If you’ve been thinking about getting your parenting coach certification but don’t know where to start, you’ve come to the right place.
Today, we’ll talk about:
- Exactly what a parenting coach does
- How to become a parenting coach
- The best parenting coach certifications
- How to sign your first paying client
Ready? Let’s get started!
You’ll learn…
- What does a parenting coach do?
- How do you become a certified parenting coach?
- What are the best parenting coaching certifications?
- How do you choose a parenting coaching certification?
- How do you become a successful parenting coach?
What does a parenting coach do?
A parenting coach is someone who helps families navigate the challenges that come with parenting.
There are coaches for every aspect of parenting, including:
- Breastfeeding coaching
- Baby sleep coaching
- Relationship coaching for parents
- Coaching for foster parents
- Co-parent coaching
Check out this article to learn more about what a parenting coach does.
If this sounds like something you’re interested in, keep reading to learn how to become one.
How do you become a certified parenting coach?
One of the most common misconceptions I see in coaching is that you need a certification to become a coach.
You don’t!
Coaching is a largely unregulated industry. What you need to become a parenting coach is:
- Direct experience
- A proven method to help your clients get the results they want
- The ability to lead
Experience doesn’t just mean what you’ve done in your day job.
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If you’ve helped a baby through a sleep regression with your own methodology, that’s experience.
Or, if you’re a child therapist, that’s a type of experience that can be applied directly to coaching as well.
Except for a few health and mental health niches, getting a certification isn’t required to become a coach. However, be sure you’re aware of those if those are the types of niches you’re interested in.
Certifications are unregulated, too.
A lot of times, they’re time-consuming and expensive. They won’t offer the same kind of experience you’d get working directly with a client, either.
But if you want to get certified – go for it.
After all, a certification might help you build your confidence as a coach.
If you choose the certification route, you’ll want to find the best parenting coach certification available. Keep reading to learn about the top programs.
The best parenting coach certifications
So, what are the best parenting coach certification programs?
In no particular order, these are the best coaching programs you can sign up for. Let’s take a look.
(Note: I haven’t taken these parenting coach certification programs myself. I’m recommending them based on their reputation within the coaching space, their accreditation, and public reviews.)
Parent Coach Certification® Training Program
Parent Coaching Institute
This one-year program was created for busy professionals who want to get their certification.
The program is based on PCI’s unique Coaching Model, which is comprised of four components:
- Parenting as a Living System: Parenting is seen as an ecosystem rather than a machine, with parents and children considered to be dynamic.
- The Functional Ecology of Parenting: PCI coaches are trained to understand the context of the environment and use that knowledge to encourage healthy development and family functioning.
- Brain-Compatible Parenting: Coaches are taught to help parents make decisions based on their child’s brain development.
- Appreciative Inquiry: The parent-child relationship is nurtured through positive psychology and uplifting vocabulary.
ICF accredited: No
Price: A one-time payment of $5,800 or four payments of $1,450
Key features:
- One-year course
- Remote learning with twice monthly live classes via Zoom or phone
- 5-7 hours of work per week
- 100 hours of parent coaching experience
- Meets the standards of a 5000-graduate level program
- Access to networking and continuing education opportunities
Parent Coaching Certificate
Concordia University
Offered on Concordia University’s Saint Paul campus, this certification program combines family systems with parenting theories and coaching strategies. Instead of finding a way to fix a problem, students learn to support others in finding ways to be more capable and confident.
It’s important to note that this course is only available to Concordia St. Paul students who have completed the prerequisite courses or are taking them in tandem with the course.
ICF accredited: No
Price: N/A
Key features:
- 12 credit hours
- Online learning
Bringing Baby Home
The Gottman Institute
Technically, this isn’t a certification – it’s just a workshop. But that doesn’t make it less impactful.
The workshop is hosted by the Gottman Institute, which was founded by John Gottman, a leading relationship psychologist.
Gottman research has found that nearly 70% of couples see a decline in their relationship quality in the first few years of their baby’s life. But with this course, you could help them enhance their connection, regulate conflict, and explore parenting tactics so they can raise a happy baby.
ICF accredited: No
Price: $199 (20% coupon available if you take a survey)
Key features:
- Consists of online modules totaling 12.5 hours
- Self-paced
- Videos are 2-6 minutes long
- Content includes videos, role play, exercises, and more
- Includes a PDF version of the workbook and exercises
- Content is available immediately after purchase
Family Life Education and Coaching
North Carolina State University
As part of The Youth, Family, and Community Sciences Online Graduate Certificate in Family Life Education and Coaching, this certification program is available to both NCSU and non-degree students.
To earn a certification, you need to complete three courses and an elective most aligned with what you’d like to focus on as a coach. All in, you’re looking at about 12 credit hours.
Courses and electives include:
- Applied Concepts in Parenting and Family Life Education (Required)
- Family Communication and Coaching (Required)
- Family Life Coaching (Required)
- Family Relationships Over the Life Course (Elective)
- Applied Concepts in Child and Youth Development (Elective)
ICF accredited: No, but it is approved by the Center for Credentialing & Education to use the Board Certified Coach credential
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Key features:
- 12 credit hours
- A mix of on-campus and distance learning
- Can be taken by NCSU students as part of a degree or by non-degree students
Certificate in Family Coaching Leadership
San Diego University
San Diego University offers a great parenting coach certification online. The program is built for family counselors, youth and adult counselors, students, and educators looking to advance their careers.
