New 2009, 4th edition is available!

Parenting Piece by Piece is a curriculum guide for a series of eight parenting education sessions and three optional sessions. It was originally designed for use with parents who have been mandated to attend parenting training due to their identification as abusive and/or neglectful parents. The current edition also includes guidelines for adapting the program for use with incarcerated parents or with the caregivers of children whose parents have lost custody.

Each session outline includes objectives, a list of required materials, background references, detailed activity descriptions, handouts, and suggestions for "homework" or take-home activities that will help parents expand on the session's content and experiences.

The curriculum is specially designed to meet the needs of audiences that are resistant and resentful, have limited understanding of children's development and needs, and do not see themselves as being able to impact the children's behavior. Sessions address normal child development, communication with adults and children, stress management, dealing with conflict and anger, discipline, and use of community resources. The optional sessions address attachment and parenting or co-parenting from a distance.

Materials include a binder with all session outlines; a DVD-based montage of children; and a CD with all handouts - including Spanish-language versions, supplementary guidelines and materials, photos, and an audio file and video for use with the sessions.

For more information regarding the content of this program, please contact Judith Myers-Walls at 765/494-2959 or jmyerswa@purdue.edu.

Ordering Information

Curriculum Package: $60.00 | Order form

• Introduction
• Table of Contents
• Session 1: Know Your Own Strengths
• Session 3: Stress and Balance
• Session 6: Discipline with Smiles, Not Tears
• Optional Session C: Co-Parenting from a Distance
• Suggestions for Working with Caregivers

Program Format

Each session outline includes objectives, a list of required materials, background references, detailed activity descriptions, and suggestions for take-home activities that will help parents expand on the session’s content and experiences.

Sessions address:

• normal child development
• communication with adults and children
• stress management
• dealing with conflict and anger
• discipline
• use of community resources

Program Goals

The overall goal of the program is to reduce or eliminate instances of child maltreatment by participating parents. The method for achieving this goal is providing educational and social experiences that increase the use of positive parenting practices, which create an environment that facilitates the development of caring, competent, and healthy children. More specifically, the program attempts to help parents to:

• recognize personal and parenting strengths
• celebrate life with their children
• observe and understand their children and their development
• manage stress in themselves and in their children
• listen and attend to their children’s feelings and ideas
• model appropriate desired behavior for children and use other positive behavior-management techniques
• learn problem-solving skills and teach them to their children
• establish and maintain reasonable limits
• find, use, and create community resources when needed to benefit their children and the community of children
• recognize the benefits of building relationships with family, neighborhood, and community groups

Sample Program Outcomes

During the piloting of this program, one educator delivered the program to 30 parents with the following results:

• By the end of the series, over 60% of the respondents were less likely to say they wished that they were better at parenting.
• Approximately 75% of the parents gave themselves a better parenting "grade."

In the area of guidance and discipline:

• 43% of the parents were less likely to catch the child doing something wrong, and 29% were more likely to catch them doing something right.
• Over 57% reported that they had told their children that they were proud of them more often at the end of the course than at the beginning.
• Over 38% reported they had spanked their children less at the end of the course, and half had changed a rule to fit the child’s developmental stage.

Regarding their own well-being:

• 64% of the parents reported a drop in the amount of time they felt "at wit’s end."
• One had reported a decrease in the amount of help they felt they needed as parents
• 57% were more likely to report that they had taken time for themselves in the previous week.

Parent comments:

• "Every parent is different and there can be more than one correct way to good parenting."
• "Anyone and everyone can be good parents if they really want to be."
• "Patience, understanding, and also communication are three good keys to parenting. Be gentle."

Parenting Piece by Piece was reviewed and accepted for inclusion in the Children, Youth, and Families Educational Resources Database, 2001.

For more information:

Judith A. Myers-Walls
Associate Professor and Extension Specialist
Purdue University
Department of Child Development and Family Studies
Fowler House, Room 219
1200 W. State Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907-2055
Phone: (765) 494-2959
Fax: (765) 494-0503
E-mail: jmyerswa@purdue.edu