Is Positive Parenting Solutions worth it?

It can be, if you want a structured course and live group coaching from Amy McCready, have children between 2 and 17, and will do the lessons in the first 30 days, while you can still get a full refund. It is less worth it if what you need is help in the moment, if money is tight, or if you will not have time for the lessons and the ten minutes a day PPS says its tools take. Either way, check the price first: a second checkout page for the same system showed $199 instead of $399.

How much does Positive Parenting Solutions cost?

On the sales page, the All-In-One system is $399 as one payment, 3 payments of $147 ($441 in total) or 12 payments of $39.99 ($479.88 in total). A second checkout page for the same system showed $199, or 12 payments of $19.99, on 2026-10-20. The shorter 4-Week Family Fix is $149, and a 30 minute one-to-one session with Amy is $100.

Why are there two prices, and is there a discount code?

We found no public discount code. What we found is a second checkout page for the same system that asks $199 instead of $399, under a banner saying the 50% discount expires tonight. We do not know when or to whom PPS shows it. Two Trustpilot reviewers report paying about $200 and about £150 for lifetime access, so the lower price appears to be one people actually pay.

What is the Positive Parenting Solutions refund policy?

Lifetime access products get a 100% refund if you ask within the first 30 days of purchase. The sales page adds a $100 Amazon gift card if it does not work for you, but only if you did the lessons and used the tools. Printed workbooks cannot be refunded once ordered.

Can I cancel a Positive Parenting Solutions payment plan?

Only within the first 30 days, by asking for a refund. The 3 and 12 month plans are not subscriptions: choosing one commits you to every payment, and after day 30 the remaining payments continue and cannot be cancelled or refunded. Several Trustpilot reviewers say they were held to exactly that.

The founder of Positive Parenting Solutions. She describes herself as a parenting coach and a "recovering yeller", says she is certified in Positive Discipline, has been a parenting contributor on the TODAY show for over 14 years, and has written two parenting books. She started teaching in-person classes in the Raleigh-Durham area in 2004.

Is Positive Parenting Solutions the same as Triple P?

No. Triple P, the Positive Parenting Program from the University of Queensland, is a different program with a large body of research behind it. A 2014 review and meta-analysis by Sanders and colleagues pooled 101 studies with 16,099 families and found short-term improvements in children's social, emotional and behavioral outcomes; Sanders is Triple P's founder. A 2007 review of 24 studies found that Triple P and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy both reduced the behavior problems parents reported. None of that research is about Positive Parenting Solutions.

Is there research behind Positive Parenting Solutions?

Its ideas draw on Positive Discipline, which builds on the work of Alfred Adler and Rudolf Dreikurs. For the program itself we found no published trial: a PubMed search for it by name returned nothing, and PPS gives no method for its claim that 96% of parents see improvements within 48 hours. Untested is not the same as ineffective. It means you are relying on reviews and the 30-day refund rather than on evidence.

What ages is Positive Parenting Solutions for?

Children from 2 to 17. The communities are split into one group for parents of younger kids and one for tweens and teens, and teens are one of the masterclass topics.

Is there a Positive Parenting Solutions app?

Yes, on iPhone: Parenting-In-Your-Pocket, a free download released in December 2025, in English only and with no US ratings when we looked. Its content needs a purchase. We found no current Android app; the course itself runs in a browser.

Positive Parenting Solutions Review: Is It Worth the Cost?

Positive Parenting Solutions (PPS) is Amy McCready's course and coaching system for parents of children aged 2 to 17, sold online since 2009. Its main product, the All-In-One Parenting Success System, is one payment for lifetime access, not a subscription. Here is what it includes, what it really costs, how refunds and payment plans work, what parents say about it, and who it suits.

Prices and policies checked 2026-10-20

The short answer

Positive Parenting Solutions is worth it if you want a structured course and live group coaching from one person, Amy McCready, and your children are anywhere from 2 to 17, teens included. It suits parents who will actually work through the lessons in the first 30 days, because that is the window in which you can still get your money back.