As you move through the course, you’ll complete courses designed to orientate you to some of the most common behavioral and social challenges parents face today.
The courses offer both basic and specialty training and can be applied to leading all kinds of families, including traditional, single-parent, and blended families. Instructors focus on teaching coaches to help families develop the skills needed to deal with challenges from media, technology, and more.
ICF accredited: No
Price: $4,800
Key features:
- Non-degree course open to all ages
- 40 units of coursework (7 courses)
- Offers instruction for every type of family situation, including blended families and single parents
- Emphasis on developing healthy social skills
Basic ADHD & Life Coach Training Certification Program
ADD Coach Academy
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common challenges parents face today.
With this course, the ADD Coach Academy offers students an in-depth look at and real-world understanding of ADHD and instills them with coaching fundamentals to help families through it.
The program includes three courses that total 116 hours: Simply ADHD (21 hours), Personal Transformation (32 hours), and Basic Coaching Skills (63 hours). You can expect to dedicate anywhere from 2 to 10 hours per week to training outside of class.
You must complete the application process within a year of your last session to earn your certification.
ICF accredited: Yes, Level 1
Price: $6,135 when paid in full; $6,460 when paid in installments ($2,197 deposit and seven monthly payments of $609)
Key features:
- 3 ADD Coach Academy courses
- Practice ADHD coaching sessions
- Mentor coaching (10+ hours)
- Client coaching (50+ hours)
- Live online classes
- Must attend 80% of live classes and earn 80% or more for each module to earn the Basic AACC Certification
So, those are the best certifications available. But how do you choose the right program for you? Read on to find out.
How to choose a parenting certification program
Here’s what to consider when evaluating a program.
Reputation
Remember, coaching is unregulated, and so are certification programs.
As a coach, you’ve probably heard a lot about the International Coach Federation (ICF).
That’s because it’s the most respected organization in the coaching world and as close to being a reputable authority in the industry as possible.
I always recommend trying to find an ICF-accredited coaching program. Not only are they trustworthy, but they will also give you a little more credibility as a coach in your niche.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t trust programs that aren’t associated with the ICF! It all depends on what you’re looking for.
Which brings me to my next point.
Is the program aligned with what you’re looking for?
Getting a parenting coach certification is an investment of both time and money, so make sure you do your research before committing to one.
Look for programs that offer precisely what you want to learn and align with your goals.
They should also work for your individual situation. For example, if you need more flexibility, you should focus on remote learning and self-paced courses.
We’ve discussed the best parenting coach certifications and how to choose one. Now, it’s time to talk about the final step: Actually becoming a successful parenting coach.
How do you become a successful parenting coach?
When it comes down to it, all you need to become a parenting coach is experience and knowledge.
However, you’ll need a bit more than that to build and scale a successful parenting coaching business – like a niche and paying clients.
But first, let’s talk about what you can expect to make as a parenting coach.
How much do parenting coaches make?
The average coach makes $67,800 per year.
But those are part-time coaches.
You can actually make far more than that as a full-time parent coach. In fact, many bring in $100,000 per year or more.
There’s no income limit when it comes to your yearly parenting coach salary. It all just depends on factors like your niche, clients, and rate.
Several of my students have turned their own coaching ventures into successful six- or multiple-six-figure businesses.
So can you – you just have to put in the work.
It all starts with choosing the right niche. Let’s talk about how to do it.
How do you choose your niche?
To find success as a parenting coach, you need a niche.
Yes, parent coaching is a niche, but you need to be more specific if you want to stand out.
Choosing your niche just depends on your experience.
Focus on who you help and how you help them.
If you’ve come up with a “secret sauce” you use in parent coaching, like a proven methodology to help new parents sleep-train their baby, use it! That’s what will set you apart.
Serving a targeted audience, such as single parents or parents with special needs children, is also a niche.
If you’re having trouble figuring out your niche, check out this article for a list of the most profitable niches.
How do you get coaching clients?
Once you’ve nailed down your niche, it’s time to focus on building your client roster. The easiest way to do so is to:
Leverage your network. Since your network already knows and trusts you, reach out to see if there’s anyone you can help as a coach. I got my first clients by offering services to people I’d given career advice to!
Use social media. Sign up for online communities relevant to your niche, like Reddit’s r/Parenting or Facebook’s Parenting Groups. But don’t just join and offer your services – instead, offer as much value as possible up front before bringing them up.
Do the guest post and podcast circuit. One of the easiest ways to establish yourself as an expert is to write guest posts and get featured on podcasts. It’s easier than you might think! Plenty of parenting sites and podcasts are always open to being pitched for features.
Choose one of these strategies and focus only on that one! You can focus on growing the business when you’ve got your first few clients.
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We haven’t touched on one crucial thing yet: how to price your coaching services.
I don’t recommend that you offer your services for free to do so – but I do suggest you reduce your rates upfront.
A great starting point is a 3-month coaching package for $1,500. You can raise your prices once you’ve worked with a few clients and have some testimonials.
Check out this article to learn more about how to price your parenting coaching packages.
Next steps
That’s it!
We’ve talked about how you can become a parenting coach, explored some of the best parenting coach certifications on the market, and learned how to find clients.
Whether you decide to earn a certification or not, you need to build your parent coaching business.
But contrary to what most people believe, you don’t need to work every minute of every day to grow a six-figure business. You can do it while still working your 9-5.
I’ve done it, and so have most of my clients – now, it’s your turn.
To get started, grab my step-by-step guide to growing a six-figure parenting coach business here:
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