You're doing great !! How Five to Thrive can help build confidence

Parenting doesn’t come with a manual, and it’s easy to feel unsure about whether you’re doing things right.
The Five to Thrive approach can help build your confidence as parents and carers.
Five to Thrive is built around five simple everyday interactions: Respond, Cuddle, Relax, Play, and Talk. These building blocks are powerful for your child’s brain development, your relationship, and your confidence as a parent.

Five to Thrive is based on how your child’s brain grows through them feeling safe and secure. It's about small daily interactions that support healthy brain development and a strong parent–child bond.

The five building blocks are:

five building blocks of Five to Thrive - Respond, cuddle, relax, play, talk

What’s important to know is:

You don’t need to be perfect.
Small moments matter.
And you already have so many strengths as a parent.

Five to Thrive breaks nurturing down into five everyday steps that anyone can do, anytime. This helps reduce overwhelm and gives you a clear starting point.

When following Five to Thrive, always follow the building blocks from bottom to top.

Often, parents don’t realise that what they naturally do already helps their child’s brain grow.
For example:
When you respond to your baby - that helps their brain grow by building and strengthening connections.

When you comforted your baby — it made them feel safe and secure.

When you talked to your toddler — it built language skills and confidence to talk back.

When you understand why Respond, Cuddle, Relax, Play and Talk matter, parenting becomes less about guessing and more about making good choices.

Understanding the why reduces fear of getting things wrong and boosts confidence in everyday parenting decisions.

Five to Thrive helps us build secure attachment by noticing what our child needs in the moment, this could be comfort, rest, fun, or connection.

But its normal to feel stressed as a parent or children. Five to Thrive reminds us that calming ourselves helps us calm our children. This reduces feelings of worry or anger, and helps parents feel capable even during difficult moments.

Five to Thrive isn’t just for children — adults need it too. Taking care of your own wellbeing supports your confidence and makes you more emotionally available for your child.

Your local Family Hub focuses on supporting your child’s development, strengthening family relationships, and giving consistent, joined-up support across services. You can find your nearest Family Hub here

Why not visit a stay and play or our sensory rooms for FREE. These are great spaces to bond with your child.

Remember: parenting is built on small moments, not perfection. And you’re doing more than you think!