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For my prep course, we were made to feel at ease. All the exercises made sense. They tended to be discussions, although we did do some theraplay activities! But not once did I feel uncomfortable, out of my depth as it were. In fact, I actually enjoyed the prep course although it was challenging learning about modern day adoption i.e. some of the experiences children may have faced and so on. And, it could also be emotional, e.g. watching a powerful drama about a child and her behaviour (she had suffered physical abuse/neglect), hearing from a birth parent and so on.But to reiterate ... I never felt like I didn't understand anything. And, I enjoyed the course and found it informative.Best wishes for it. Hope it all goes well.Minnie x

Thanks Minnie, I guess my LA are used to running the courses and will know how to put us at our ease.I can't wait now...

I agree :-) it was very draining and occasionally very moving. A lot of the participation type activities involved discussion - we would do something like read a practice CPR or watch a DVD and get into small groups to discuss what we had seen while the social workers circulated to listen in.We started every day with an ice breaker but nothing embarrassing or difficult - simple things like talk to the person next to you, find out three things about them then report back to the whole group.Don't worry :-)

Don't worry. Our "games" were just little ice breakers, like they gave out matching pictures and you had to find the person with the matching picture and then spend a few minutes finding out about them, and then tell the rest of the group all about them. It was fine.Several times a day they would split us into small groups for exercises, eg one group would have to discuss how a child about to be fostered or adopted felt, one group would talk about how the birth parent felt, and another would have to consider how the foster carer or adopter felt. Couples were usually split up but it was all very relaxed and informal, and then after half an hour or so everyone would come back together, have a coffee break, and then it was time for another presentation or a video or whatever.I was terrified at first but it turned out to be really enjoyable, despite the difficult subjects covered. As a group we bonded really well and many stayed in touch.Papergirl x

We did an interesting one called Traffic Lights. We were given scenarios of adoptive families and asked to say if it was Red (absolutely no-no) or Amber (grey area - dependent on circumstances) or Green (yes, it's fine).I do remember this because one of the scenarios was 'your 4 year old adoptive son wants to have a bath with you'. My husband and I were the only ones who gave it the green light - we said that at aged 4 it would depend how long they'd been placed etc but ultimately that's a normal thing for a parent to do with their 4 year old.... so why not?! It turned out they were wanting to make exactly this point - that we can we too over cautious with things that should be made natural. Unless the child has had sexual abuse/similar in their past, this would be something they are entitled to have just like any other child - and skin on skin contact helps bonding. I must make it clear that the other parents weren't seen as 'getting it wrong' but rather it was an exercise used to get us all thinking about the very practical issues of placement, particularly in the first few months. All of the couples were approved ultimately!The most important thing is to be honest but show a willingness to learn.

Thanks all. I think that because I've been preparing for this for ages (as has everyone ) now it's approaching it's all I can think about! Thanks for your replies - I'm really looking forward to it.