Parentline provides professional counselling and support for all who have the care of children.

CARING FOR YOURSELF

It is easy to find caring for a baby or child overwhelming, especially at first. It is easy to think no-one else can possibly be feeling like this.

To care for a baby or child well, you need to care for yourself.

• Don’t expect to do everything ‘right’ - it’s not possible.
• Praise yourself for simple things.
• Don’t dwell on mistakes - learn from them.
• Be proud of the efforts you put in through the day, no matter how small the tasks.
• Understand it’s normal to feel swamped at times with a range of emotions.
• Reward yourself with one thing a day that makes you feel good.
• Make sure you have someone to talk to.
• Make time for special moments with your partner or close friend.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for support and say “Yes” to offers of help.
• Remember that you are doing one of the most important things in life.
• Contact a professional person, e.g. doctor or health nurse if you feel that things are too overwhelming.

This information was adapted from Parent Easy Guide 75 with permission of Parenting SA, a service of Children, Youth and Women’s Health Service, Government of South Australia
www.parenting.sa.gov.au

Parentline

1300 30 1300 (8am – 10pm, seven days a week)

Parentline is a confidential telephone counselling service aimed at providing professional counselling and support for parents and all who have the care of children.
Parenting is the most important task in our community however, it can be a puzzling and difficult task. Sometimes, it just seems too hard. At those times, you need someone experienced and trained to talk things over with and get some guidance on ways to manage your children, and yourself, more effectively.

You can call Parentline if you:

• Want to ensure you are doing the best for your children
• Need someone who will understand and not judge you when the family is going through difficult times
• Need reliable information on how to manage unexpected problems with children
• Have hit a time of crisis
• Have concerns about kids who are difficult to manage, sad or withdrawn, not performing or having problems at school.

How does Parentline work?

Parentline is a service of BoysTown and is funded by the Queensland Department of Communities.

You can call Parentline on 1300 30 1300 between 8am and 10pm, seven days a week for the cost of a local call. You can also access Parentline by email or through the Internet - www.parentline.com.au or email parentline@boystown.com.au.

You can tell the counsellor your concerns about managing your family, and the counsellor will work with you, listen carefully, help you to sort out the important issues and help you develop your strategies for managing those issues.

The counsellor can send you relevant Parentline tip sheets from a range of over 100 topics if you want them.

You can also discuss with the counsellor options for gaining further parenting training. If you find it hard to attend a parenting group in person, Parentline offers the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) over the phone. For the price of a local phone call, you can arrange to have a series of phone sessions in which the counsellor will work through the Triple P program with you. Triple P is supported by a work book and information sheets.

The information above was provided by BoysTown.