Course outline
Parenting Skills
Child development, positive discipline, communication, and routines — a well-rounded course for any parent who wants a calmer, more connected household.
This course comes in lengths from 1 to 24 hours, so you can pick exactly what you need. If you're here because a length was required by court, an employer, or another program, just match that length on the pricing page — the content is the same either way, just more or less of it. Whichever length you choose, every course comes with an enrollment letter you can download the moment you enroll, so you have proof you've started right away, plus a certificate with a verification number once you finish. Your access never expires, and if you need more hours later, what you paid counts toward the longer course.
The full curriculum is 24 one-hour lessons. Shorter tiers unlock the same lessons starting from Hour 1 — pick the length you need on the pricing page. Every lesson is fully narrated. Hour 1 is free to try (the free lesson doesn't include a certificate); the rest open when you enroll.
HOUR 1
Foundations of Parenting
- Describe the four building blocks of healthy emotional development named by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
- Explain what responsive caregiving and serve and return mean in everyday life.
- Practice a simple three-step repair after a strained moment with a child.
- Identify what evidence-informed parenting means and why research findings are described with care.
HOUR 2
Child Development from Birth to Age Five
- Describe the four connected areas of early development and why each child grows at an individual pace.
- Explain how the revised milestone checklists work and what a missed milestone does and does not mean.
- Practice responsive routines, guided play and calm coaching that fit infants, toddlers and preschoolers.
- Identify when and how to share a developmental concern with a child's doctor.
HOUR 3
Child Development in Middle Childhood
- Describe the typical changes in independence, friendships and school life between ages six and eleven.
- Explain how chores, clear rules, specific praise and self-chosen goals support confidence.
- Practice coaching a child through a social problem by listening, naming the feeling and asking what to try.
- Identify what the research on growth mindset does and does not show.
HOUR 4
Understanding Adolescence
- Describe the early, middle and late stages of adolescence and what is typical in each.
- Explain how uneven brain development may relate to risk-taking and strong emotions in teens.
- Practice the regulate, relate, reason approach and other skills for talking with a teenager.
- Identify warning signs that call for a conversation with a doctor, school counselor or other professional.
HOUR 5
The Developing Brain and Early Experience
- Describe how serve and return exchanges support a child's communication and social skills.
- Explain the difference between positive, tolerable and toxic stress and the role of buffering relationships.
- Identify the main parts of executive function and when they typically begin to develop.
- Practice simple ways to respond to a child's serves and to scaffold new skills.
HOUR 6
Attachment and Secure Relationships
- Describe attachment and the idea of a secure base in plain language.
- Explain why attachment patterns describe relationships at a point in time and are not labels for children or grades for parents.
- Identify the features of responsive caregiving, including timely and steady responses and co-regulation.
- Practice a simple repair conversation to use after a strained moment.
HOUR 7
Parenting Styles and What the Research Says
- Describe the authoritative, authoritarian, permissive and neglectful styles in plain language.
- Explain the two dimensions of warmth and demandingness and why authoritative parenting is neither strict nor lenient.
- Identify what the research can and cannot show, including small effects, two-way influence and the role of culture.
- Practice small, concrete ways to add warmth or structure to a daily routine.
HOUR 8
Your Family Story and Your Parenting Values
- Describe how the experiences of growing up can shape automatic habits in parenting without determining them.
- Explain why research describes history as something that shapes tendencies and does not decide outcomes.
- Identify personal and family strengths that parents already hold.
- Practice a keep, adjust and add reflection to choose parenting values and turn them into routines.
HOUR 9
Communicating with Children: Listening and Talking
- Explain why talking with a child, and not only near them, supports language and connection.
- Practice active and reflective listening by giving full attention and naming the feeling you hear.
- Use age-appropriate words, a calm tone and open invitations when talking with young children, school-age children and teenagers.
- Use "I" statements that describe a behavior and a need without judging a child's character.
HOUR 10
Emotion Coaching
- Describe the five steps of emotion coaching and explain how each one supports a child.
- Explain the difference between accepting a feeling and permitting every behavior.
- Describe how co-regulation helps babies, toddlers and young children settle.
- Practice short phrases that name and validate a feeling and then set a calm limit.
HOUR 11
Connection, Play and Positive Attention
- Describe why the American Academy of Pediatrics report treats play with caring adults as valuable for young children.
- Practice child-led play by following a child's lead, describing what they do and giving specific praise.
- Explain what research can and cannot say about the amount of time parents spend with children.
- Identify small family rituals and moments of positive attention that fit a busy schedule.
HOUR 12
Expectations, Rules and Routines
- Explain why predictable routines and clear rules help children feel safe.
