importance of parenting essay

The Importance of Parenting in Influencing the Lives of Children

• First Online: 07 December 2018

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• Matthew R. Sanders 3 &
• Karen M. T. Turner 3  

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The quality of parenting children receive during childhood and adolescence plays a major role in influencing their developmental competence and ultimately their life course trajectories. The parent–child relationship has a pervasive impact on children, and affects many different areas of development including language and communication, executive function and self-regulation, sibling and peer relationships, academic attainment, and mental and physical health. This chapter provides an overview of evidence showing how parenting influences children’s development. In addition, we explore how the broader ecological contexts of parents’ lives influence parenting practices and family relationships. Proximal determinants of parenting (e.g., the parent–child relationship) and more distal factors (e.g., cultural and community context) combine to influence the quality of parenting children receive. We argue that evidence-based parenting support that is delivered at a whole of community level and is attuned to the broader ecological context of modern parenting is needed to promote competent parenting and to reduce the adverse effects of poor parenting on children. Policy-based investments in evidence-based parenting programs have great potential to enhance life course outcomes for both children and parents that can have major economic benefits to the entire community.

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The Parenting and Family Support Centre is partly funded by royalties stemming from published resources of the Triple P—Positive Parenting Program, which is developed and owned by the University of Queensland (UQ). Royalties are also distributed to the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences at UQ and contributory authors of published Triple P resources. Triple P International (TPI) Pty Ltd. is a private company licensed by UniQuest Pty Ltd. on behalf of UQ, to publish and disseminate Triple P worldwide. The authors of this chapter have no share or ownership of TPI. TPI has no involvement in the writing of this chapter. Matthew R Sanders is the founder of Triple P and receives royalties from TPI. He is a consultant to Triple P International and an employee at UQ. Karen Turner receives royalties from TPI and is an employee at UQ.

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Parenting and Family Support Centre School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Matthew R. Sanders

Alina Morawska

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Sanders, M.R., Turner, K.M.T. (2018). The Importance of Parenting in Influencing the Lives of Children. In: Sanders, M., Morawska, A. (eds) Handbook of Parenting and Child Development Across the Lifespan . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94598-9_1

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Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8 (2016)

Chapter: 1 introduction, 1 introduction.

Parents are among the most important people in the lives of young children. 1 From birth, children are learning and rely on mothers and fathers, as well as other caregivers acting in the parenting role, to protect and care for them and to chart a trajectory that promotes their overall well-being. While parents generally are filled with anticipation about their children’s unfolding personalities, many also lack knowledge about how best to provide for them. Becoming a parent is usually a welcomed event, but in some cases, parents’ lives are fraught with problems and uncertainty regarding their ability to ensure their child’s physical, emotional, or economic well-being.

At the same time, this study was fundamentally informed by recognition that the task of ensuring children’s healthy development does not rest solely with parents or families. It lies as well with governments and organizations at the local/community, state, and national levels that provide programs and services to support parents and families. Society benefits socially and economically from providing current and future generations of parents with the support they need to raise healthy and thriving children ( Karoly et al., 2005 ; Lee et al., 2015 ). In short, when parents and other caregivers are able to support young children, children’s lives are enriched, and society is advantaged by their contributions.

To ensure positive experiences for their children, parents draw on the resources of which they are aware or that are at their immediate disposal.

___________________

1 In this report, “parents” refers to the primary caregivers of young children in the home. In addition to biological and adoptive parents, main caregivers may include kinship (e.g., grandparents), foster, and other types of caregivers.

However, these resources may vary in number, availability, and quality at best, and at worst may be offered sporadically or not at all. Resources may be close at hand (e.g., family members), or they may be remote (e.g., government programs). They may be too expensive to access, or they may be substantively inadequate. Whether located in early childhood programs, school-based classrooms, well-child clinics, or family networks, support for parents of young children is critical to enhancing healthy early childhood experiences, promoting positive outcomes for children, and helping parents build strong relationships with their children (see Box 1-1 ).

The parent-child relationship that the parent described in Box 1-1 sought and continues to work toward is central to children’s growth and

development—to their social-emotional and cognitive functioning, school success, and mental and physical health. Experiences during early childhood affect children’s well-being over the course of their lives. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when children’s brains are developing rapidly and when nearly all of their experiences are created and shaped by their parents and by the positive or difficult circumstances in which the parents find themselves. Parents play a significant role in helping children build and refine their knowledge and skills, as well as their learning expectations, beliefs, goals, and coping strategies. Parents introduce children to the social world where they develop understandings of themselves and their place and value in society, understandings that influence their choices and experiences over the life course.

PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY

Over the past several decades, researchers have identified parenting-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices that are associated with improved developmental outcomes for children and around which parenting-related programs, policies, and messaging initiatives can be designed. However, consensus is lacking on the elements of parenting that are most important to promoting child well-being, and what is known about effective parenting has not always been adequately integrated across different service sectors to give all parents the information and support they need. Moreover, knowledge about effective parenting has not been effectively incorporated into policy, which has resulted in a lack of coordinated and targeted efforts aimed at supporting parents.

Several challenges to the implementation of effective parenting practices exist as well. One concerns the scope and complexity of hardships that influence parents’ use of knowledge, about effective parenting, including their ability to translate that knowledge into effective parenting practices and their access to and participation in evidence-based parenting-related programs and services. Many families in the United States are affected by such hardships, which include poverty, parental mental illness and substance use, and violence in the home. A second challenge is inadequate attention to identifying effective strategies for engaging and utilizing the strengths of fathers, discussed later in this chapter and elsewhere in this report. Even more limited is the understanding of how mothers, fathers, and other caregivers together promote their children’s development and analysis of the effects of fathers’ parenting on child outcomes. A third challenge is limited knowledge of exactly how culture and the direct effects of racial discrimination influence childrearing beliefs and practices or children’s development ( National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2000 ). Despite acknowledgment of and attention to the importance of culture in

the field of developmental science, few studies have explored differences in parenting among demographic communities that vary in race and ethnicity, culture, and immigrant experience, among other factors, and the implications for children’s development.

In addition, the issue of poverty persists, with low-income working families being particularly vulnerable to policy and economic shifts. Although these families have benefited in recent years from the expansion of programs and policies aimed at supporting them (discussed further below), the number of children living in deep poverty has increased ( Sherman and Trisi, 2014 ). 2 Moreover, the portrait of America’s parents and children has changed over the past 50 years as a result of shifts in the numbers and origins of immigrants to the United States and in the nation’s racial, ethnic, and cultural composition ( Child Trends Databank, 2015b ; Migration Policy Institute, 2016 ). Family structure also has grown increasingly diverse across class, race, and ethnicity, with fewer children now being raised in households with two married parents; more living with same-sex parents; and more living with kinship caregivers, such as grandparents, and in other household arrangements ( Child Trends Databank, 2015b ). Lastly, parenting increasingly is being shaped by technology and greater access to information about parenting, some of which is not based in evidence and much of which is only now being studied closely.

