P.E.T. Parent Effectiveness Training Testimonials

“The PET course has genuinely affected the way I engage with my kids, wife and even my staff!

Being a Dad of four kids from eight years old down to one year old, I have swung from believing I knew everything there is to know about raising a child to thinking that parenting is a lost cause and I am just along for the ride.

PET connected with me as it wasn’t a magical parenting formula to follow and that I didn’t need to be the perfect parent. Instead it was a set of communication skills that recognized that I as a parent have important needs and that my child also has important needs and these skills help us both get what we need. Previously, I felt guilty if I met my work/social/sporting needs at the cost of my child’s needs. Other times I felt frustrated when my child’s needs were met at the cost of mine. Finding skills to get what we both need in win-win situations has helped immensely.

After the first session of real practicing and tutorials, I was amazed at how helpful the single skill of active listening was for engaging my kids. I suddenly started paying attention in this first session as I realized how valuable these seemingly simple communication skills are. The practice in the sessions was crucial for me to get the confidence to put it into practice.

I now engage my kids in a connected and meaningful way each day, I feel that my kids deeply respect me for connecting with them and I suddenly feel more present when I am with my family.

I now have the skills to have deeper and more meaningful relationships with my kids. I will be able to communicate my values to them and I will be ready to help them through the difficult issues that they will face in life.”

“This course gave me a new outlook into my own education and the traps it has created in the way I look after (my son). It reminded me that what I called “instinct” was more a repetition of what was done to me. Attending this course makes me feel (again) that opening up to new ideas, teachings, discussions is key to my relationship with my son and myself. Furthermore, I’ve been integrating some of these communication techniques into my broader life with powerful outcomes.
Finally, my Instructor was very generous with her time and great at guiding exchange amongst participants, making this course a real learning experience.”

“The Parent Effectiveness Training course was genuinely enlightening, practical and impactful. What I learned in the course has improved my relationships at home as well as at work. Additionally, taking the course with other parents (who have children of all ages) provided a level of inspirational peer sharing and learning that I had not initially anticipated.”

“Recently my husband and I attended the P.E.T. course. I describe the course and the skills learned as the missing puzzle piece! As parents we knew how we didn’t want to parent – no smacking, no threatening, no bribing or punishing, yet we struggled to find an appropriate alternative and were at risk of being too ‘soft’. Using P.E.T. has helped us to fill in the blanks and provided us with those much needed alternatives. The benefit of doing the course together has meant that my husband and I are now on the same page in terms of our parenting styles. Our confidence to be the parents we want to be has returned.
Both our children, despite being very different in personality, have responded well to us acknowledging their feelings and working together to find solutions that work for the whole family. Our Instructor continually models the P.E.T skills, giving us first hand experience of the gentle, yet assertive style she is advocating. We are very grateful to have had the P.E.T. experience with her and believe that we will be better parents as a result!”

“As a parent have you found yourself in a world of ‘consequences, time outs and 1-2-3….’ to get action from your child or just to get them to listen! You are not even sure how you got there, you are not happy being there, but you have no idea what other options you have?

Well P.E.T has changed all that for us.

With one of our children incredibly strong minded, everything became a power struggle.
The more we tried to get him to do something or stop him from doing something, the more he would challenge, the more charged our tempers would become; and the ‘moment’ would escalate into yelling, frustration, anger…for both parent and child. The time and energy it was taking to navigate everyday things was becoming exhausting. Why? What were we doing wrong? How can it be this hard?

There had to be a better way! P.E.T.
Before even completing P.E.T. we noticed a remarkable difference in the behaviour of both ourselves and our child. Our home environment has become calmer, more loving, happier, and huge amounts of time and energy are no longer being wasted resolving disputes. We are committed to P.E.T. being our new way of life, throwing previous parenting advice out the window! “I feel…”, “my needs are…”, “what could a solution be?” are becoming the common language in our home. As a parent, being open and honest about how we are feeling toward our child’s behaviour and how it is impacting us is liberating; creating a more harmonious family environment.

Our Instructor’s facilitation of P.E.T made it easy to understand and enjoyable to learn. She kept the entire group engaged and interested throughout the entire day. It was particularly refreshing to have her share many of her own first hand experiences of using P.E.T. with her own children. She encouraged group participation through open conversation, interaction, lots of examples and on the course practice.

P.E.T. has changed our world, and we can honestly recommend it to all parents.”

“When I first started P.E.T. I was struggling with my 2 little kids – a girl aged 3 and a boy aged 1.5. There was lots of shouting by all family members in the house and it was achieving nothing. I was desperate to try something new and reign back control of my life.
I didn’t really think it would work on my very young kids, but time and time again, it has. I’m so glad that I did this course when they were so young as it gives me lots of time to practice! I’ve become a much calmer mummy around my kids as I now know how to handle problematic situations. Our household now talks about problems instead of bottling them up and is a much more loving family unit. I’ve also tried the skills on my husband and friends and the difference in how conversations and situations have evolved is unbelievable. With P.E.T. both parties end up happy, a win-win situation for everyone!”

“The most amazing things in the world are just starting to happen in my family, thanks to P.E.T.
My 4-year-old, without asking gets up from the breakfast table, washes his hands, gets dressed, cleans his room! Seeing the change in him and how active listening alone, has helped my communication with my nearly 3-year-old twins. This makes me feel so proud of them and gives me belief, that my dream of having a close, loving connected family can be a reality.
I know now, I will never go back to the only discipline I knew. No more screaming, no more time outs. The shame I felt, when I smacked one of my kids; I know this was wrong, and this was making me feel sad and more anxious every day. I knew I had to change.
Parent Effectiveness Training came my way, and as soon as I read the words, “active listening,” I was in! This was the best investment, worthy of my time.
I can spend $$$ on making the cosmetic appearance of my home appealing, but to pay under $400 on something that hits the heart of our home is the best feeling.
Thank you, for giving all your professional knowledge. The way that you taught Parent Effectiveness Training, was inspiring. You helped me believe that I can change into the parent and person, that I am now proud to be.”