- Practice wording a few simple rules as the behavior you want to see and following through consistently.
- Describe how to build routines and ease transitions for toddlers, school-age children and teenagers.
- Identify what research says, and does not settle, about structured parenting programs such as Triple P.
HOUR 13
Encouragement, Praise and Reinforcement
- Explain the difference between encouragement, praise and reinforcement.
- Describe what research suggests about praising effort and strategies instead of fixed traits.
- Practice giving specific, sincere praise that a child can understand and repeat.
- Identify thoughtful ways to use rewards such as simple reward charts, including their limits.
HOUR 14
Discipline That Teaches
- Explain why discipline is best understood as teaching and not only as punishment.
- Describe what the American Academy of Pediatrics says about spanking and harsh verbal punishment and what major research reviews say about physical punishment, including the limits of that research.
- Practice calm follow-through using consistency, clear warnings, and natural or logical consequences.
- Identify how to use time-out well and how to restore the relationship after a limit has been set.
HOUR 15
Tantrums, Defiance and Power Struggles
- Explain why tantrums and defiance are common and what developing skills lie behind them.
- Describe preventive steps such as planning around hunger, tiredness and transitions, and offering small, real choices.
- Practice staying calm and responding to a tantrum with safety, few words, and emotion coaching afterward.
- Identify when persistent defiance may signal a need and when it is wise to seek professional help.
HOUR 16
Managing Your Own Stress and Emotions as a Parent
- Describe why stress is common among parents and how it can show up in the body and in behavior.
- Practice a pause and a simple repair after a hard moment with a child.
- Explain what researchers mean by parental burnout and what perinatal depression is, including that perinatal depression is treatable and that neither is a personal failing.
- Identify ways to ask for help and the importance of putting safety first.
HOUR 17
Parenting as a Team: Couples and Co-parenting
- Describe what researchers mean by co-parenting and how it differs from the romantic relationship between adults.
- Identify the four parts of co-parenting, which are agreement, fair division of labor, mutual support and keeping children out of the middle.
- Practice a regular check-in, an agreed pause and a short repair with the other adults who care for a child.
- Recognize that team advice assumes everyone can speak safely and explain where to turn when safety is a concern.
HOUR 18
Children and Family Change: Separation, Divorce and Blended Families
- Describe what research says about how children fare after separation and divorce, including its limits.
- Explain how to share news of a change with children in honest, simple and reassuring words.
- Practice protecting children from adult conflict and keeping routines steady across homes.
- Identify ways to support children and adults in blended families, and recognize when shared-parenting advice may not be safe.
HOUR 19
Keeping Children Safe at Home and Away
- Describe the main safe sleep recommendations for infants from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
- Explain the stages of car seat use and how to tell when a seat belt fits a child correctly.
- Identify the layers of protection that help prevent drowning and know where to turn for poison questions.
- Recognize the guidance on firearm storage and explain why a shared safety plan helps every caregiver.
HOUR 20
Health Habits: Sleep, Nutrition, Activity and Screens
- Describe the recommended ranges of sleep for children and teenagers at different ages.
- Identify practical, low-pressure ways to offer new foods and the cautions for foods and drinks in the early years.
- Explain recommended amounts of active play and how the main health organizations differ on numeric screen limits.
- Practice creating a family media plan that includes every family member, adults included.
HOUR 21
Supporting Learning and School Success
- Describe what research suggests about parent expectations, involvement and children's school achievement.
- Explain how shared and interactive reading supports language and connection.
- Practice a calm homework routine and an early, friendly partnership with teachers.
- Identify the basic difference between Section 504 and IDEA and the first steps toward asking for an evaluation.
HOUR 22
Friends, Peers and Bullying
- Describe ways caregivers can support friendships and healthy peer relationships.
- Explain how bullying differs from ordinary conflict using the StopBullying.gov definition.
- Practice steps for supporting a child who is being bullied, including online.
- Identify ways to respond to a child who bullies others by describing the behavior and supporting repair.
HOUR 23
Hard Experiences: Trauma, Loss and Preventing Harm
- Explain what adverse childhood experiences are and why they are not destiny for any child.
- Describe how steady, responsive relationships and trauma-informed responses support a child after loss or frightening events.
- Identify general signs of distress, remembering that signs can have many causes, and describe how to respond if a child shares something troubling.
- Practice body safety conversations and know the steps to take when a child may be in danger.
HOUR 24
Your Family Plan and Moving Forward
- Identify the strengths, relationships and routines that already support your family.
- Describe a simple repair habit that helps a family reconnect after a hard moment.
- Explain how a support network for both children and adults strengthens a family plan.
- Practice choosing a review rhythm so that your family plan can grow and change over time.