The above changes in the nation’s demographic, economic, and technological landscape, discussed in greater detail below, have created new opportunities and challenges with respect to supporting parents of young children. Indeed, funding has increased for some programs designed to support children and families. At the state and federal levels, policy makers recently have funded new initiatives aimed at expanding early childhood education ( Barnett et al., 2015 ). Over the past several years, the number of states offering some form of publicly funded prekindergarten program has risen to 39, and after slight dips during the Great Recession of 2008, within-state funding of these programs has been increasing ( Barnett et al., 2015 ). Furthermore, the 2016 federal budget allocates about $750 million for state-based preschool development grants focused on improved access and better quality of care and an additional $1 billion for Head Start programs ( U.S. Department of Education, 2015 ; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015 ). The federal budget also includes additional funding for the expansion of early childhood home visiting programs ($15 billion over the next 10 years) and increased access to child care for low-income working families ($28 billion over 10 years) ( U.S. Department

2 Deep poverty is defined as household income that is 50 percent or more below the federal poverty level (FPL). In 2015, the FPL for a four-person household was $24,250 ( Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, 2015 ).

of Health and Human Services, 2015 ). Low-income children and families have been aided as well in recent years by increased economic support from government in the form of both cash benefits (e.g., the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit) and noncash benefits (e.g., Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), and millions of children and their families have moved out of poverty as a result ( Sherman and Trisi, 2014 ).

It is against this backdrop of need and opportunity that the Administration for Children and Families, the Bezos Family Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the U.S. Department of Education, the Foundation for Child Development, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) requested that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine empanel a committee to conduct a study to examine the state of the science with respect to parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices tied to positive parent-child interactions and child outcomes and strategies for supporting them among parents of young children ages 0-8. The purpose of this study was to provide a roadmap for the future of parenting and family support policies, practices, and research in the United States.

The statement of task for the Committee on Supporting the Parents of Young Children is presented in Box 1-2 . The committee was tasked with describing barriers to and facilitators for strengthening parenting capacity and parents’ participation and retention in salient programs and services. The committee was asked to assess the evidence and then make recommendations whose implementation would promote wide-scale adoption of effective strategies for enabling the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Given the multi- and interdisciplinary nature of the study task, the 18-member committee comprised individuals with an array of expertise, including child development, early childhood education, developmental and educational psychology, child psychiatry, social work, family engagement research, pediatric medicine, public and health policy, health communications, implementation science, law, and economics (see Appendix D for biosketches of the committee members).

WHAT IS PARENTING?

Conceptions of who parents are and what constitute the best conditions for raising children vary widely. From classic anthropological and human development perspectives, parenting often is defined as a primary mechanism of socialization, that is, a primary means of training and preparing children to meet the demands of their environments and take advantage

of opportunities within those environments. As Bornstein (1991, p. 6) explains, the “particular and continuing task of parents and other caregivers is to enculturate children . . . to prepare them for socially accepted physical, economic, and psychological situations that are characteristic of the culture in which they are to survive and thrive.”

Attachment security is a central aspect of development that has been

defined as a child’s sense of confidence that the caregiver is there to meet his or her needs ( Main and Cassidy, 1988 ). All children develop attachments with their parents, but how parents interact with their young children, including the extent to which they respond appropriately and consistently to their children’s needs, particularly in times of distress, influences whether the attachment relationship that develops is secure or insecure. Young chil-

dren who are securely attached to their parents are provided a solid foundation for healthy development, including the establishment of strong peer relationships and the ability to empathize with others ( Bowlby, 1978 ; Chen et al., 2012 ; Holmes, 2006 ; Main and Cassidy, 1988 ; Murphy and Laible, 2013 ). Conversely, young children who do not become securely attached with a primary caregiver (e.g., as a result of maltreatment or separation) may develop insecure behaviors in childhood and potentially suffer other adverse outcomes over the life course, such as mental health disorders and disruption in other social and emotional domains ( Ainsworth and Bell, 1970 ; Bowlby, 2008 ; Schore, 2005 ).

More recently, developmental psychologists and economists have described parents as investing resources in their children in anticipation of promoting the children’s social, economic, and psychological well-being. Kalil and DeLeire (2004) characterize this promotion of children’s healthy development as taking two forms: (1) material, monetary, social, and psychological resources and (2) provision of support, guidance, warmth, and love. Bradley and Corwyn (2004) characterize the goals of these investments as helping children successfully regulate biological, cognitive, and social-emotional functioning.

Parents possess different levels and quality of access to knowledge that can guide the formation of their parenting attitudes and practices. As discussed in greater detail in Chapter 2 , the parenting practices in which parents engage are influenced and informed by their knowledge, including facts and other information relevant to parenting, as well as skills gained through experience or education. Parenting practices also are influenced by attitudes, which in this context refer to parents’ viewpoints, perspectives, reactions, or settled ways of thinking with respect to the roles and importance of parents and parenting in children’s development, as well as parents’ responsibilities. Attitudes may be part of a set of beliefs shared within a cultural group and founded in common experiences, and they often direct the transformation of knowledge into practice.

Parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices are shaped, in part, by parents’ own experiences (including those from their own childhood) and circumstances; expectations and practices learned from others, such as family, friends, and other social networks; and beliefs transferred through cultural and social systems. Parenting also is shaped by the availability of supports within the larger community and provided by institutions, as well as by policies that affect the availability of supportive services.

Along with the multiple sources of parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices and their diversity among parents, it is important to acknowledge the diverse influences on the lives of children. While parents are central to children’ development, other influences, such as relatives, close family friends, teachers, community members, peers, and social institutions, also

contribute to children’s growth and development. Children themselves are perhaps the most essential contributors to their own development. Thus, the science of parenting is framed within the theoretical perspective that parenting unfolds in particular contexts; is embedded in a network of relationships within and outside of the family; and is fluid and continuous, changing over time as children and parents grow and develop.

In addition, it is important to recognize that parenting affects not only children but also parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents’ lives; generate stress or calm; compete for time with work or leisure; and create combinations of any number of emotions, including happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger.

STUDY CONTEXT

As attention to early childhood development has increased over the past 20 years, so, too, has attention to those who care for young children. A recent Institute of Medicine and National Research Council report on the early childhood workforce ( Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2015 ) illustrates the heightened focus not only on whether young children have opportunities to be exposed to healthy environments and supports but also on the people who provide those supports. Indeed, an important responsibility of parents is identifying those who will care for their children in their absence. Those individuals may include family members and others in parents’ immediate circle, but they increasingly include non-family members who provide care and education in formal and informal settings outside the home, such as schools and home daycare centers.

Throughout its deliberations, the committee considered several questions relevant to its charge: What knowledge and attitudes do parents of young children bring to the task of parenting? How are parents engaged with their young children, and how do the circumstances and behaviors of both parents and children influence the parent-child relationship? What types of support further enhance the natural resources and skills that parents bring to the parenting role? How do parents function and make use of their familial and community resources? What policies and resources at the local, state, and federal levels assist parents? What practices do they expect those resources to reinforce, and from what knowledge and attitudes are those practices derived? On whom or what do they rely in the absence of those resources? What serves as an incentive for participation in parenting programs? How are the issues of parenting different or the same across culture and race? What factors constrain parents’ positive relationships with their children, and what research is needed to advance agendas that can help parents sustain such relationships?

