Nearly twenty years ago, my sister and I studied Parent Effectiveness Training.
She had just done it and encouraged me to as well when I complained about how
hard I was finding it to discipline my two boys then aged 3 and nearly 5.
I had been looking at parenting courses and had bought books teaching how to
discipline effectively but nothing was working.
Time out with my oldest son led to him playing in his bedroom with absolutely no
lesson learned.
Worse, was his younger brother who screamed every time he was put into time out
and tears of frustration for all of us.
In desperation, I agreed to undertake the Parent Effectiveness Training, and was
quickly relieved to find that I didn’t have to memorise anything, or punish my
children, but that there were ‘simple’ tools to understand and practice.
I say ‘simple’ because yes, they are simple, but all this time later I am still practicing.
And teaching these skills has given me another level of understanding of them.
I am so grateful to my sister, not only for inspiring me to do P.E.T. but also for being
my practice buddy. Doing this at much the same time meant that we could call each
other whenever we were struggling to use the skills well. Many times, one of us has
reminded each other of ‘Roadblocks’ or to ‘Follow Up’.
I don’t know how I would have continued to improve without her support.
I’m sure I would have spoken to others in the group, but none would have so bluntly
asked ‘Ros, whose problem is that?’
I’m not saying you can’t do Parent Effectiveness Training without a study buddy. But
I am so grateful that I had one!
