"The PET course is an eye-opener. I realised that my children are individuals with their own perceptions. I started treating them with more respect, and now they are treating each other with more respect."  

Format

The program focuses on one or both parents and is currently presented in Gauteng and surrounding areas, the Freestate and the Western Cape.

The preferred method is small face-to-face classes, with a maximum of 12 participants, so ensuring individual attention and participation. Depending on instructor and/or specific participants’ needs, the program format could vary:

8 weeks: One session of 3 hours per week,
5 weeks: One session of 4 hours per week,
Weekend courses, or
Individual sessions over 12 weeks.

Program fees include:

  • Dr. Gordon’s Parent Effectiveness Training textbook
  • Dr. Gordon’s Parent Effectiveness Training workbook
  • Certificate of attendance.

For those who cannot attend classes, there are some alternatives:

A full self-study course in DOL (currently only available in Afrikaans) consisting of a set of 8CDs, Workbook and Handbook, plus telephone or e-mail consulting.
The PET Handbook is available on CD.

Course Structure and Overview

Module 1

Program Overview
“Effective Parent” concept
Understand the behavior rectangle
Problem ownership
PET goals
Setting objectives
What are communication roadblocks?

Module 2

Alternatives to communication roadblocks
The skill of ‘Active Listening’
Applying the skill of ‘Active Listening’ when your child is experiencing a problem

Module 3

Honing the skill of ‘Active Listening’
Non-verbal communication
‘Active Listening’ to very young children

Module 4

Confronting unacceptable behavior
Awareness of ineffective ways of communication
‘I-Messages’
Shifting gears – using both ‘Active Listening’ and ‘I-messages’

Module 5

Applying I-messages
Effective self-awareness
Avoidance of ineffective confrontation
Effective confrontation – ‘I-messages’
Handling of resistance
Positive I-messages
Preventative I-messages
Declarative I-messages
Change your environment to prevent conflict

Module 6

Conflict resolution
Ineffective ways of conflict resolution

  • Method I – The authoritarian parent
  • Method II – The permissive parent
  • Method III – The win-win method

Module 7

The six steps of problem solving
Method II for family situations

Module 8

Value Collisions
Distinguish between value collisions and needs collisions
Different skills to handle value collisions
Program evaluation

The main philosophy on which the course is based is the statement: “Children don't misbehave. They simply behave in ways that satisfy their particular needs at the moment."