Froso Argyri, Linguistics researcher will discuss language development of bilingual children; factors affecting bilingual language acquisition; role of age of onset and amount of exposure to each language, etc. They will also share useful tips/suggestions with parents to develop their children’s language skills.

We’re also hosting this meeting on a saturday afternoon, rather than the normal wednesday evening. Hope that means more of you can come. Also, for the first time, we’re at The Hill which is really close to FH station.
Saturday 28 January 2017
12-1:30pm, function room at The Hill (45-47 Dartmouth Road, London, SE23 3HN)
As always all of our events are FREE. Hope to see you there.

We’ve had a lot of interest for this talk so please ensure you arrive on time. Space is limited.

Hi all, we had a great turn out for our January meeting where we discussed language skills. We’ve posted a summary pdf on our website (https://separentsnetwork.wordpress.com/2017/02/14/handout-from-workshop-on-language-skills-for-bilingual-children/).

But I also wanted to write to tell you that we are meeting this Wednesday 22 Feb to discuss behaviour challenges. We’ll have a table reserved at Chandos on Brockley Rise. It’s an informal discussion so please come along, especially if you’ve been struggling with an unruly toddler like me All are welcome! If you have any other ideas for future events please get in touch.

Hi everyone, just to say we are meeting tomorrow Weds 29 March at 8pm in the Railway Telegraph on Stanstead road. We are discussing Feminism and Motherhood. It should be a really interesting discussion lead by a PhD student studying the topic. She’ll present some theory on waves of feminism and facilitate a discussion. All are welcome!