The committee also considered research in the field of neuroscience,

which further supports the foundational role of early experiences in healthy development, with effects across the life course ( Center on the Developing Child, 2007 ; National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2009 ; World Health Organization, 2015 ). During early childhood, the brain undergoes a rapid development that lays the foundation for a child’s lifelong learning capacity and emotional and behavioral health (see Figure 1-1 ). This research has provided a more nuanced understanding of the importance of investments in early childhood and parenting. Moreover, advances in analyses of epigenetic effects on early brain development demonstrate consequences of parenting for neural development at the level of DNA, and suggest indirect consequences of family conditions such as poverty that operate on early child development, in part, through the epigenetic consequences of parenting ( Lipinia and Segretin, 2015 ).

This report comes at a time of flux in public policies aimed at supporting parents and their young children. The cost to parents of supporting their children’s healthy development (e.g., the cost of housing, health care, child care, and education) has increased at rates that in many cases have offset the improvements and increases provided for by public policies. As noted above, for example, the number of children living in deep poverty has grown since the mid-1990s ( Sherman and Trisi, 2014 ). While children represent approximately one-quarter of the country’s population, they make up 32 percent of all the country’s citizens who live in poverty ( Child Trends Databank, 2015a ). About one in every five children in the United States is now growing up in families with incomes below the poverty line, and 9 percent of children live in deep poverty (families with incomes below 50%

of the poverty line) ( Child Trends Databank, 2015a ). The risk of growing up poor continues to be particularly high for children in female-headed households; in 2013, approximately 55 percent of children under age 6 in such households lived at or below the poverty threshold, compared with 10 percent of children in married couple families ( DeNavas-Walt and Proctor, 2014 ). Black and Hispanic children are more likely to live in deep poverty (18 and 13%, respectively) compared with Asian and white children (5% each) ( Child Trends Databank, 2015a ). Also noteworthy is that child care policy, including the recent increases in funding for low-income families, ties child care subsidies to employment. Unemployed parents out of school are not eligible, and job loss results in subsidy loss and, in turn, instability in child care arrangements for young children ( Ha et al., 2012 ).

As noted earlier, this report also comes at a time of rapid change in the demographic composition of the country. This change necessitates new understandings of the norms and values within and among groups, the ways in which recent immigrants transition to life in the United States, and the approaches used by diverse cultural and ethnic communities to engage their children during early childhood and utilize institutions that offer them support in carrying out that role. The United States now has the largest absolute number of immigrants in its history ( Grieco et al., 2012 ; Passel and Cohn, 2012 ; U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 ), and the proportion of foreign-born residents today (13.1%) is nearly as high as it was at the turn of the 20th century ( National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2015 ). As of 2014, 25 percent of children ages 0-5 in the United States had at least one immigrant parent, compared with 13.5 percent in 1990 ( Migration Policy Institute, 2016 ). 3 In many urban centers, such as Los Angeles, Miami, and New York City, the majority of the student body of public schools is first- or second-generation immigrant children ( Suárez-Orozco et al., 2008 ).

Immigrants to the United States vary in their countries of origin, their reception in different communities, and the resources available to them. Researchers increasingly have called attention to the wide variation not only among but also within immigrant groups, including varying premigration histories, familiarity with U.S. institutions and culture, and childrearing

3 Shifting demographics in the United States have resulted in increased pressure for service providers to meet the needs of all children and families in a culturally sensitive manner. In many cases, community-level changes have overwhelmed the capacity of local child care providers and health service workers to respond to the language barriers and cultural parenting practices of the newly arriving immigrant groups, particularly if they have endured trauma. For example, many U.S. communities have worked to address the needs of the growing Hispanic population, but it has been documented that in some cases, eligible Latinos are “less likely to access available social services than other populations” ( Helms et al., 2015 ; Wildsmith et al., 2016 ).

strategies ( Crosnoe, 2006 ; Fuller and García Coll, 2010 ; Galindo and Fuller, 2010 ; Suárez-Orozco et al., 2010 ; Takanishi, 2004 ). Immigrants often bring valuable social and human capital to the United States, including unique competencies and sociocultural strengths. Indeed, many young immigrant children display health and learning outcomes better than those of children of native-born parents in similar socioeconomic positions ( Crosnoe, 2013 ). At the same time, however, children with immigrant parents are more likely than children in native-born families to grow up poor ( Hernandez et al., 2008 , 2012 ; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2015 ; Raphael and Smolensky, 2009 ). Immigrant parents’ efforts to raise healthy children also can be thwarted by barriers to integration that include language, documentation, and discrimination ( Hernandez et al., 2012 ; Yoshikawa, 2011 ).

The increase in the nation’s racial and ethnic diversity over the past several decades, related in part to immigration, is a trend that is expected to continue ( Colby and Ortman, 2015 ; Taylor, 2014 ). Between 2000 and 2010, the percentage of Americans identifying as black, Hispanic, Asian, or “other” increased from 15 percent to 36 percent of the population ( U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 ). Over this same time, the percentage of non-Hispanic white children under age 10 declined from 60 percent to 52 percent, while the percentage of Hispanic ethnicity (of any race) grew from about 19 percent to 25 percent ( U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 ); the percentages of black/African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Asian children under age 10 remained relatively steady (at about 15%, 1%, and 4-5%, respectively); and the percentages of children in this age group identifying as two or more races increased from 3 percent to 5 percent ( U.S. Census Bureau, 2011 ).

The above-noted shifts in the demographic landscape with regard to family structure, including increases in divorce rates and cohabitation, new types of parental relationships, and the involvement of grandparents and other relatives in the raising of children ( Cancian and Reed, 2008 ; Fremstad and Boteach, 2015 ), have implications for how best to support families. Between 1960 and 2014, the percentage of children under age 18 who lived with two married parents (biological, nonbiological, or adoptive) decreased from approximately 85 percent to 64 percent. In 1960, 8 percent of children lived in households headed by single mothers; by 2014, that figure had tripled to about 24 percent ( Child Trends Databank, 2015b ; U.S. Census Bureau, 2016 ). Meanwhile, the proportions of children living with only their fathers or with neither parent (with either relatives or non-relatives) have remained relatively steady since the mid-1980s, at about 4 percent (see Figure 1-2 ). Black children are significantly more likely to live in households headed by single mothers and also are more likely to live in households where neither parent is present. In 2014, 34 percent of black

children lived with two parents, compared with 58 percent of Hispanic children, 75 percent of white children, and 85 percent of Asian children ( Child Trends Databank, 2015b ).

From 1996 to 2015, the number of cohabiting couples with children rose from 1.2 million to 3.3 million ( Child Trends Databank, 2015b ). Moreover, data from the National Health Interview Survey show that in 2013, 30,000 children under age 18 had married same-sex parents and 170,000 had unmarried same-sex parents, and between 1.1 and 2.0 million were being raised by a parent who identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual but was not part of a couple ( Gates, 2014 ).

