Over-excited toddler scribbling on a wall.
Family Man was designed to be accessible to all families.Image by: Movember
Over-excited toddler scribbling on a wall.
9 June 2022

Movember to give dads parenting tips – by text

Movember
3 minutes read time

Fathers will be sent parenting tips from Movember via text message to help them cope with challenging child behaviour and improve their relationship with their kids.

Launched in June 2022, dads (and other caregivers) will be able to sign up to receive daily text messages from Movember’s Family Man programme which are sent out over the course of 15 days.

The messages, sent once or twice daily, will contain practical advice and reminders on how to improve child behaviour and cope with challenging situations such as refusal to follow instructions or meltdowns.

Suf Patel, Director of Fathers & Relationships, at Movember, said: “Being a parent can be a very rewarding experience, but it isn’t always easy. Dealing with tantrums in the supermarket or a child who repeatedly ignores instructions can be incredibly stressful. It can cause friction at home and over time that can impact the whole family’s wellbeing.

“We know that parents of young kids are often under a lot of pressure and may not have the time or resources to attend a parenting course or sit down and read manuals from cover to cover to get all the answers.

“We hope that by condensing some of the key tips on improving child behaviour from our Family Man programme, it will help parents who might be struggling to road test some evidence-backed strategies and restore family harmony – which will improve everyone’s wellbeing.”

Parents who find the tips useful can sign up to Movember’s Family Man, the world’s first free online parenting programme, designed for parents of children, aged between two and eight.Research shows that improvements in child behaviour can be seen within as little as 2 weeks.

The interactive programme is comprised of three 20-minute animated episodes. Each episode features a father as the main character who is faced with challenging child behaviours in different situations such as a battle over the dinner table or a tantrum in public.

Users are given a number of possible ways to respond to the child's behaviour in each situation, and the pros and cons and likely outcomes of each option are clearly explained, which helps the user understand the best possible parenting response.

Adapted from a successful evidence-based programme called ParentWorks which was designed by Professor Mark Dadds at the University of Sydney, Family Man has been vetted by a global panel of psychologists and parenting experts.

Professor Dadds says: “Family Man was designed to be accessible to all families and may be especially useful in rural and remote areas, where resources can be hard to access.

“It is delivered online, without the support of trained practitioners, which overcomes a key barrier for many parents.”