Becoming a parent for the first time can present huge challenges for younger parents who may lack the confidence to cope with the demands of a young child. Help is at hand though, because Kestrels Children's Centre in Croydon Road, Caterham, is running a free ten week course from next January entitled 'It's Not all Child's Play', which covers many of the aspects of caring for young chiildren including how to manage their behaviour and cope with children's sleeping problems. Kestrels offers free creche facilities for those taking part in the course. 22 year-old Katherine Wort went on the course last October, and is full of praise for how the course helped her to cope with her two young daughters, Sophie, who is now three and a half years old, and two year-old Lily.

Katherine said: "The course covers all aspects of childcare and I now have more confidence in what I am doing. Before the course I was having problems with Lily crying at night. I kept on getting up for her which I now know was making the problem worse, and the course helped me with that. I also learned that you are not the only one going through these things and I would definitely recommend it to other mums."

Katherine now works at Kestrels two mornings a week as part of her NVQ Level 3 childcare course. For more information see the advertisement below.