Family Lives has supported parents and families for over 30 years and we know that when it comes to raising a family, instructions aren’t included.
Funded by the Department for Education, our new campaign and programme of work aims to build the confidence, resilience, and parenting skills of all family members who have caring responsibilities.
The Instructions Not Included campaign will help promote a shift in attitudes so that seeking support is seen as a sign of strength. By unlocking the power of parents and families to help themselves and one another, we will reach out to more families, overcome more barriers to support, and help to prevent the escalation of parenting problems.
The scale and intensity of the challenges of family life in Britain today are growing and families are telling us that they want support. In our recent survey of over 1,000 families, 90% of respondents stated that they believed parents would benefit from parenting information and advice.
What we're doing
Click on the links below to discover how our campaign will work, where related activities will be, and who we will be working with:
- Volunteering in local communities and supporting others who work with volunteers
- Working with professionals
What parents have told us
In June 2011 we conducted a survey, which revealed an urgent need for accessible routes to parenting advice and support. Key finds from the survey were:
- 90% of respondents stated that they believed parents would benefit from advice and information on effective ways of coping with their child’s behaviour, and other common parenting problems.
- 79% of respondents felt that currently there is too little reliable information on parenting.
- Although 78% of respondents felt that accessing parenting support was now more socially acceptable than in the past, 62% had not sought support for a parenting problem that they were experiencing.
- 61% of respondents felt the stigma of being seen as ‘not being able to cope’ was a barrier to accessing services.
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