The aim of this study was to explore the processes by which parents' thinking about themselves and their child developed over the course of a three month cognitive behavioural parent training group intervention. The method chosen to explore eight parents' thinking before and after the group, combined both preliminary quantitative analysis with a more detailed qualitative analysis. The quantitative findings were drawn from a repertory grid procedure administered to parents before and after the group. These findings suggested that parents did think about themselves and their child as more in control (of themselves) and calmer after the group. They also indicated that parents were becoming more realistic and understanding about their child's abilities, and that parents who completed the group viewed themselves as more competent. However parents' thinking about themselves and their child appeared to become less cognitively complex after the group, and possible explanations for this were considered. The qualitative findings were drawn from a grounded theory analysis of interviews with parents after the group, in which the results of the pre-group repertory grids were discussed with parents. These findings indicated that the parents who completed the parenting group appeared to have reconstructed an understanding of themselves in relation to others: other parents, their own parents (for four parents), their own child and their child's father. Through realising that other parents were experiencing similar difficulties with parenting, and experiencing the group as a non-judgemental environment, these parents talked about feeling more able to reflect on themselves as parents. Consequently these parents identified a process of learning to put themselves in another's position, especially their child's. Parents who completed the group accentuated their progress in terms of self improvement, gave a very positive account of the group, and down played difficulties, whereas parents who did not complete the group accentuated their lack of progress and emphasised their difficulties with ongoing stressful situations. These findings particularly highlighted the need to reduce the stigma associated with parent training interventions, and the importance of taking a broader approach which views families as the context for development.