A trustworthy and useful parenting lesson may be found via Megan Leahy Parent Coach’s online platform.
It doesn’t matter whether your kid is an infant, a toddler, a middle schooler, or a teenager; nothing can really prepare you for the actual day-to-day experience of parenting a child. It’s not easy, and while the sleepless hours spent with a newborn may seem like the hardest thing in the world, the reality is that parenting doesn’t get any easier as your children grow older; it simply changes in a different way. Join the club if you feel completely unprepared for the difficulties of parenting, both those that are occurring now and those that may occur in the future: A survey conducted in 2015 by Zero to Three found that the majority of parents (73%) consider parenting to be their most significant task.1
Fortunately, attending a parenting class can be of assistance. Taking parenting courses may do wonders for your confidence, helping you become more capable in all aspects of parenting and family life. A study review published in 2020 found that participating in parenting programs that are conducted online may assist to promote good parenting, parent confidence, and positive child behavior. They have also been shown to decrease unfavorable parent-child relationships, stress in parents, problem behaviors in children, and anxiety in children.2 Learn at your own pace and in your own time with the flexibility that comes with taking a parenting class online. It’s simpler than ever to join up, receive answers to your most challenging child-rearing issues, and put what you’ve learned into practice right away. The following are the top five online parenting courses available in 2023.
Best Online Parenting Classes of 2023
- Best Overall: Megan Leahy Parent Coach
- Best Value: Peace at Home Parenting Solutions
- Best for Co-Parenting: Crossroads of Parenting and Divorce by Active Parenting
Megan Leahy Parent Coach
- Price: $149/month (minimum of 6 months)
- Skills Taught: Conflict resolution; building stronger relationships
- Duration: 6 months
There is a good reason why Megan’s advice column in The Washington Post is so well-read: She is knowledgeable, insightful, and experienced in the world of families, which makes her online class a fantastic resource for parents who want more assistance.
Pros
- Approaches each member of the family as a unit
- You’ll get access to the class as soon as you’ve completed the registration process, and you’ll get to retain the materials you buy.
- You may get extra help from your peers by joining special Facebook groups.
Cons
- More costly than other options
- May be overwhelming for parents who need focused support
If you are a subscriber to The Washington Post, there is a good chance that you have read Meghan Leahy’s advice to parents on a variety of subjects. In addition to being a qualified parent coach, she also writes a parenting column for a major newspaper. In her column, she regularly offers advice to parents on how they may successfully navigate difficult scenarios with their children.
Leahy teaches parents how to respond to challenging circumstances like this in her online course called Club Grow the Good. She guides parents through the nitty-gritty of power struggles, discipline, family meetings, and forging relationships with their children via a series of 10 age-specific courses. Notably, she also takes a complete family approach to her class, urging parents to think as much about what they need as what their children need (since happy parents generate happy kids). This is an important aspect of her teaching style.
The simplicity, accessibility, and support that are already built into Leahy’s course set it apart from many of the other options available. As soon as you have completed the registration process, the class will begin, and you will be free to proceed at your own pace.
There are a range of learning options accessible, including monthly bonus calls and homework assignments. The program is open to spouses, partners, or carers, and members have permanent access to the course materials. In addition to this, you will have the opportunity to join a private Facebook group where other parents who have already completed the course may provide support, answer questions, and share helpful hints.
The class has a minimum commitment of six months and has a month-to-month fee of $149. Additionally, Leahy provides one-on-one coaching for parents at a cost of $1,580 for a total of six sessions.
Peace at Home Parenting Solutions
:fill(transparent):max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/Peace_At_homecopy-f63ce301b6c54070b02acc7786feb980.jpg)
- Price: Free for the basics; $197 annual subscription for access to all Quick Video Solution libraries, over 100 live interactive classes a year, and community support
- Skills Taught: Family wellness; schedules and routines; stress management
- Duration: Self-paced
There are no definitive manuals on parenting, but there is a resource called Peace at Home Parenting Solutions, which provides free live sessions and pre-recorded ones to help parents find answers to their most urgent issues about raising children.
Pros
- All classes offered for free
- Live and pre-recorded sessions that fit your schedule
- Hosted by licensed mental health professionals
Cons
- Presents basic info you can get elsewhere
- Limited approach to learning (i.e. mostly audio sessions)
Are you searching for a solution to a certain topic pertaining to parenting? It’s possible that one of the free online courses offered by Peace at Home might be of use.
There are live seminars that cover the fundamentals of parenting, as well as pre-recorded workshops that cram actionable advice into concise, digestible sessions that can be begun and completed in a single sitting. Both types of classes are available for free access.
There are advantages to be gained by using any of the class formats. If you sign up for a live class, the instructor will be there to answer your questions, and you’ll also have access to the recording of the class later in case you fell asleep during it or just want to listen to it again.
On the other hand, pre-recorded courses may be accessed and played whenever you choose (and provide you with all of the replay choices you want since you are aware that your children will most likely stop you).
The certified mental health experts, educators, social workers, and psychologists that make up the Peace at Home team offer topics such as parent wellbeing, routines, chores, sleep training, and stress management.
Although this class might not be the most comprehensive one available, you won’t have to pay a dime to get sound advice from seasoned parents who have been there and done that. It’s a win-win situation, especially considering that the lessons won’t take up too much of your valuable spare time.
You will get access to all of Quick Video Solution’s libraries, more than one hundred live interactive courses each year, and community assistance if you purchase an annual membership.
Crossroads of Parenting and Divorce by Active Parenting
:fill(transparent):max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/Active_parenting-2100b380dc8142318fe765928b3f101f.jpg)
- Price: $80
- Skills Taught: Co-parenting peacefully; creating a new “normal”
- Duration: 4-6 hours, self-paced with 3 weeks of access
This program will teach you how to handle all of your sticky relationship difficulties, including how to raise your children while working through the complexities of your new relationship if you are going through a divorce or separation.
Pros
- Considers different stages of your child’s life
- Helps you build a co-parenting relationship with your partner
- Strengths family bonds through changes
Cons
- You have a limited amount of time to use the materials
- Not available on any mobile devices
When a parent is going through a divorce or separation, the task of parenting becomes considerably more difficult since it is already difficult enough to figure out this whole parenting thing when you have a live-in spouse. It’s possible that your hobbies, parenting methods, and priorities are at odds with one another.
But does it imply that you’re destined to have disagreements over everything (and frighten your children in the process)? To our great relief, no. It is possible for divorced or separated parents to co-parent their children in a calm manner; nevertheless, doing so requires effort, willingness, and compromise.
Michael Popkin, PsyD, has created a series of online courses at Active Parenting to assist parents through the many ages and phases of their child’s life. These courses are designed to assist parents through the time when they are separating from their spouse and attempting to build a new “normal” for their family that is both healthy and happy.
This class, which is named Crossroads of Parenting and Divorce, simplifies the process of co-parenting by breaking it down into five distinct methods that are essential to fostering a positive connection with one’s parenting partner while also providing for one’s kid and putting the requirements of the child first.
The price of the course, which is roughly $80, is lower than that of similar offerings, however enrolling at that level does come with certain restrictions: After you have registered for the class, you will have three weeks to complete all of the course’s required hours (it will take you between four and six hours to go through the materials).