More families than in years past rely on kinship care (full-time care of children by family members other than parents or other adults with whom children have a family-like relationship). When parents are unable to care for their children because of illness, military deployment, incarceration, child abuse, or other reasons, kinship care can help cultivate familial and community bonds, as well as provide children with a sense of stability and belonging ( Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2012 ; Winokur et al., 2014 ). It is estimated that the number of children in kinship care grew six times the rate of the number of children in the general population over the past decade ( Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2012 ). In 2014, 7 percent of children lived in households headed by grandparents, as compared with 3 percent in 1970 ( Child Trends Databank, 2015b ), and as of 2012, about 10 percent of American children lived in a household where a grandparent was present ( Ellis and Simmons, 2014 ). Black children are twice as likely as the overall population of children to live in kinship arrangements, with about 20 percent of black children spending time in kinship care at some point

during their childhood ( Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2012 ). Beyond kinship care, about 400,000 U.S. children under age 18 are in foster care with about one-quarter of these children living with relatives ( Child Trends Databank, 2015c ). Of the total number of children in foster care, 7 percent are under age 1, 33 percent are ages 1-5, and 23 percent are ages 6-10 ( Child Trends Databank, 2015c ). Other information about the structure of American families is more difficult to come by. For example, there is a lack of data with which to assess trends in the number of children who are raised by extended family members through informal arrangements as opposed to through the foster care system.

As noted earlier, fathers, including biological fathers and other male caregivers, have historically been underrepresented in parenting research despite their essential role in the development of young children. Young children with involved and nurturing fathers develop better linguistic and cognitive skills and capacities, including academic readiness, and are more emotionally secure and have better social connections with peers as they get older ( Cabrera and Tamis-LeMonda, 2013 ; Harris and Marmer, 1996 ; Lamb, 2004 ; Pruett, 2000 ; Rosenberg and Wilcox, 2006 ; Yeung et al., 2000 ). Conversely, children with disengaged fathers have been found to be more likely to develop behavioral problems ( Amato and Rivera, 1999 ; Ramchandani et al., 2013 ). With both societal shifts in gender roles and increased attention to fathers’ involvement in childrearing in recent years, fathers have assumed greater roles in the daily activities associated with raising young children, such as preparing and eating meals with them, reading to and playing and talking with them, and helping them with homework ( Bianchi et al., 2007 ; Cabrera et al., 2011 ; Jones and Mosher, 2013 ; Livingston and Parker, 2011 ). In two-parent families, 16 percent of fathers were stay-at-home parents in 2012, compared with 10 percent in 1989; 21 percent of these fathers stayed home specifically to care for their home or family, up from 5 percent in 1989 ( Livingston, 2014 ). At the same time, however, fewer fathers now live with their biological children because of increases in nonmarital childbearing (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015).

In addition, as alluded to earlier, parents of young children face trans-formative changes in technology that can have a strong impact on parenting and family life ( Collier, 2014 ). Research conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project shows that, relative to other household configurations, married parents with children under age 18 use the Internet and cell phones, own computers, and adopt broadband at higher rates ( Duggan and Lenhart, 2015 ). Other types of households, however, such as single-parent and unmarried multiadult households, also show high usage of technology, particularly text messaging and social media ( Smith, 2015 ). Research by the Pew Research Center (2014) shows that many parents—25 percent in

one survey ( Duggan et al., 2015 )—view social media as a useful source of parenting information.

At the same time, however, parents also are saturated with information and faced with the difficulty of distinguishing valid information from fallacies and myths about raising children ( Aubrun and Grady, 2003 ; Center on Media and Human Development, 2014 ; Dworkin et al., 2013 ; Future of Children, 2008 ). Given the number and magnitude of innovations in media and communications technologies, parents may struggle with understanding the optimal use of technology in the lives of their children.

Despite engagement with Internet resources, parents still report turning to family, friends, and physicians more often than to online sources such as Websites, blogs, and social network sites for parenting advice ( Center on Media and Human Development, 2014 ). Although many reports allude to the potentially harmful effects of media and technology, parents generally do not report having many concerns or family conflicts regarding their children’s media use. On the other hand, studies have confirmed parents’ fears about an association between children’s exposure to violence in media and increased anxiety ( Funk, 2005 ), desensitization to violence ( Engelhardt et al., 2011 ), and aggression ( Willoughby et al., 2012 ). And although the relationship between media use and childhood obesity is challenging to disentangle, studies have found that children who spend more time with media are more likely to be overweight than children who do not (see Chapter 2 ) ( Bickham et al., 2013 ; Institute of Medicine, 2011 ; Kaiser Family Foundation, 2004 ).

The benefits of the information age have included reduced barriers to knowledge for both socially advantaged and disadvantaged groups. Yet despite rapidly decreasing costs of many technologies (e.g., smartphones, tablets, and computers), parents of lower socioeconomic position and from racial and ethnic minority groups are less likely to have access to and take advantage of these resources ( Center on Media and Human Development, 2014 ; File and Ryan, 2014 ; Institute of Medicine, 2006 ; Perrin and Duggan, 2015 ; Smith, 2015 ; Viswanath et al., 2012 ). A digital divide also exists between single-parent and two-parent households, as the cost of a computer and monthly Internet service can be more of a financial burden for the former families, which on average have lower household incomes ( Allen and Rainie, 2002 ; Dworkin et al., 2013 ).

STUDY APPROACH

The committee’s approach to its charge consisted of a review of the evidence in the scientific literature and several other information-gathering activities.

Evidence Review

The committee conducted an extensive review of the scientific literature pertaining to the questions raised in its statement of task ( Box 1-2 ). It did not undertake a full review of all parenting-related studies because it was tasked with providing a targeted report that would direct stakeholders to best practices and succinctly capture the state of the science. The committee’s literature review entailed English-language searches of databases including, but not limited to, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Medline, the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science. Additional literature and other resources were identified by committee members and project staff using traditional academic research methods and online searches. The committee focused its review on research published in peer-reviewed journals and books (including individual studies, review articles, and meta-analyses), as well as reports issued by government agencies and other organizations. The committee’s review was concentrated primarily, although not entirely, on research conducted in the United States, occasionally drawing on research from other Western countries (e.g., Germany and Australia), and rarely on research from other countries.

In reviewing the literature and formulating its conclusions and recommendations, the committee considered several, sometimes competing, dimensions of empirical work: internal validity, external validity, practical significance, and issues of implementation, such as scale-up with fidelity ( Duncan et al., 2007 ; McCartney and Rosenthal, 2000 ; Rosenthal and Rosnow, 2007 ).

With regard to internal validity , the committee viewed random-assignment experiments as the primary model for establishing cause- and-effect relationships between variables with manipulable causes (e.g., Rosenthal and Rosnow, 2007 ; Shadish et al., 2001 ). Given the relatively limited body of evidence from experimental studies in the parenting literature, however, the committee also considered findings from quasi-experimental studies (including those using regression discontinuity, instrumental variables, and difference-in-difference techniques based on natural experiments) ( Duncan et al., 2007 ; Foster, 2010 ; McCartney et al., 2006 ) and from observational studies, a method that can be used to test logical propositions inherent to causal inference, rule out potential sources of bias, and assess the sensitivity of results to assumptions regarding study design and measurement. These include longitudinal studies and limited cross-sectional studies. Although quasi- and nonexperimental studies may fail to meet the “gold standard” of randomized controlled trials for causal inference, studies with a variety of internal validity strengths and weaknesses can collectively provide useful evidence on causal influences ( Duncan et al., 2014 ).

When there are different sources of evidence, often with some differences in estimates of the strength of the evidence, the committee used its collective experience to integrate the information and draw reasoned conclusions.

