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 Nurturing
is the ability to provide loving care and attention, to foster growth
in others and ourselves. Everyone in a family -- parents and children
-- needs to be nurtured. We all need limits and rules, structure
and safety, and networks of support that offer recognition, understanding,
warmth, respect, and praise. All of these are part of nurturing.
Nurturing Programs bring parents and children together to learn,
have fun, and build supportive relationships with other community
families. The Family Nurturing Center of Massachusetts is the statewide
recognized training institution for Nurturing Program Training and
Development. Since 1995, FNC has worked in partnership with neighborhood
groups, childcare centers, family service agencies, shelters, health
centers, and schools to offer a variety of Nurturing Programs across
Boston and the Commonwealth. Now reaching hundreds of families each
year, these programs strengthen family relationships, improve parenting
skills, and build a sense of community that makes it easier for
families to withstand the stress of raising children.
What are the Nurturing Programs?
Nurturing Programs are validated, internationally recognized curricula
that promote nurturing relationships among all family members while
building community connections to support positive parenting. Nearly
20 years ago, Stephen
Bavolek, Ph.D. field-tested and published the first Family Nurturing
Program curriculum as a tool for strengthening families and enhancing
parenting skills. Over the past two decades, people across the country
and in several other nations have used the curriculum as a strong
foundation for family support and education, adapting it to the
unique needs of many types of families and cultures. The Family
Nurturing Center of Massachusetts is part of a national network
of consultants and centers that train and assist others in implementing
Nurturing Programs.
The Family Nurturing Center works in partnerships with others to
offer a variety of Nurturing Programs in Boston and across Massachusetts.
We use the original curriculum (Nurturing Program
for Parents and Children), as well as several adaptations (Prenatal,
Teen Parent, Nurturing Fathers,
Nurturing Program for Families in Recovery),
and we have developed our own specialized programs to meet the needs
of the communities we serve (Nurturing Our Babies,
Birth and Foster Family, Cape
Verdean Nurturing Program).
No matter what the format or targeted audience, all Nurturing Programs
share the same goals and reflect core values underlying the original
curriculum.
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Nurturing Program Core Values
- Love of life, self, and others
- Respect for self, others, and the environment
- Structure and discipline
- Fun and laughter
Goals of the Nurturing Program
- Develop positive self-concept and self-esteem in all family
members
- Build empathic awareness of the needs of others
- Teach positive discipline and alternatives to hitting and yelling
- Increase awareness of self needs and strengths
- Enhance family communication
- Raise awareness about developmental needs of other family members
- Substitute nurturing values and behaviors for abusive parenting
practices
- Promote healthy physical and emotional development of self
and others
- Build family cohesion
- Connect families to families for exchange and support
- Learn to have fun as a family and as a community
How do Nurturing Programs work?
 The
Nurturing Program is a series of classes for families to take together.
Sometimes these classes are brought to one family in their home.
Most often, they are held at a community meeting place where families
can come together in a group to learn nurturing skills. Trained
nurturing teams, made up of professionals and volunteers representative
of the families they serve, deliver group-based programs at convenient
locations, providing transportation when needed. Most serve 8-10
families at a time, with approximately 20-40 parents and children
participating. The time and frequency of meetings depends on the
curriculum used. In most cases, there are 15 weekly sessions, lasting
3 hours each week.
Parents and children usually attend the Nurturing Program together
and learn the same skills. This helps families get along better
and establish a nurturing way of life. By bringing groups of families
together, we also build more nurturing communities that support
parents and reinforce nurturing values.
The program helps participants explore the meaning of nurturing
and how each of us has learned to nurture others and ourselves.
Through self awareness and skill-building activities participants:
increase empathy and positive use of personal power; develop realistic
expectations of children and more appropriate family roles; and
decrease reliance on hitting, yelling, and other harsh forms of
discipline. The program also builds connection, support, and a sense
of community by providing opportunity for sharing and exchange among
participants.
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10 Steps to
Starting a Community Nurturing Program
Approximate time required: 6-12 months.
- Gather a group of 3-5 committed and energetic people who will
work together to lead implementation efforts from now until program
completion.
- Contact the Family Nurturing Center to schedule a planning meeting.
Together you will develop a program implementation strategy including
timeline, staffing plan, budget needs, and financing plan for
your program implementation.
- If necessary, expand your working group to ensure that necessary
leadership roles will be covered: coordination, parent team leader,
children's team leader, resource development and management.
- Obtain resources for team training, curriculum supplies, and
program delivery.
- Send at least 2 people to a 2-day FNC's Developing Nurturing
Families and Communities to become acquainted with the nurturing
philosophy and core concepts taught during the program.
- Sponsor a 2-day training in your community to inspire interest
and recruit volunteers.
- Identify additional facilitators and volunteers needed for
the program. Develop a staffing plan.
- Finalize logistics and administrative details.
- Publicize program, recruit families, and coordinate a Nurturing
Team Orientation Training.
- Start your Community Nurturing Program!!
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Types of Nurturing Programs Offered
The Family Nurturing Center of Massachusetts works in partnership
with other organizations and community groups to offer a range of
Nurturing Programs addressing the needs of many types of families.
See the Nurturing Program and Training Calendar to learn where and
when these programs are currently being offered in the Boston area.
Prenatal Nurturing Program
The Prenatal Nurturing Program brings families together for 9 consecutive
weeks. During each 2 ½ hour session, participants learn to:
nurture themselves, develop non-hitting attitudes, prevent drug-related
birth defects, and handle stress and anger. The program begins with
a celebration of the many rich cultural traditions around pregnancy
and birth. The ninth session culminates in a pot luck dinner, a
big baby shower, and a round of "Prenatal Jeopardy", a
way to review and celebrate our learning together. After the program
ends, each new baby and his/her family receive a Welcome Baby visit.
