I have got a child 5-11 years old

“How do you know you’re getting things right?”

When your child is 5-11 years old you will start to find new experiences and challenges. This section will give you information to support you and your family through this stage of life. If at any time you feel you can't find what you are looking for please use our 'ask anything' page.

Parenting courses, groups and services

Meeting with other parents gives you the chance to share experiences and ideas, learn new skills, get advice and information and most importantly you will feel better equipped to cope.

Some of the main courses and groups for this age range are:

• Family Foundations - Family Foundations is a parenting programme for families struggling with the behaviour of their children at home or at school.
• Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities - is a community based programme for mums, dads and carers to help them develop their strategies for dealing with difficult situations with their children, build good relationships, share their values and manage anger and conflict in the home.
• “Time Out for Parents” - Family Matters York, in partnership with Positive Parenting have trained teams of practitioners linked to a number of York’s primary school to offer mums, dads and carers taster parenting sessions and longer parenting courses.
• School Home Support - Workers are based in school and support children who face any kind of barriers to their learning.
• Speakeasy - Does the thought of talking to your children about sex and relationships worry or confuse you? Speakeasy is a new course designed just for mums, dads and carers in York.

Look at our service directory to find local parenting courses, groups and services for parents or carers of children aged five to eleven. (opens in a new window).

Parenting websites, helplines and text services

• Parent Know How is a set of national services for parents or carers. They deal with a wide range of topics and can be accessed in lots of different ways. Look at our Parent Know How page to see which service might be best for you!
• There are also wide range of other websites and helplines for families. Take a look at our service directory to find a service that can meet your need (opens in a new window).

Top Tips!

• Children don't come with a handbook! The Family Information Service have asked parents and carers for their 'top tips' to pass onto others. These tips won't work for every different type of family but you may find something that you can use.

Disability or additional needs?

• CANDI stands for Children AND Inclusion. It is a parent led forum for parents or carers of children with disabilities or additional needs.
• If you're child has a disability or additional need then there are lots of different services which may be of use. You can search through what is available online through the service directory or contact the Family Information Service to talk through your options.

Separating or Lone parent?

• If you are going through a separation or are a lone parent then there are range of services available which can offer you information and support (opens in a new window). If you can't find what you are looking for then please contact the Family Information Service.
• Discover Yourself - is a training programme designed with Lone Parents in mind. Its aim is to help each person who attends the training to make realistic choices about how they can get more out of life.