With regard to external validity , the committee attempted to take into account the extent to which findings can be generalized across population groups and situations. This entailed considering the demographic, socioeconomic, and other characteristics of study participants; whether variables were assessed in the real-world contexts in which parents and children live (e.g., in the home, school, community); whether study findings build the knowledge base with regard to both efficacy (i.e., internal validity in highly controlled settings) and effectiveness (i.e., positive net treatment effects in ecologically valid settings); and issues of cultural competence ( Bracht and Glass, 1968 ; Bronfenbrenner, 2009 ; Cook and Campbell, 1979 ; Harrison and List, 2004 ; Lerner et al., 2000 ; Rosenthal and Rosnow, 2007 ; Whaley and Davis, 2007 ). However, the research literature is limited in the extent to which generalizations across population groups and situations are examined.

With regard to practical significance , the committee considered the magnitude of likely causal impacts within both an empirical context (i.e., measurement, design, and method) and an economic context (i.e., benefits relative to costs), and with attention to the salience of outcomes (e.g., how important an outcome is for promoting child well-being) ( Duncan et al., 2007 ; McCartney and Rosenthal, 2000 ). As discussed elsewhere in this report, however, the committee found limited economic evidence with which to draw conclusions about investing in interventions at scale or to weigh the costs and benefits of interventions. (See the discussion of other information-gathering activities below.) Also with respect to practical significance, the committee considered the manipulability of the variables under consideration in real-world contexts, given that the practical significance of study results depend on whether the variables examined are represented or experienced commonly or uncommonly among particular families ( Fabes et al., 2000 ).

Finally, the committee took into account issues of implementation , such as whether interventions can be brought to and sustained at scale ( Durlak and DuPre, 2008 ; Halle et al., 2013 ). Experts in the field of implementation science emphasize not only the evidence behind programs but also the fundamental roles of scale-up, dissemination planning, and program monitoring and evaluation. Scale-up in turn requires attending to the ability to implement adaptive program practices in response to heterogeneous, real-world contexts, while also ensuring fidelity for the potent levers of change or prevention ( Franks and Schroeder, 2013 ). Thus, the committee relied on both evidence on scale-up, dissemination, and sustainability from empirically based programs and practices that have been implemented and

evaluated, and more general principles of implementation science, including considerations of capacity and readiness for scale-up and sustainability at the macro (e.g., current national politics) and micro (e.g., community resources) levels.

The review of the evidence conducted for this study, especially pertaining to strategies that work at the universal, targeted, and intensive levels to strengthen parenting capacity (questions 2 and 3 from the committee’s statement of task [ Box 1-2 ]), also entailed searches of several databases that, applying principles similar to those described above, assess the strength of the evidence for parenting-related programs and practices: the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices (NREPP), supported by SAMHSA; the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC), which is funded by the state of California; and Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development, which has multiple funding sources. Although each of these databases is unique with respect to its history, sponsors, and objectives (NREPP covers mental health and substance abuse interventions, CEBC is focused on evidence relevant to child welfare, and Blueprints describes programs designed to promote the health and well-being of children), all are recognized nationally and internationally and undergo a rigorous review process.

The basic principles of evaluation and classification and the processes for classification of evidence-based practices are common across NREPP, CEBC, and Blueprints. Each has two top categories—optimal and promising—for programs and practices (see Appendix B ; see also Burkhardt et al., 2015 ; Means et al., 2015 ; Mihalic and Elliot, 2015 ; Soydan et al., 2010 ). Given the relatively modest investment in research on programs for parents and young children, however, the array of programs that are highly rated remains modest. For this reason, the committee considered as programs with the most robust evidence not only those included in the top two categories of Blueprints and CEBC but also those with an average rating of 3 or higher in NREPP. The committee’s literature searches also captured well-supported programs that are excluded from these databases (e.g., because they are recent and/or have not been submitted for review) but have sound theoretical underpinnings and rely on well-recognized intervention and implementation mechanisms.

Other reputable information sources used in producing specific portions of this report were What Works for Health (within the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps Program, a joint effort of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin); the What Works Clearinghouse of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Services; and HHS’s Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness (HomVEE) review.

In addition, the committee chose to consider findings from research using methodological approaches that are emerging as a source of innovation and improvement. These approaches are gaining momentum in parent-

ing research and are being developed and funded by the federal government and private philanthropy. Examples are breakthrough series collaborative approaches, such as the Home Visiting Collaborative Innovation and Improvement Network to Reduce Infant Mortality, and designs such as factorial experiments that have been used to address topics relevant to this study.

Other Information-Gathering Activities

The committee held two open public information-gathering sessions to hear from researchers, practitioners, parents, and other stakeholders on topics germane to this study and to supplement the expertise of the committee members (see Appendix A for the agendas of these open sessions). Material from these open sessions is referenced in this report where relevant.

As noted above, the committee’s task included making recommendations related to promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective strategies for supporting parents and the salient knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Cost is an important consideration for the implementation of parenting programs at scale. Therefore, the committee commissioned a paper reviewing the available economic evidence for investing in parenting programs at scale to inform its deliberations on this portion of its charge. Findings and excerpts from this paper are integrated throughout Chapters 3 through 6 . The committee also commissioned a second paper summarizing evidence-based strategies used by health care systems and providers to help parents acquire and sustain knowledge, attitudes, and practices that promote healthy child development. The committee drew heavily on this paper in developing sections of the report on universal/preventive and targeted interventions for parents in health care settings. Lastly, a commissioned paper on evidence-based strategies to support parents of children with mental illness formed the basis for a report section on this population. 4

In addition, the committee conducted two sets of group and individual semistructured interviews with parents participating in family support programs at community-based organizations in Omaha, Nebraska, and Washington, D.C. Parents provided feedback on the strengths they bring to parenting, challenges they face, how services for parents can be improved, and ways they prefer to receive parenting information, among other topics. Excerpts from these interviews are presented throughout this report as “Parent Voices” to provide real-world examples of parents’ experiences and to supplement the discussion of particular concepts and the committee’s findings.

4 The papers commissioned by the committee are in the public access file for the study and can be requested at https://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/ManageRequest.aspx?key=49669 [October 2016].

TERMINOLOGY AND STUDY PARAMETERS

As specified in the statement of task for this study ( Box 1-2 ), the term “parents” refers in this report to those individuals who are the primary caregivers of young children in the home. Therefore, the committee reviewed studies that involved not only biolofical and adoptive parents but also relative/kinship providers (e.g., grandparents), stepparents, foster parents, and other types of caregivers, although research is sparse on unique issues related to nontraditional caregivers. The terms “knowledge,” “attitudes,” and “practices” and the relationships among them were discussed earlier in this chapter, and further detail can be found in Chapter 2 ).

The committee recognized that to a certain degree, ideas about what is considered effective parenting vary across cultures and ecological conditions, including economies, social structures, religious beliefs, and moral values ( Cushman, 1995 ). To address this variation, and in accordance with its charge, the committee examined research on how core parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices differ by specific characteristics of children, parents, and contexts. However, because the research on parenting has traditionally underrepresented several populations (e.g., caregivers other than mothers), the evidence on which the committee could draw to make these comparisons was limited.

