Parenting Education Classes

There are many wonderful opportunities to improve your parenting skills. Generally, everything most of us know about parenting is based on how we were parented. Research in the last decade has given us new insights into the development of young children, which is reflected in new approaches to parenting.

Taking a parenting class has many added benefits: your teacher is an experienced parenting mentor, you will get to know other parents with children the same age as yours, and it gives you an opportunity to get out of the house and focus on your child from a more intellectual perspective.

• Parents Place: With offices in Marin, San Francisco, and on the Peninsula (Palo Alto is closest), offers "everything to do with parenting" for families with children of all ages. You can call them for professional advice, sign up for a special workshop, ask about adult, child and family counseling, attend a peer support group, come to their drop-in play area with your child, and there are even more services!
• Children's Health Council: Classes at the Children’s Health Council are designed to help parents understand the themes and developmental tasks of various stages of childhood and adolescence.
• Santa Clara Unified School District has these parent participation preschools:
  • Wilson Preschool
  • Santa Clara Parents Nursery School
  • Sunnyvale Parent Preschool
• The Youth Services division of the Santa Clara City Library offers free parenting lecturers and programs on a wide range of topics on a monthly basis during the school year. Check the monthly Kid's Calendar for information.
• Santa Clara Unified School District Parent Education sponsors free lectures at several venues, including the Santa Clara City Library. You can check this list to see what is scheduled. Many classes are conducted in Spanish.

Enrolling your child in a parent participation is really enrolling yourself in parent ed classes. Parent education is central to the mission of this type of preschool.

For more information about Parenting Education, please see our Resources webpage.