Check the price before you pay $399. A second checkout page for the same system showed $199 on 2026-10-20, and two Trustpilot reviewers report paying about $200 and about £150 for lifetime access. Pay in one go if you can: the payment plans cost more in total and cannot be cancelled after day 30.

It is the wrong fit if you want help in the moment more than a course, if your budget is tight, or if you will not have time for the lessons: two reviewers say it was hard to fit in as a single parent or with several young children. It is also all in English, so it will not help if you parent in German or Spanish.

What Positive Parenting Solutions is

A company in Raleigh, North Carolina, founded by Amy McCready, who describes herself as a parenting coach and a "recovering yeller". She taught in-person classes in the Raleigh-Durham area from 2004 and took the company online in 2009. PPS cites a figure of over 266,000 families. Its flagship product, the All-In-One Parenting Success System, is a course, coaching and parent communities sold as one purchase with lifetime access.

According to the sales page, the system includes the Toolbox, short video lessons that each come with the words to say; a Parent Personality Assessment of about ten minutes on how your own reactions feed power struggles; more than 30 Expert Series masterclasses on topics such as screen time, sibling rivalry, anxiety, lying, homework and teens, taught by Amy or by an MD or PhD she picks; a full year of live group coaching calls, several times a week, which the sales page says Amy runs herself, followed by three coaching passes to use any time; a library of questions already answered; two moderated private communities, one for parents of younger kids and one for tweens and teens; and the Parenting-In-Your-Pocket app. A co-parent gets their own login at no extra cost.

The ideas draw on Positive Discipline, the approach Jane Nelsen developed from the work of Alfred Adler and Rudolf Dreikurs, and Amy says she is certified in it. PPS teaches that two basic needs, attention and power, which it calls buckets, drive the fights at home, and that filling them makes the battles drop. Those two line up with the first two of the four "mistaken goals" on the Positive Discipline chart, undue attention and misguided power.

What it costs

From Positive Parenting Solutions' own sales, checkout and policy pages, read on 2026-10-20, not from a third party. Prices are in US dollars.

One payment: $399 for the All-In-One system, lifetime access, no renewal source
Three payments: 3 payments of $147, $441 in total source
Twelve payments: 12 payments of $39.99, $479.88 in total source
Second checkout: $199 once, or 12 monthly payments of $19.99 ($239.88 in total), on a checkout page for the same system marked "50% off, expires tonight" source
Refunds: 100% back if you ask within the first 30 days of purchase. Printed workbooks cannot be refunded once ordered. source
Payment plans: Not subscriptions. A plan commits you to every payment, and after day 30 the remaining payments continue and cannot be cancelled or refunded. source
Extra $100: A $100 Amazon gift card on top of the refund if it does not work, but only if you did the lessons and used the tools source
Partner access: Included: a co-parent gets their own login source
4-Week Family Fix: $149 for a shorter on-demand course on power struggles, routines, entitlement and sibling rivalry, lifetime access source
One-to-one coaching: Quick-Fix Coaching with Amy, $100 for 30 minutes, with a recording and transcript afterwards source
Free class: The "Bucket Method", about 38 minutes online, several sessions a day source

Two prices exist for the same system. The sales page asks $399. A second checkout page showed $199 on 2026-10-20 under a banner saying the 50% discount expires tonight. We do not know when that page is shown, to whom, or whether the free class leads to it, so we cannot tell you how to get it. What we can say is that two Trustpilot reviewers report paying about $200 and about £150 for lifetime access, which suggests $399 is not what everyone pays.

What parents actually say

Independent feedback is thin. The only public reviews we could read are on Trustpilot: 12 of them, with a TrustScore of 3.2, on a profile the company has not claimed. Trustpilot notes that the company has not invited reviews, and only two were written in the last 12 months, so treat this as a handful of voices, not a verdict.

What people praise

Value over time. Parents say the one-off lifetime price felt like good value, and some still go back to the material years later.
Amy herself. Reviewers like that she is present in the groups and on the coaching calls.
Less yelling. One parent says the system is what got them to stop yelling.