The committee interpreted “evidence-based/informed strategies” very broadly as ranging from teaching a specific parenting skill, to manualized parenting programs, to policies that may affect parenting. The term “interventions” is generally used in this report to refer to all types of strategies, while more specific terms (e.g., “program,” “well-child care”) are used to refer to particular types or sets of interventions. Also, recognizing that nearly every facet of society has a role to play in supporting parents and ensuring that children realize their full potential, the committee reviewed not only strategies designed expressly for parents (e.g., parenting skills training) but also, though to a lesser degree, programs and policies not designed specifically for parents that may nevertheless affect an individual’s capacity to parent (e.g., food assistance and housing programs, health care policies).

As noted earlier in this chapter, this report was informed by a life-course perspective on parenting, given evidence from neuroscience and a range of related research that the early years are a critical period in shaping how individuals fare throughout their lives. The committee also aimed to take a strengths/assets-based approach (e.g., to identify strategies that build upon the existing assets of parents), although the extent to which this approach could be applied was limited by the paucity of research examining parenting from this perspective.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

A number of principles guided this study. First, following the ideas of Dunst and Espe-Sherwindt (2016) , the distinction between two types of family-centered practices—relational and participatory—informed the committee’s thinking. Relational practices are those focused primarily on intervening with families using compassion, active and reflective listening, empathy, and other techniques. Participatory practices are those that actively engage families in decision making and aim to improve families’ capabilities. In addition, family-centered practices focused on the context of successful parenting are a key third form of support for parenting. A premise of the committee is that many interventions with the most troubled families and children will require all these types of services—often delivered concurrently over a lengthy period of time.

Second, many programs are designed to serve families at particular risk for problems related to cognitive and social-emotional development, health, and well-being. Early Head Start and Head Start, for example, are means tested and designed for low-income families most of whom are known to face not just one risk factor (low income) but also others that often cluster together (e.g., living in dangerous neighborhoods, exposure to trauma, social isolation, unfamiliarity with the dominant culture or language). Special populations addressed in this report typically are at very high risk because of this exposure to multiple risk factors. Research has shown that children in such families have the poorest outcomes, in some instances reaching a level of toxic stress that seriously impairs their developmental functioning ( Shonkoff and Garner, 2012 ). Of course, in addition to characterizing developmental risk, it is essential to understand the corresponding adaptive processes and protective factors, as it is the balance of risk and protective factors that determines outcomes. In many ways, supporting parents is one way to attempt to change that balance.

From an intervention point of view, several principles are central. First, intervention strategies need to be designed to have measurable effects over time and to be sustainable. Second, it is necessary to focus on the needs of individual families and to tailor interventions to achieve desired outcomes. The importance of personalized approaches is widely acknowledged in medicine, education, and other areas. An observation perhaps best illustrated in the section on parents of children with developmental disabilities in Chapter 5 , although the committee believes this approach applies to many of the programs described in this report. A corresponding core principle of intervention is viewing parents as equal partners, experts in what both they and their children need. It is important as well that multiple kinds of services for families be integrated and coordinated. As illustrated earlier

in Box 1-1 , families may be receiving interventions from multiple sources delivered in different places, making coordination all the more important.

A useful framework for thinking about interventions is described in the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine (2009) report Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders among Young People . Prevention interventions encompass mental health promotion: universal prevention, defined as interventions that are valuable for all children; selected prevention, aimed at populations at high risk (such as children whose parents have mental illness); and indicated prevention, focused on children already manifesting symptoms. Treatment interventions include case identification, standard treatment for known disorders, accordance of long-term treatment with the goal of reduction in relapse or occurrence, and aftercare and rehabilitation ( National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2009 ).

The committee recognizes that engaging and retaining children and families in parenting interventions are critical challenges. A key to promoting such engagement may be cultural relevance. Families representing America’s diverse array of cultures, languages, and experiences are likely to derive the greatest benefit from interventions designed and implemented to allow for flexibility.

Finally, the question of widespread implementation and dissemination of parenting interventions is critically important. Given the cost of testing evidence-based parenting programs, the development of additional programs needs to be built on the work that has been done before. Collectively, interventions also are more likely to achieve a significant level of impact if they incorporate some of the elements of prior interventions. In any case, a focus on the principles of implementation and dissemination clearly is needed. As is discussed in this report, the committee calls for more study and experience with respect to taking programs to scale.

REPORT ORGANIZATION

This report is divided into eight chapters. Chapter 2 examines desired outcomes for children and reviews the existing research on parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices that support positive parent-child interactions and child outcomes. Based on the available research, this chapter identifies a set of core knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Chapter 3 provides a brief overview of some of the major federally funded programs and policies that support parents in the United States. Chapters 4 and 5 describe evidence-based and evidence-informed strategies for supporting parents and enabling the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices, including universal and widely used interventions ( Chapter 4 ) and interventions targeted to parents of children with special needs and parents who themselves face adversities

( Chapter 5 ). Chapter 6 reviews elements of effective programs for strengthening parenting capacity and parents’ participation and retention in effective programs and systems. Chapter 7 describes a national framework for supporting parents of young children. Finally, Chapter 8 presents the committee’s conclusions and recommendations for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective intervention strategies and parenting practices linked to healthy child outcomes, as well as areas for future research.

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Soydan, H., Mullen, E., Alexandra, L., Rehnman, J., and Li, Y.-P. (2010). Evidence-based clearinghouses in social work. Research on Social Work Practice, 20 (6), 690-700.

Suárez-Orozco, C., Suárez-Orozco, M.M., and Todorova, I. (2008). Learning a New Land: Immigrant Students in American Society . Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

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Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the family—which includes all primary caregivers—are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger.

Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting.

Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

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The power of parenting, raising happy, healthy and hopeful children..

Three different families. Three different stories.

With one thing in common:

Whatever a family’s situation, growing up feeling loved makes a critical difference in a child’s life.

Becoming a single parent in Bolivia has meant a radical change in Sandra’s life.

> Read now

A devastating earthquake in Türkiye changes everything for Sidra and her family.

A family in South Africa draws strength from the bond of being together.

Raising the next generation

Sandra, mother of Nathaly

In the northern outskirts of La Paz in Bolivia, many women face the challenge of raising children on their own in an environment marked by economic hardships and patriarchal traditions.

For Sandra, who studies law in the morning and designs shawls and dresses in the afternoon, balancing work and studies became even more challenging after the birth of her young daughter Nathaly, now 7 years old.

Becoming a single parent has meant a radical change in the life of Sandra.

But she’s supported by her mother Margarita and grandmother Rosa. Together with Sandra and Nathaly they represent four generations of Cholitas . This is the name given to Aymara indigenous women from the Bolivian Andean region who wear traditional blankets, high top hats, and long voluminous skirts called polleras .

“As a woman it's crucial to stand on your own two feet, to not rely entirely on others” Sandra, mother of Nathaly

For Sandra, the act of juggling work, studies and motherhood is not easy. When faced with situations that affect her mental health she listens to music and enjoys weaving and creating macramé designs.

“Sometimes, like any mom, I retreat into myself for a while, maybe shed a few tears and then it passes, and I tell myself I have to start over and I do,” she says.

“The biggest challenge as a mother is to get ahead and prove to myself and my daughter that as a woman you can stand on your own two feet, not be behind someone else.”

