The CICC's New Confident Parenting Program uses a cognitive-behavioral orientation to train parents in using non-violent child management skills in their relationships with children. Parents are also encouraged to use such skills in relating to spouses and other adults. It was originally developed in child mental health settings and has been used in other human service and educational settings since that time. The CICC's New Confident Parenting Program is designed as a multi-session program to be used with small groups of parents. Dependent on the number and type of instructional units that are selected to be taught, each parent can receive individualized consultation from the instructor on the home behavior change projects that are assigned. A total of 15 units of instruction are available for use, all of which are described in the New Confident Parenting Program Parents Handbook. A one-day seminar version for large numbers of parents can also be conducted by using fewer units of instruction. This way each parent can receive individualized consultation from the instructor on the home behavioral change projects that are assigned.
Behavior-Specific Praise: Behavior-Specific Praise consists of seven behavioral components: (1) looking at the child, (2) moving close to the child, (3) smiling at the child, (4) saying positive things to the child, (5) praising the child's behavior and not the child, (6) being physically affectionate with the child, and (7) moving into action immediately upon recognizing desirable behavior.
Mild Social Disapproval: Mild Social Disapproval is intended to decrease the repeated misbehavior of children and establish limits to the child's behaviors. It also consists of seven behavioral components: (1) looking at the child, (2) moving close the child, (3) a disapproving facial expression, (4) a brief verbal comment or command, (5) low intensity, (6) non-verbal gesture consistent with disapproval, and (7) immediate delivery. The verbal component is to be disapproving in content, but not demeaning or threatening. The emphasis is on simple and brief commands such as "Stop that!" rather than "You're a naughty girl" or "If you don't stop doing that, I'm going to get the strap."
Ignoring: The essence of this ignoring skill is that it be used consistently in response to the behaviors that it seeks to reduce. It consists of five behavioral components: (1) looking away form the child, (2) moving away from the child, (3) neutral facial expression, (4) ignoring the child's verbalizations, and (5) ignoring immediately upon noticing the misbehavior.
Time Out: Time Out is a form of punishment that is used when all else fails and the child's behavior has exceeded reasonable limits. The child is removed from social interaction and attention. The Time Out is explained to the child as having to go to a "cooling off" place for a short period of time when her/his behavior has gone too far.
Special Incentive System: This system consists of having the child earn points, stars, or tokens for engaging in specified desirable behaviors. The child turns these in for various tangible rewards and/or special privileges. The rewards or privileges are chosen from a Reward Menu which is negotiated cooperatively by the parent and the child. The components of Special Incentive Programs are: (1) defining desirable behavior, (2) counting the target behavior(s), (3) creating the reward menu, (4) establishing the exchange ratio, i.e., how many stars for what rewards, (5) charting of behaviors, (6) praise for positive behavior changes, (7) program adjustments, and (8) phasing out the program.
There is also a video program that presents and describes many of the skills that are available in the program. The video is called “Yelling, Threatening and Putting Down: What To Do Instead.” The video itself can be used as a standalone program.
A 6 session format (two hours per session) using the 6 instructional units described at the beginning of this section.
Parents with child management problems like disruptiveness, disobedience, restlessness, tantrums, bedwetting, shyness, aggressiveness, laziness, and fears, and parents who have been reported for child abuse and/or neglect.
Parents complete homework assignments between each training session, including such assignments as counting the child behaviors which they seek to change, applying praise and other such skills three times a day to interaction with the target child, applying and charting the impact of the use of various skills, and creating and using a home special incentive system.
The program is designed to be led by one instructor who presents the program, demonstrates and models the skills, and provides individual consultations to parents on their home behavior change projects. Practitioners ranging from paraprofessional prevention specialists and parent involvement coordinators to children service workers with Bachelor's level degrees to PhD level psychologists have been trained to deliver the program. It is best to have had prior training in behavior modification or behavior analysis as well as education and training in child development and group dynamics.
Currently, there are no published, peer-reviewed research studies for CICC's New Confident Parenting Program (NCP).
Alvy, K. T. (1994). Parent training today: A social necessity. Studio City, CA, US: Center for the Improvement of Child Caring.
Confident Parenting Classes and Seminars, p. 36-44 in Alvy, K.T., Plunkett, S.W. et al (September 2003) Bringing parenting education into the early childhood care and education system. Studio City, CA: Center for the Improvement of Child Caring.
Yelling, Threatening and Putting Down: What To Do Instead, p. 88-99 in Alvy, K.T., Plunkett, S.W. et al (September 2003) Bringing parenting education into the early childhood care and education system. Studio City, CA: Center for the Improvement of Child Caring.