Who’s in Charge?

Parents and assertiveness

Parents have a special need for support in learning assertiveness. It is wonderful that children are so much more assertive today, and that they speak up for themselves. But parents have to learn to cope with this new freedom. They need skills to enable them to avoid reacting with aggression, and to enable them to stand up for their own rights. Children need to be helped to distinguish between being assertive and being abusive – they urgently need the model, the limits, the caring correction, the encouragement and the security that assertive, respectful parents can provide.

Unlike most of the material on assertiveness, this programme zones in on parents. Not exclusively, of course. There are many examples from the workplace and the wider community, but most of the examples come out of a family context.

The programme is a seven-week, self-help course. The skills will be learnt more effectively when following a programmed structure in a small support-group of parents who understand the difficulties.

This programme has been developed by the Family Caring Trust, and uses a video and a text book.