Parent-Child Mother Goose Australia welcomes every family and child, celebrating diversity in all its forms. Through our songs, rhymes and stories, we create a nurturing space where everyone, including LGBTQIA+ individuals and families, can feel supported, valued and included”
Introducing the pleasure of rhymes, songs and stories to adults and children
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Upcoming Training workshops
Want to get trained so you can run a Parent-Child Mother Goose program, or use some aspect of the program in your own work?
Bookings are now open for the following online Level One Training Workshops: Upcoming Training (2025)
For more details, including how to book, please see our Training Calendar or click the button below. School readiness funding
Are you working in or with a Victorian kindergarten eligible for School readiness funding?
For some different ways of using School readiness funding to support a Parent-Child Mother Goose program, or to register your interest in attending a Level One Training Workshop, see our School readiness funding page. Training testimonials
The Parent-Child Mother Goose Program training was exceptional, with the facilitators modelling acceptance of the group, presenting with an easy pace and bringing forth the joy and the pleasure that comes from singing, reciting rhymes, finger play and storytelling. (It didn’t feel like work, really!). I have started the Mother Goose program in our small, rural playgroup. I can already see it’s having a joyful effect on mother and child as they interact and have fun together.
Wendy Hersey, Community Connections Worker, ETR, Mallee Family Care This is by far one of the best trainings I have attended in my 10 years as a Social Worker. It is facilitated by some of the most wise, warm, genuine and passionate people I have encountered in the trade. The training is presented in way that you will not have any trouble implementing what you have learnt both at a professional and personal level. We believe in this training/the facilitators so much we have applied to three different grant sources to try and secure this training for our community. Kiran King MSW, Mid Murray Family Connections Coordinator |
What is Parent-Child Mother Goose?Parent-Child Mother Goose is an evidence-based program that strengthens attachment and interaction between parents or carers and their young children by introducing them to the pleasure and power of using rhymes, songs and stories together.
Through the program, parents gain skills and confidence that help them create positive family patterns during their children's crucial early years. At the same time, children benefit from enjoyable, healthy early experiences with language and communication. Parent-Child Mother Goose is particularly suitable for parents and carers who need extra support because of their own personal or social circumstances, or because their children have special needs or are otherwise at risk. What happens during a program session?
Participants in a Parent-Child Mother Goose program meet as a group with two trained facilitators once a week throughout the year, learning to use songs, rhymes and stories with their children. There is emphasis on nurturing the positive interaction between parent and child using touching, stroking and cuddling.
Over time parents and carers learn a wide range of material which they are encouraged to use in their daily lives, such as rhymes, songs and lullabies to settle and soothe babies, rhymes to support daily routines of bathing, feeding, dressing and nappy change and others simply for the pleasure they bring. The program is enjoyable and fun, and is available to participants free of charge. You can get some impression of what a weekly session looks like by playing the short video at the bottom of this page. An evidence-based program suitable for Communities for Children (CfC) Facilitating PartnersAn extensive body of research shows that Parent-Child Mother Goose programs:
Parent-Child Mother Goose a good fit for community organisations working with families of young children who are at risk for any number of reasons. A Parent-Child Mother Goose program can be a broadly acceptable entry point to community services for families who may be disconnected from other services. The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) has recognised the effectiveness of the program by accrediting Parent-Child Mother Goose as an evidence-based program under its Communities for Children Facilitating Partner model. A number of CfC Facilitating Partners are currently running Parent-Child Mother Goose programs. Mother Goose trainingParent-Child Mother Goose Australia runs two-day training workshops to train group facilitators (see our training calendar).
We can provide training anywhere in Australia, on request, if enough participants (typically, around 20) can be enrolled to make a workshop viable. For more information about this option, please contact us. Learn more, keep in touch
To be notified of upcoming training or facilitator networking events, or to get other Parent-Child Mother Goose updates, sign up for our newsletter by clicking the Sign up! tab above (computer or tablet) or below (smartphone).
To learn more about the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program in Australia, watch the short video below, or go to our "About" page to see Warren Cann, CEO of the Parenting Research Centre, comment on the program's role and benefits. We also have a 33 minute video available, which gives much more detail about the program. If you would like access to this longer video, please contact us. This video was produced for Parent Child Mother Goose Australia by Andrea Day (Oberon Productions).
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