What people complain about

Payment plans. Several reviewers, from 2022 to 2025, say they were held to the remaining installments after day 30.
Cancelling. One reviewer in 2023 says a monthly billing was hard to cancel.
Time. Two reviewers, in 2020 and 2022, say it was hard to fit in as a single parent or with several children: one names the daily one-on-one time with each child the system rests on, the other finding the time to get through the lessons.
Price. One reviewer in 2025 calls the content outdated and basic for what it costs.

Where Positive Parenting Solutions is genuinely strong

Real people: a year of live group coaching calls with Amy, which the sales page says she runs herself, plus moderated parent communities.
A structured course you work through in order, with more than 30 masterclasses on top and new ones added at no charge.
It covers ages 2 to 17, so it stays useful into the teen years.
One payment for lifetime access, with no renewal, and a co-parent gets their own login.
A 30-day money-back guarantee, and a long track record: classes since 2004, online since 2009.
Its ideas draw on Positive Discipline, which goes back to the work of Alfred Adler and Rudolf Dreikurs.

Where it falls short

No published trial of the program itself. PPS says 96% of parents see improvements within 48 hours, but gives no method or study for that figure anywhere we read.
Urgency pricing. With $399 on one page and $199 "expires tonight" on another, it is hard to know what the system really costs.
The payment plans cost more in total and cannot be cancelled after day 30.
Everything is in English: the site, the course pages and the app.
The iPhone app, Parenting-In-Your-Pocket, is new and had no US ratings when we looked, and we found no current Android app. The course itself runs in a browser.
It takes time. Two reviewers say it was hard to fit in as a single parent or with several children, whether the daily one-on-one time or the lessons themselves.

Positive Parenting Solutions compared with RootWise

We build RootWise, so read this section with that in mind. These are different kinds of product: PPS is a course with live coaching from one person, RootWise is an app with scripts and a chat for the hard moment itself. The table shows where each one is the better buy, and on more rows than not that is PPS. RootWise prices are the US store prices.

Feature	Positive Parenting Solutions	RootWise	Better
Price for the first year	$399 once, or $199 on the second checkout	$49.99 a year for Premium	RootWise
How you pay	Once, for lifetime access, no renewal	Subscription, $9.99 a month or $49.99 a year	PPS
Free to start	A free 38 minute class before you buy	36 scripts, no account	RootWise
Refund or trial window	30-day money-back guarantee	7-day free trial	PPS
Live coaching with a person	A year of group calls with Amy; one-to-one at $100 for 30 minutes	None	PPS
Structured course and masterclasses	Video lessons plus more than 30 masterclasses	None; a script library instead	PPS
Ages covered	2 to 17	0 to 10	PPS
Parent community	Two moderated private groups	None	PPS
Languages	English	English, German, Spanish	RootWise
Help in the moment, at any hour	App toolbox, scheduled calls and a library of answered questions	Scripts and chat, any time	RootWise
Cancelling	Payment plans cannot be cancelled after day 30	Cancel the subscription any time	RootWise
Track record	Classes since 2004, online since 2009	New, very few ratings	PPS
Published trial of the program itself	None found	None	Even

Seven of those rows go to Positive Parenting Solutions, and they are the ones that make it what it is: a real person on live calls, a course to work through, a community, help that lasts into the teen years, and a long track record where we have almost none. RootWise wins on the first year's price, on languages, on help at any hour and on being able to stop paying. If you want to be taught a whole approach by one coach, PPS is the better product. If you want the words for a hard moment while it is happening, in English, German or Spanish, that is what RootWise is for.

Which one suits you

Choose Positive Parenting Solutions if

You want to learn a whole approach, step by step, from one coach.
Live group calls with a real person and a parent community matter to you.
Your children are older than 10, or range from toddlers to teens.
You can make time for the lessons in the first 30 days, while the refund still applies.
You parent in English.

Choose RootWise if

What you need is the right words in the hard moment, at any hour.
Your children are 10 or younger.
You parent in German or Spanish, or switch between languages at home.
You would rather try the free scripts first, with no account and nothing to pay.
You want to be able to stop paying whenever you like.

How we researched this

We have not bought Positive Parenting Solutions, and this review does not pretend otherwise. There is no hands-on account of using it here, and no rating out of ten.

