Update on private parental coaching structures

If you are looking for support as a parent, the Web is full of offers of personalized coaching workshops “à la carte”, according to the needs. Some private organizations offer to lead discussion groups and give quality conferences. The interest of these meetings, as for those organized in the public, is the dynamic driven by the group effect and the desire to share. According to Sophie Benkemoun, who created the Atelier des Parents in 2006, “it is not only parents having problems with their children who participate in the groups. They come to share, to recount their experience and the solutions found ”. The objective of these workshops is to work on parental self-esteem and restore parents’ confidence in their skills. The advantage of these groups: they are based on communication between parents and the sharing of experiences, and not on the administration of educational principles. In addition, they often offer restricted workshops with a well-targeted theme, in particular according to the age of the child. “This allows parents to talk with others faced with the same daily life, the same questions.”

For facilitators, paid workshops often have the advantage of using a range of professionals from the medical field, early childhood, pediatricians and child psychiatrists, but also parents who have followed training.

So how can you be sure to find quality help, organized by competent people? For the founder of the Atelier des Parents, “ word of mouth remains a good way to collect information. We must listen to the feedback of parents who have attended groups or conferences. But the opinion of others is not enough: it is advisable to carry out in-depth research, in particular on the style of the workshops offered, the approach (based or not on the work of child psychiatrists, trends in positive parenting, etc.). “Do not hesitate to phone the structures directly, in order to know the skills of the trainers and the program of the groups ”. We thus avoid the unpleasant surprises of overpriced invoices, against ready-made and unsuitable advice, without listening and without sharing.