Family Time Parenting Course (Children aged 0-10 years)
Tuesdays 17th August to 21st September 7.30pm till 9:15pm at Karori Baptist Church
Cost $20 a couple or $15 per person (includes workbook and supper)
To register please contact the church office or email Andrew via the contact page on this website.
The Family Time Parenting Course by Mark and Lindsay Melluish is a six week, DVD based course with the aim to empower parents to move from simply surviving family life to being proactive in leading families that are strong and healthy – families that seek to make a difference in the communities where they live. Family Time is based on Christian principles and aims to equip and envision every parent, whether Christian or not, to deal with the many issues they come up against in family life.
Over the six week course the following material is covered
Session 1 – A vision for the family
We begin the course in session 1 by encouraging people to start by thinking about how they are now and how they would like to be in an ideal world. We introduce the idea of having a vision to work towards as a family and of parents leading the family towards that vision by
- being a team (suggesting ideas for bring a sense of team spirit)
- leading together (for those who are with a partner, looking of ways to strengthen that relationship)
- leading by example (thinking about the importance of mum and dad’s example in the way our children live their lives)
Session 2 – Communicating love
In this session we look at ways of building relationship with and communicating love to our children through giving them our time, through developing communication and more. We end this session by looking at the Five Love Languages and how discovering more about how we give and receive love can cement relationships in the family.
Session 3 – Who is influencing my children?
We begin this session by looking at our own family and its history and the influence it can have now on our children if we build a strong sense of identity. We then go on to look at other, outside influences on our children through such things as tv, school, other adults, friends and so. Finally we look briefly at the benefits for our children of a relationship with God.
Session 4 – Family values
In this session we take a look at what are our family values, the good and the not-so-good, at how those values can provide a frame-work for our children’s lives and at how we can pass on the values we think are healthy ones.
Session 5 – Guiding, shaping & boundaries
In this session we look at the whole area of discipline, at what it is and at four key areas that will enable us to guide and shape our children’s lives. We look at practical ways of enabling children to respond positively to mum and dad’s instructions and at what to do when they cross the boundaries. We also look at the importance of forgiveness and restoration of the relationships which get spoilt when children are naughty.
Session 6 – Modelling love & respect
In this final session we look at the various relationships our children find themselves in and at how we can help them look outward in those relationships, valuing others and offering them respect. Finally, we encourage parents to express their hopes and dreams with their family by beginning to put together a family vision statement which the children can contribute to and which they can all own to help them in their journey of family.