Course for fathers at City HQ

4:00pm Wednesday 19th September 2007

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DADS in York are being invited to spend time at the local football club, as part of a special new course aimed at helping parents.

York City FC has teamed up with City of York Council to organise the new programme, which will be run by fathers for fathers.

Starting next week, the football club will host a three-month course at its KitKat Crescent home in Clifton for three hours a week.

The venture aims to look at how men's relationships with their own fathers affect how they relate to their children.

The scheme is part of a Government-funded initiative called Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities. York is one of a number of cities in the UK that have been chosen to pilot the scheme to help support parents and enhance their parenting skills. The programme promotes violence-free, healthy lifestyles.

It also aims to build on parents' own existing values, rather than telling them how they should be parenting.

A council spokesperson said: "The dads' programme explores how the way men were fathered themselves affects the way they father their own children. The programme is free and is open to any dad who has a child or children between the ages of eight and 13 years of age, regardless of their age or background.

"The programme offers dads a toolkit of different techniques that they can use with their children, while acknowledging that most dads already do the best they can, with the experience and knowledge they have."

The new venture follows a special dads' day last month, when fathers were invited to Burton Stone Community Centre to get involved in planning the city's new children's centres.

That event, which enabled dads to have their say on the centres while their children enjoyed a range of activities, was organised by the Dads Forum, in conjunction with Sure Start and other partner organisations.

Anyone wanting further information on the new course at York City, or who would like to book a space on the programme, should phone Barry Jones on 01904 554351 or Phil Martin on 01904 554581.

The course begins on September 27 and lasts 13 weeks.