Nobody's Perfect Parenting

Nobody’s Perfect is a moderated six week parenting education and support program for parents of children up to five years old.

This excellent program was originally developed in 1988 by Government Services Canada for at risk parents in isolated communities, and it is now widely offered to population at large. The meetings are once a week for six consecutive weeks and the group size varies depending on where the program is given, but is seldom over 10 people.

Each meeting is themed around one of the program topics, with lots of opportunity to bring individual experiences and concerns to the group. Participants benefit from the opportunity to come together with other parents of young children to discuss parenting – the program encourages mothers and fathers to make community connections, find new resources and make new friends. The moderators are highly skilled and have to have special training and accreditation to run this program.

Children do not normally accompany the parent in these meetings (baby / infant groups excepted), and many providers will arrange concurrent child-minding so that lack of babysitting will not be a barrier to attending. Some providers also have small subsidies for transport. All meetings have breaks with healthy and delicious snacks.

The program participants are given booklets on different aspects of parenting and child development. Enough cannot be said on the usefulness of these simple publications. They are easy to read, and full of common sense – in our eyes superior and more comprehensive than many expensive books.

Nobody’s Perfect is a free program, and offered locally mostly through Family Places, with assistance from Family Services of Greater Vancouver and Health Authorities.

The outcomes of this program have been researched and documented, and results clearly show an increase in, and ability to maintain, parenting resourcefulness, warm/positive parent-child interactions, sense of parenting competency and satisfaction, as well as use of community resources amongst participants. Highly recommended!