University of Maine Cooperative Extension
Parenting Education

Care for Self	Understand	Guide	Nurture	Motivate	Advocate

Build	Frame	Develop	Educate	Grow	Embrace

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Parenting educators face tough challenges as they teach and support parents. Educators need research-based information on child development and critical parenting practices to share with parents. They also need models that support their own professional development. Cooperative Extension has the tools to help with both!

The National Extension Parent Education Model (NEPEM) was developed to provide a set of priority parent practices that focus exclusively on what parents’ can do to enhance the well-being of their children. These practices are the "what" of parenting education – the core content areas, fundamental skills, and critical parenting practices that are at the heart of classes and workshops. These practices are significant across the full range of childhood and adolescence. Each recommended practice is backed up by the most pertinent research. Educators can use NEPEM as a guide for development of parent education programs, educational materials, and evaluation of program impacts.

The model rests on key assumptions regarding parents and their relationships to their children:

• Parents are primary teachers of their children.
• Parenting attitudes, knowledge, skills, and behaviors can be positively influenced by parent education efforts.
• Parenting is a learned skill that can be strengthened through study and experience.
• Parent education is more effective when parents are active participants in and contributors to their parent education programs.
• The parent-child relationship is nested within and influenced by multiple social and cultural systems.
• Programs should be responsive to diversity among parents.
• Effective parent education may be accomplished by a variety of methods.
• Both the parent and the child have needs that should be met.
• The goal of parent education is strengthening and educating the parent or caregiver so that he or she is better able to facilitate the development of caring, competent, and healthy children.

The model or NEPEM has six categories of priority parenting practices.
Each one is identified by a special symbol:

	Care for Self is knowing and understanding oneself, managing life’s demands, and establishing clear direction.
	Understand is observing and understanding children and their development.
	Guide is establishing and maintaining reasonable and loving limits, and helping children to be self-responsible.
	Nurture is expressing affection and compassion, teaching kindness, and fostering children’s self-respect and hope.
	Motivate is stimulating children’s curiosity, imagination, and the search for knowledge of themselves and the world around them.
	Advocate is using community services when needed, stimulating social change, and building neighborhood and community relationships.

Professional Development

Educators’ professional development is supported by the National Extension Parenting Educators’ Framework (NEPEF). It is organized in the same way as NEPEM, outlining six critical educational processes – the "how" or skills of teaching parenting.

	Grow is growing as a professional, knowing oneself and how we relate to others.
	Frame is knowing theoretical frameworks that guide practice in the field of parenting education.
	Develop is the planning, marketing and evaluation of programs.
	Embrace is recognizing and responding to differences in ethnicity, family type, and belief systems among parents.
	Educate is being an effective teacher, knowing how to use various delivery methods, and helping parents develop as life-long learners.
	Build is reaching out to build networks, being a community advocate, and connecting organizations to expand the field of parenting education.

Parenting educators can use both models – the practices of NEPEM and the processes of NEPEF - to assess their strengths and the areas where they are doing well. They can also get insights into what areas they might want to learn more about.

This material is reproduced with permission. Debord, K., Goddard, H. W., & Myers-Walls, J. A., Bower, D., Mulroy, M., Kirby, J., Ozretich, R. A., & Kobbe, A. M. (2002). National Extension Parenting Educators’ Framework. Cooperative Extension System.

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Last Modified: 08/29/07
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