Stuff for Dads

Thursday, 5 February 2009

Relate for Parents - Text and web chat services

Not so much a review today, more a public service announcement:

The forums at Homedad are the best UK web resource for finding other housedads and getting practical advice on fatherhood. Sometimes, though, you might not want to share your problems with the entire internet. Handily, Relate for Parents has recently launched a couple of new services offering support and information - Live Talk and SMS Text messaging.

Live Talk enables parents to pose questions and explore parenting difficulties in a live web chat. Consultants offer empathy and understanding, along with suggestions and other sources of support. Parents using SMS Text send their parenting issue or query, such as how to defuse a row or where to find local counselling, to 60616 and get an answer straight to their mobile. Both services are free and offer personally tailored responses.

The operating hours are 9-5 weekdays and 7-9 Monday, Wednesday and Sunday evenings, so this is an avenue for considered questions rather than late night emergencies. Nonetheless, the services are certainly a good first port of call if you want some help on relationship issues. In particular, it's hard to think where else there is to go when dealing with teenagers or grown-up kids.

The website itself features articles on such issues as divorce, self harm, stress and eating disorders. There are also links to various parental support groups.

Worth checking out.

(Back to films with explosions next week...)

Labels: service, website review