Parents Week 2011
Parents' Week runs from Monday 17th - Sunday 23rd October this year and provides an opportunity to celebrate the vital contribution parents make to society and to showcase local services that support families.
Parents' Week also offers the chance to highlight issues of most importance to parents and families to politicians, the media and others who need to know.
During last year''s Parents' Week, more than 400 events took place involving thousands of organisations including Sure Start centres, nurseries, community groups, museums and art galleries.
The theme for Parents' Week 2011 is to stimulate discussion of family friendly issues.
How can we create a truly family friendly UK? What constitutes a family friendly hospital, school, Sure Start centre, library or job centre? What changes do families want to see?
Titled "Family Friendly … what's the story?" this awareness week seeks to explore all of these questions, and work with others to deepen the understanding of family life in the UK today.
The aims for the Parents' Week 2011:
For parents and families - To encourage parents and families to discuss what family friendly means to them, and raise awareness of the services available locally to families.
For the family sector - To provide partner organisations (third sector and private sector) with a platform to communicate their work with families.
For media and opinion formers - To stimulate media and Parliamentary debate about the way to support families by creating a more family friendly UK.
How can organisations get involved?
The Family and Parenting Institute want to extend their week to more organisations and businesses than ever before. 
Their target to beat is over 200 events, taking place in children's centres, libraries and museums up and down the country.
Register with the Parents Week 2011 website to receive all the materials that you need to run "Family Friendly…what's the story?" at your organisation.
Join them as a Partner and publicise Parents' Week on your website and beyond.
They will add you to the partners section on their Parents' Week website.
Their downloadable materials will include everything that you need to help tell the family friendly story: a family friendly kit that will help you understand what matters most to families; a cartoon to help stimulate discussion on what family friendly means in different situations; an ideas sheet for events that you may want to run during the week; information on engaging with the media, including a draft press release and guidance on how to involve your MP in the local activity. Family views about family friendliness in the UK will be placed at centre of policy making, as FPI stages a national event for families to express their views to MPs and decision makers.
To find out more, access resources and keep in touch with Parents' Week plans across the country, register at www.parentsweek.org.uk