Nurturing Our Babies
 Baby's
arrival offers a new start for everyone. Learning and support are
never more important than those first few months of life. Nurturing
Our Babies is specially designed for this critical period when so
much is at stake. After a year of development, FNC successfully
piloted a new 12-week "Nurturing Our Babies" program.
Now this program is widely available.
During weekly 2 ½ hour sessions parents and babies meet
in separate groups for hands on activities, then come together for
an hour of demonstration, play, and exploration, with snacks and
singing. Parents learn infant massage and how to read baby's cues.
They also explore other topics like social-emotional development,
communicating with family, baby's temperament, nurturing routines,
and loving limits.
Nurturing Program for Parents and Children
This 15-week program invites 10-12 families to bring their children,
newborn to early adolescent, to participate in fifteen 2 ½
hour sessions at neighborhood sites. Babies receive nurturing care,
children learn nurturing concepts with peer groups, and parents
learn together in their own group. A trained team of nurturing facilitators,
professionals, and volunteers leads the groups. Everyone spends
time learning and sharing strategies to increase communication skills,
develop family rules, use nurturing discipline, address conflict,
share feelings, and enjoy family fun. Each evening is complete with
a Family Nurturing Time when all parents, children, and facilitators
come together in one room to share a meal, play a fun game, sing
songs, celebrate birthdays, and laugh together.
Cape Verdean Nurturing Program
 The
Cape Verdean community is often underserved because resources are
available primarily in English. To address this service gap, FNC
staff train and guide a team of bi-lingual workers in offering a
specially developed 12-week Nurturing Program for Cape Verdean families
with children of all ages. The program offers fun ways to improve
communication, develop support systems, and establish family rules.
Parents' groups are facilitated in Cape Verdean Creole while children's
groups are in English, and volunteers are multi-cultural.
The program gives parents an opportunity to learn nurturing skills
in their native language and to address their feelings of frustration
around parenting expectations that are different than those they
experienced in their native land. A strong emphasis is placed on
helping parents deal with the challenges they face in disciplining
their children as they adjust to a new culture. Participants also
develop a network of support with other Cape Verdean parents and
helpers in the community.
The uniqueness of this program stems from the strong sense of family
enjoyed in the Cape Verdean culture. During Family Nurturing Time,
parents share their culture with their children through storytelling,
songs, and dance. As in other nurturing programs, bonds created
help families continue to support each other after the program ends.
Teen Parent Nurturing Program
The Nurturing Program for Teen Parents brings adolescent parents
together with their children for 2 ½ hours a week for 20
weeks. FNC also offers an edited version of the Program that lasts
for 12 weeks. Each session offers teens opportunity to talk about
the challenges they face, learn new skills, and practice concrete
techniques they can use to reduce stress and handle problems with
their children. Participants say that they like having a safe, non-judgmental
place to talk about their feelings, find support from other teens,
and get ideas that help them cope with immediate problems.
 Nurturing
Fathers Program
Mark
Perlman, MA, a long-time Nurturing Program consultant, developed
the Nurturing Fathers program in 1998, field testing it in Florida
and several other states. Soon after, the Family Nurturing Center
successfully piloted Boston's first Nurturing Fathers Program which
is now spreading across Boston and into Western Massachusetts.
 The
curriculum is designed for fathers, whether or not they have custody
of their children, and meets for 13 weeks for 2 ½ hour sessions.
Fathers are welcome to bring their children as child care is provided,
but, unlike programs designed for the whole family, there are no
children's groups. The program focuses on the specific needs of
men in their role as fathers. Each week, participants use a journal
outlining home activities designed to enhance their knowledge and
growth. Along with the traditional nurturing concepts, the program
emphasizes the importance of shared power between co-parents and
explores patterns of fathering in previous generations.
Throughout the program, fathers work on defining their vision statement
of "The Father I Choose to Be". At graduation, families
and friends are invited to celebrate with the dads and hear each
participant publicly share his "Commitment to My Family".
Nurturing Program for Foster and Birth Families
 The
Family Nurturing Center and the Department
of Social Services are working together to offer a specially
adapted curriculum for birth and foster families and their children.
By bringing foster and birth parents together, we hope to ease transitions
for children and make reunification more successful and less stressful
for everyone. This innovative program is facilitated by trained
teams of DSS workers with support and mentoring by FNC staff.
The program starts with an orientation night when birth parents,
foster parents, children, and DSS facilitators meet each other,
often for the first time. The group then comes together weekly for
12 sessions, 2 ½ hours each. The program allows birth and
foster parents to bond and support each other and encourage each
other in caring for their children. They learn new skills to communicate
with each other and with DSS. Workers who participate on the Nurturing
Team also benefit, noting that this is one of the few opportunities
they have to really get to know families, working with both parents
and children over a period of several months in a safe, nurturing
environment.
Nurturing Program for Families in Recovery
For the past several years, the Family Nurturing Center has worked
in partnership with The
Institute for Health and Recovery to develop programs to support
families in recovery. The Institute has field tested and published
a specially designed curriculum for teaching nurturing skills to
those parents who are struggling with both their own recovery issues
and the needs of their children. This curriculum has been distributed
nationally and is being used in several residential and day treatment
programs across Massachusetts. FNC and the Institute worked together
to develop and field test a children's component to the program.
This curriculum has been used successfully in a variety of locations.
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