In P.E.T., Parent Effectiveness Training, we learn skills that let everyone be a real person. Oftentimes, when people become parents, they take on a role and feel like they’re suddenly supposed to have all the answers, or be completely consistent from one moment to the next. A key part of the P.E.T. philosophy is that parents are human, too, with feelings, imperfections, and a varying ability to be accepting or unaccepting of different behavior.

The four parenting skills in P.E.T. apply to all human relationships, not just the parent-child relationship, and while different people will have different experiences as they learn and practice these skills, they are not different for women or men.