When Nathaly was about two years old, a portrait of her was taken by photographer Sara Aliaga Ticona. The photo was seen internationally and inspired a graffiti drawing.

Sara says Nathaly's strength and tenderness embodies the essence of the Cholita .

Many families in Bolivia follow traditional gender roles, where fathers are the primary earners and mothers handle domestic affairs. However, these roles are changing as many Bolivian women seek independence and self-sufficiency.

“It’s essential to have the ability to work and to be self-sufficient. While I'm grateful for the immense support from my parents, my biggest challenge has been to ensure a bright future for my daughter.”

Sandra’s vision for Nathaly is clear. She wants her daughter to be deeply rooted in her heritage, while also ensuring she grows up with a sense of self-worth and purpose.

“I cherish every moment with my daughter, whether we’re painting or dancing," says Sandra. "I want to share every experience with her, always ensuring she feels supported and happy.”

For Sandra, every moment they spend together, whether it’s playing, dancing or simply being together is precious.

She hopes that these moments of togetherness, love and learning will remain etched in Nathaly’s memory forever, shaping her into the strong woman she’s destined to become. 

Photography/video: Sara Aliaga Ticona

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Rebuilding a family

When a devastating earthquake hit Türkiye on 6 February 2023, 10-year-old Sidra and her family's life was changed forever.

As Sidra navigates life after the disaster and the death of her father and sister, her grandfather Hassan has stepped in as a pillar of strength and support.

After the earthquake, it wasn’t just Sidra who relied on Hassan and his wife, Semiha, for support. In the garden of their damaged home in Antakya, Hatay, Türkiye, the couple provided shelter to relatives in makeshift tents, becoming a source of emotional strength for the extended family.

“Our grandchildren are our source of strength. When we’re alone we feel sad, but when they’re with us, they give us energy and strength, they calm us.” Hassan, grandfather of Sidra

For 18 hours after the earthquake, Sidra and her mother, Sernaz, were trapped beneath the rubble.

Despite suffering a broken back, Sernaz comforted her daughter with songs and stories and tried to keep her warm.

“I thought that I was never going to see any of my family again, and that we were never going to make it out alive," she says. 

When Sidra and her mother were finally rescued from the rubble, they received the news that Sidra’s father and elder sister, 17, had died in the earthquake. Their bodies were retrieved eight days later.

“I'm strong for Sidra, I try to stay strong for her. She's my rock, I am doing everything for her now. She’s the reason I hold myself together.” Sernaz, mother of Sidra

While processing his own grief, Hassan stepped forward to provide emotional security and stability for his family.

“We are trying to do many things for all our grandchildren now after the earthquake, just to make them feel better,” he says. “We cry for our losses when we are on our own, but we hide our feelings in front of our grandchildren.”

“Since the children are traumatized, we are spoiling them a bit more,” says Sidra’s grandmother Semiha.

Hassan reflects on simpler times when children weren’t exposed to all the information available on modern technology. “We didn’t have the difficulties like today," he says.

"Kids are now very conscious about everything, and we have to reassure them and answer their questions.”

"I was burnt to ashes that day

I can't tell you what's going on inside me.

I feel so sad, I want to cry

I don't pass through the streets anymore

Because I feel so sad

Sometimes I get short of breath

I don't know, but I miss you so much."

Following the earthquake, Sidra turned to music and art for comfort.

On the advice of her psychiatrist, Sidra now attends guitar and drawing lessons. She attends therapy sessions once a week to help process the loss of her family members.

Poems, songs and drawings by Sidra reflect her emotions around the loss of her father and sister in the earthquake. 

A song she wrote is called ‘My life is a painting’. The lyrics speak of her pain and healing: “My life is a painting, it’s endless to tell; jokes don’t last, tears don’t last.”

Following the earthquake, Sidra struggled to fall asleep, often needing her mother by her side.

She finds comfort now in a big red teddy bear named Alev that her mother gave her. Alev means ‘Flame’ in English.  

Sidra loves playing with Mucize, a stray dog whose name means ‘Miracle’ in English.

Sidra’s connection with her cousins is testament to the therapeutic and healing power of play. 

Amidst all the challenges, these moments of laughter and joy symbolize hope and resilience.

Despite the ongoing challenges of life and memories of the disaster, Hassan’s unwavering support and steadfast presence offer the family hope.

"We’re working for tomorrow, just trying to talk more to the grandkids all the time, and ask them what they want, and how they are feeling," he says. 

“I tell them that everything will be better in the future."

Photography/video: Bradley Secker

Back to top   |   Next story >

A safe place

In the face of their own mental health challenges, Eleanor, a journalist, and Robin, a major crimes detective, always knew parenting wouldn't be easy.

Eleanor, diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder, has been living with these conditions since childhood. Meanwhile, Robin experiences Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from his military service and years as a homicide detective.

Living in Kariega, Eastern Cape, in South Africa, their journey has included therapy for their own conditions and the loss of their first son to neonatal death. Aidan, 10, their bright and resilient young boy, has received therapy for his own anxiety and sensory challenges, showing remarkable progress along the way. 

“Robin and I always said, even when Aidan was a baby... We’re meeting a person, not making a person," says Eleanor. "We are there to guide him.” 

“While parenting is tough, it’s the most rewarding job on earth.” Eleanor, mother of Aidan

Because Eleanor has personally experienced anxiety and depression for much of her life, she passionately advocates for reducing the stigma around mental health .

She recounts how Aidan refers to his therapist as his ’talking doctor’, highlighting the importance of open dialogue.

“I noticed the anxiety in Aidan very early on," she says. "So, I made it my mission to learn how to deal with it. We took him to therapy. I want to take away that stigma attached to mental health. The same way you get treated for diabetes; you have to be treated for mental illness. There is no shame in it.”

“Ever since I can remember Aidan’s always loved small spaces. He always climbs into boxes, climbs into cupboards, under chairs, under tables," says Eleanor.

"Initially we were nervous about it, but his therapist said it was just a comfort thing.”

Through therapeutic tools like weighted blankets and headphones, Aidan finds his way to calmness.

Their family values moments of togetherness, using creativity as a bonding tool. Baking, playing board games, crafting, and pursuing shared interests have become cherished activities in their household.

“Aidan has taken to baking and he even asked for a stand mixer for his last birthday, so we will spend time in the kitchen together,” says Eleanor.

“As a family we love spending time at home,” says Eleanor.

“I think it comes from our individual challenges with social anxiety. Home has become very much a place of comfort and is a safe space," she says.

"We’ve equipped our house with games and art supplies, turning it into a place we can disconnect from the world. Playing together as a family is essential because we spend most of our days apart, and there’s nothing like reconnecting."

“Often as adults, we get so trapped in doing things we have to do, and we forget to do things because we want to do them.” Eleanor, mother of Aidan

The family sees home as a sanctuary free from societal pressures and Aidan's father Robin is determined to break the cycle of toxic masculinity by encouraging emotional expression.

“I grew up in a household where I was told that ‘big boys, or cowboys, don’t cry’,” he says.

“I don't want to raise my son with that mindset. He can express his emotions freely. We should stop stigmatizing mental health and victimizing people with mental health challenges. Taking mental health seriously can lead to a better world.”  

Photography: Jodi Bieber

Back to top  

Every child deserves to grow up in a loving, nurturing and safe environment.

