Parenting 101 – support for everyday life and parenthood
Remote events about the foundational skills of parenting offer practical, low-threshold support for families with children. The events are especially aimed parents with children of day-care age, addressing everyday challenges such as screen time, emotional skills and the role of a parent.
Where did it all start?
Social counsellor Susanna Ruiz says that the group started as part of phenomenon-based development work in 2023, when workers from different areas got together to reflect on what kind of phenomena they have noticed in their client work and what kind of group activities would be helpful.
“I was interested in topics related to parenting and neurodivergence, and me and the other workers started to consider how to help develop basic parenting skills. The idea of a pop-up group came up right at the start – it seemed like the right direction straight away,” says Ruiz.
The planning for the group started with a survey targeted at the parents of children in early childhood education and care or in grades 1 to 3 as well as professionals working with children of that age. The survey was used to explore everyday challenges and parents’ support needs.
“The parents brought up a lack of structure in everyday life, managing screen time and the need to support emotional skills. The professionals, on the other hand, felt that parents are facing challenges in how they raise their children – they are afraid to set boundaries, and the children have a hard time processing their emotions,” Ruiz points out.
The pilot stage of the activities was launched, and the first group events were organised in person in Espoo in 2024. The events brought together a decent group of participants and, based on feedback from the families, the content of the events was further developed.
Susanna Ruiz’ planning team was joined by her colleague Katariina Koivisto soon after she started working in the same team in family social work.
Katariina Koivisto says that leading the group was a new and inspiring way for of working for her:
“This has been a completely new way of working. It has been great to see how a low-threshold event can reach parents who might not otherwise participate in any group activities.”
Remote events offer peer support and expertise
The team considered organising group activities as a remote event to lower the threshold of participating even further. The first Teams events were organised already in autumn 2024, and participants could also join anonymously. This has been an important element of the concept – participants can come and listen without any commitment or having to share personal information.
“The aim is that anyone can join. We are scratching the surface of everyday parenting – what you should consider to make everyday life go smoothly. The events don’t require any commitment from participants, you can just come and listen as much as you like,” Koivisto says.
The events are a combination of expert talks and discussion. Participants can ask questions, which, in the best-case scenario, will lead to peer support discussions.
Great help in everyday life from small insights
Even though the events are not group discussions first and foremost, they do offer parents the opportunity to take a breath in the middle of everyday life and get concrete parenting tips.
In one event, the parents talked together about how they set boundaries for their children in different ways. The conversation produced a lot of insights and proved that there is no single way to be a parent,” says Ruiz.
The feedback has especially highlighted the practical approach and encouraging atmosphere:
“Important basics. It’s always good to go over things and get reassurance that you’re on the right track.”
“Good examples and insights. The presenters seemed really warm and professional.”
Group events promote development – and will also undergo development
Ruiz and Koivisto find the work rewarding and that the events have also developed their personal work.
“This has been a new way of working. It’s great that we can influence several families at once and offer peer support, even if it’s remote.”
“It has also made us eager to develop services and raise awareness of family social work.”
Going forward, the aim is to go out to the units of early childhood education and care and develop presentation material that can be used in parents’ evenings, for example. There have also been requests for versions in English and Swedish.
“It’s a dream of ours that we are working toward – to be able to take our efforts directly where the parents are.”
Take part in the autumn events: Parenting 101: Skills for Family Life – autumn online events
More information on the activities: Pauliina Pitkäjärvi, Service Unit Manager, firstname.lastname@luvn.fi.
- Family centre