Parent Skills        A Reflection on the Impact of the P.E.T. skills on a Family, Nine Years After Attending the Course. "I would thoroughly recommend the Parent Effectiveness Training (PET) course. At the time that I did my course, I was pregnant with my youngest child and felt a little ill equipped to parent my four children. I had attended other parenting courses prior to this, but I was still searching for workable parenting strategies. The Parent Effectiveness Training course helped me in more ways than I knew. At the time there was a lot of information made available, but over the years I have found myself recalling some of the techniques and using them to find positive outcomes. Now when someone tells me what they want, I think of it as exactly that – It is what they want, not what they need. In that way it doesn’t seem to cause me as much stress, and I am quickly able to resolve any problems or conflict. I know that I have the strategies taught in the PET class to help me. (Parent Skill's note: P.E.T. helps parents differentiate between 'wants' and 'needs', noting that 'wants' are often a solution to an underlying need) The technique of active listening was also taught in the session. At the time I recall several of the men in the class coming to the realisation that they had never fully listened to the women they had been married to for over twenty years. That was something significant to witness. Now life is busier, and my children are older. I am working with them to teach them the basics of how to communicate respectfully. I can see changes taking shape in their own lives, as they now show more consideration to the needs of others. Its fantastic to see how one course has had such a positive impact in all our lives." Gail, mother of four.