Find resources / Group parenting programme / Managing our stress / What stresses you?

• Identify stressors and their possible causes.
• Develop strategies for keeping calm during parenting challenges.

As a group, brainstorm the things that stress people most about their parenting. Record the ideas on a whiteboard or flip chart.

Each participant then rates their top 3 stressors on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the most stressful).

In pairs, discuss:

• What are your stressors and why have you rated them as you have?
• What might be some of the causes of these stressors for you?

Share with the full group and discuss the common stressors:

• Is there a top three across the full group?
• Are the likely causes of each stressor common too?

In pairs or small groups:

• Discuss what might be happening in our brains during these times.
• Think about possible strategies to a) avoid stress, or b) alleviate stress.

Small groups can share with the bigger group to create a shared list of strategies for everyone.

• You could also type up the list of strategies to hand out at the next session.

Ask parents to draw up their own list of strategies.

• Give out Tākai magnets to hang up the strategies on their fridges at home.