Norwegian parents taking course about better parenting: report

Today's generation of parents in Norway are more interested in their children and take courses in order to get more knowledge and confidence, newspaper Aftenposten reported on Thursday.

There are 31,000 hits online when people google the Norwegian word "foreldrekurs", or course for parents, according to the report.

In addition to a variety of municipal offers, which are often free of charge, there is an increasing number of private courses with various topics for parents, the report said.

"It has only been more common to participate in parenting courses in the past few years. That is a trend we noticed with today's generation of parents," psychologist Peder Kjos said.

They are very interested in their kids and would like to invest in parenthood by acquiring greater skills, Kjos said.

One parental couple told the newspaper that they like to use time and money for a course since it uses the same tools as the school their eight-year-old daughter attends.

"We look at this therefore as an investment in capability to speak the same language," they said.

"If it was somewhat embarrassing to attend parenting courses before, it is now completely spotless," said Hans Holter Solhjell, leader of Famlab Norway, which is a part of international organization Familylab association.

Kjos said that children with some biggest problems, who often come from families that do not function so well, are also those whose parents are seldom seen on these types of courses.

"Parents have managed with child upbringing since the stone age, but most of the parents may require different forms of input -- no matter how they acquire it," Kjos said. Endit