What we did instead, on 2026-10-20: read the PPS sales page, both checkout pages, the FAQ, the return and cancellation policy, the page about Amy McCready, the course list and the free class page for every price, policy and claim; the App Store listing of the PPS app; every review on the Trustpilot profile; the Positive Discipline Association's pages on where the method comes from; and PubMed, searched for the program by name, which returned nothing. Every one of those is linked below so you can check any claim yourself.

We also looked for Reddit and parenting forum threads about PPS but could not open them, so nothing here comes from them. Prices and policies move; the ones here were read on the date shown at the top of this page.

Sources

Common questions

Is Positive Parenting Solutions worth it?: It can be, if you want a structured course and live group coaching from Amy McCready, have children between 2 and 17, and will do the lessons in the first 30 days, while you can still get a full refund. It is less worth it if what you need is help in the moment, if money is tight, or if you will not have time for the lessons and the ten minutes a day PPS says its tools take. Either way, check the price first: a second checkout page for the same system showed $199 instead of $399.
How much does Positive Parenting Solutions cost?: On the sales page, the All-In-One system is $399 as one payment, 3 payments of $147 ($441 in total) or 12 payments of $39.99 ($479.88 in total). A second checkout page for the same system showed $199, or 12 payments of $19.99, on 2026-10-20. The shorter 4-Week Family Fix is $149, and a 30 minute one-to-one session with Amy is $100.
Why are there two prices, and is there a discount code?: We found no public discount code. What we found is a second checkout page for the same system that asks $199 instead of $399, under a banner saying the 50% discount expires tonight. We do not know when or to whom PPS shows it. Two Trustpilot reviewers report paying about $200 and about £150 for lifetime access, so the lower price appears to be one people actually pay.
What is the Positive Parenting Solutions refund policy?: Lifetime access products get a 100% refund if you ask within the first 30 days of purchase. The sales page adds a $100 Amazon gift card if it does not work for you, but only if you did the lessons and used the tools. Printed workbooks cannot be refunded once ordered.
Can I cancel a Positive Parenting Solutions payment plan?: Only within the first 30 days, by asking for a refund. The 3 and 12 month plans are not subscriptions: choosing one commits you to every payment, and after day 30 the remaining payments continue and cannot be cancelled or refunded. Several Trustpilot reviewers say they were held to exactly that.
Who is Amy McCready?: The founder of Positive Parenting Solutions. She describes herself as a parenting coach and a "recovering yeller", says she is certified in Positive Discipline, has been a parenting contributor on the TODAY show for over 14 years, and has written two parenting books. She started teaching in-person classes in the Raleigh-Durham area in 2004.
Is Positive Parenting Solutions the same as Triple P?: No. Triple P, the Positive Parenting Program from the University of Queensland, is a different program with a large body of research behind it. A 2014 review and meta-analysis by Sanders and colleagues pooled 101 studies with 16,099 families and found short-term improvements in children's social, emotional and behavioral outcomes; Sanders is Triple P's founder. A 2007 review of 24 studies found that Triple P and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy both reduced the behavior problems parents reported. None of that research is about Positive Parenting Solutions.
Is there research behind Positive Parenting Solutions?: Its ideas draw on Positive Discipline, which builds on the work of Alfred Adler and Rudolf Dreikurs. For the program itself we found no published trial: a PubMed search for it by name returned nothing, and PPS gives no method for its claim that 96% of parents see improvements within 48 hours. Untested is not the same as ineffective. It means you are relying on reviews and the 30-day refund rather than on evidence.
What ages is Positive Parenting Solutions for?: Children from 2 to 17. The communities are split into one group for parents of younger kids and one for tweens and teens, and teens are one of the masterclass topics.
Is there a Positive Parenting Solutions app?: Yes, on iPhone: Parenting-In-Your-Pocket, a free download released in December 2025, in English only and with no US ratings when we looked. Its content needs a purchase. We found no current Android app; the course itself runs in a browser.

The free half of what we do

All 36 RootWise scripts are free, with no account and no trial clock. If what you need is the words for a hard moment rather than a course, start there and decide about anything else later.