Incredible Years

Incredible Families runs the Incredible Years course in the Wellington Wairarapa area.

For information about courses in your area please contact the Ministry of Education https://education.govt.nz/our-work/contact-us/regional-ministry-contacts

The Incredible Years basic parenting programme is for parents and caregivers of children 3–8 years old.

It is designed to develop positive family relationships and empower parents to make changes and to manage difficult behaviour.

Why attend Incredible Years?

• Learning parenting skills in a supportive group is effective and fun.
• The course is facilitated by health and education professionals experienced in helping children and their families, including those with special needs.
• Weekly phone calls from a facilitator help you make ideas from the course work for your unique child and family.
• Research has shown that the Incredible Years programme changes behaviour and those changes are maintained over time.

What is covered?

Play

• How to Play with Your Child
• Helping Children Learn

Praise and Rewards

• The Art of Effective Praising
• Tangible Rewards

Effective Limit Setting

• How to Set Limits
• Helping Children Learn to Accept Limits
• Dealing with Noncompliance

Handling Misbehaviour

• Avoiding and Ignoring Misbehaviour
• Time Out and Other Consequences
• Preventive Strategies

Can anyone attend?

To attend this course you need to:

• care for at least one 3–8 year old. We are not funded to provide places for participants who don’t care for children in this age range.
• have access to the child. Participants practise the skills they learn in course sessions at home with their child. If you have only limited access to your child please let us know when you enrol so we can discuss whether the course is going to be useful for you.

How long is the course?

The Incredible Years Parenting Programme consists of one session per week for 14–16 weeks. Each session is normally two and a half hours long.

Daytime courses do not run during the school holidays, but evening courses do.

Before the course begins a facilitator will ring you to organise a visit to complete pre-course paperwork and discuss your needs.

What does it cost?

This is a free programme. Courses are funded by a variety of sources including the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and grants.

Assistance with paying for childcare and transport may be available depending on our funding and your personal circumstances.

When and where?

We normally offer a number of morning courses throughout the Wellington region. We also try and run at least one evening course a year. We usually start new courses in February/March and July/August.

Information about upcoming courses is here and our registration form is here.

You can also contact

Enrolment process

Once our courses are scheduled, we need to receive a completed registration form in order to reserve a place for you. When we receive your form we will either send you confirmation of your registration or let you know that you have been placed on our waiting list if the course is already full.

Our courses are usually oversubscribed, so we recommend that you send in your registration form as soon as possible. For more information please use the contact details below.

Contact

For more information please contact:

Incredible Families Charitable Trust

Jane Dunbier
Email:jane@edresources.co.nz
0274 182 671

For courses organised by the Ministry of Education, you can contact:
Ministry of Education – Special Education
Christine Hendra
(04) 439 4642
PO Box 30-177, Lower Hutt

Parent comments

“Since we started this programme we have turned our whole family around.

Our children have totally changed and we see this in their behaviour at home and school – it’s all great”

“The Incredible Years programme has given me more confidence in my parenting along with tools and strategies for handling difficult behaviour.”