But providing nurturing care takes time and resources – things that many parents and caregivers don’t have. 

UNICEF believes every parent and caregiver should receive the support they need to give their children the best possible start in life. Caregivers who receive the support and skills to cope with stress and manage their mental health are also better able to care for their children. This is why UNICEF is calling for universal parenting support .

A strong parental attachment is the single biggest protective factor in the life of any child. 

Evidence shows that family-friendly policies contribute to thriving children and happier families – as well as gender equality, workforce productivity and sustainable economic growth.  

>> Learn more about UNICEF's work to support parents and caregivers .

>> Explore UNICEF Parenting: Helpful tips and guidance for parents and caregivers

UNICEF Parenting

Bringing together some of the world’s leading baby experts to help parents give their children the best start in life

#OnMyMind: Better mental health for every child

Every child deserves to grow up in loving, nurturing and safe environments

Universal parenting support to prevent abuse and neglect

A policy call for national governments

Redesigning the workplace to be family-friendly

Investing in family friendly policies is good for the family, business and the economy

A Parent's Role

Reviewed by Psychology Today Staff

From encouraging schoolwork and sports to modeling values as a child grows (remember, they do as you do, not as you say!) parents exert enormous influence over their children's lives. They are, however, not the only on-the-ground influencers—especially after children enter school and begin interacting with the world at large.

Most parents work to give children the best start possible, but it's also important for parents to recognize that kids come into the world with their own temperaments, personalities, and goals . While parents may want to push their child down a certain path, a parents' job is to provide an interface with the world that ultimately prepares a child for complete independence and the ability to pursue whatever path they choose.

In a rapidly changing world, parenting can be subject to fads and changing styles, and parenting in some privileged circles has become a competitive sport. But the needs of child development as delineated by science remain relatively stable: safety, structure, support, and love.

To parent effectively, it’s not enough to simply avoid the obvious dangers like abuse, neglect, or overindulgence. Indeed, The National Academy of Sciences delineates four major responsibilities for parents: maintaining children's health and safety, promoting their emotional well-being, instilling social skills, and preparing children intellectually.

Numerous studies suggest that the best-adjusted children are reared by parents who find a way to combine warmth and sensitivity with clear behavioral expectations. Parents may find the Four C’s to be a helpful acronym: care (showing acceptance and affection), consistency (maintaining a stable environment), choices (allowing the child to develop autonomy), and consequences (applying repercussions of choices, whether positive or negative).

To learn more, see How to Be a Good Parent and Supporting Children's Education .

Not every parenting style is in the child's best interest. There is such a thing as overparenting, which can cripple children as they move into adulthood and render them unable to cope with the merest setbacks.

Two well-known examples of overparenting styles include "helicopter parenting," in which children are excessively monitored and kept out of harm's way, and "snowplow parenting," in which potential obstacles are removed from a child's path. Both can negatively impact a child's later independence, mental health, and self-esteem .

Of course, there is such a thing as too-little parenting, too, and research establishes that lack of parental engagement often leads to poor behavioral outcomes in children. This may be, in part, because it encourages the young to be too reliant on peer culture. Ironically, overly harsh or authoritarian styles of parenting can have the same effect.

Ultimately, parents should strive to be loving but firm, while allowing children enough space to develop their own interests, explore independence, and experience failure.

To learn more, see Dysfunctional Parenting and Parental Burnout and Stress.

Ambiguous losses are often unacknowledged and unspoken. They are often stressful and difficult to process.

No one knows depersonalization better than children of narcissists.

How do we help our children with the little losses of everyday life?

Children can be manipulated by one parent to ask for things that don't make sense, whether it is a new puppy or ice cream for breakfast. What should a targeted parent do?

A Personal Perspective: A mother of four adult children shares some of what she's learned over decades of parenting.

How should I answer my child's or teen's questions?

Personal Perspective: Navigating sensory sensitivity? Your journey to self-advocacy and deeper understanding starts with a sensory lens. Here are five practices for cultivating it.

Roku’s "The Spiderwick Chronicles" tells stories about fairies and ogres, while opening up an opportunity for parents and kids to talk about change, fear, and resilience.

Parents of children with extreme social withdrawal tend to have mental illnesses and lack awareness and parenting skills. It turns out there is a parenting style that works.

Personal Perspective: Autism research emphasizes “independence over perfection.” Remember, whatever your child cannot do by graduation, someone else might have to do for them.

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Parenting Matters

Supporting parents of children ages 0-8.

Parents are among the most important people in the lives of young children. Parents include mothers and fathers, as well as other caregivers who act as parents. From birth, children rely on parents to provide them with the care they need to be happy and healthy, and to grow and develop well. But parents sometimes lack information and the support that they need for good parenting.

The Centers for Disease and Prevention and other government agencies asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to review published information on parenting. The NASEM recently reported on what they found out about effective parenting practices and on how best to support parents .  Read the report  Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8.

Effective Parenting Practices

Parenting takes many different forms, but some parenting practices work well across diverse families and settings. The committee’s report looked at the evidence in the scientific literature and found these key ways parents can support their child’s healthy development:

• Following the child’s lead and responding in a predictable way
• Showing warmth and sensitivity
• Having routines and household rules
• Sharing books and talking with children
• Supporting health and safety
• Using appropriate discipline without harshness

Based on the information in the published studies, parents who use these practices can help their child stay healthy, be safe, and be successful in many areas—emotional, behavioral, cognitive , and social.

Elements of Effective Interventions

Parents need support. Intervention programs and services can help, although they need to be based on approaches that have been rigorously tested and shown to work. The committee’s report looked at the evidence backing up various intervention programs and services, and identified the features and practices of effective parenting interventions. These intervention programs help parents by using practices that make it easier for parents to attend and participate. Parents have diverse needs; no single approach is right for all parents. But the committee found several factors that have been successful among a wide range of intervention programs and services:

• Treating parents as equal partners when figuring out which services most benefit them and their children
• Making sure that programs meet the specific needs of families
• Making sure that families with multiple service needs receive coordinated services
• Creating opportunities for parents to connect with and receive support from other parents with similar circumstances
• Addressing trauma in order to prevent it from interfering with parenting and healthy child development
• Making sure that programs are well suited for the diverse cultures of families
• Enhancing efforts to involve fathers

The report found that more research is needed, particularly about what works best for different parents. More information is also needed to understand how effective services can become more widely available.  The committee created recommendations for next steps to fill various gaps in research and information. Read the report, including the findings and recommendations.

The report was sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families, Bezos Family Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, Foundation for Child Development, Health Resources and Services Administration, Heising-Simons Foundation, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

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Parenting and Child Development: A Relational Health Perspective

A child’s development is embedded within a complex system of relationships. Among the many relationships that influence children’s growth and development, perhaps the most influential is the one that exists between parent and child. Recognition of the critical importance of early parent-child relationship quality for children’s socioemotional, cognitive, neurobiological, and health outcomes has contributed to a shift in efforts to identify relational determinants of child outcomes. Recent efforts to extend models of relational health to the field of child development highlight the role that parent, child, and contextual factors play in supporting the development and maintenance of healthy parent-child relationships. This review presents a parent-child relational health perspective on development, with an emphasis on socioemotional outcomes in early childhood, along with brief attention to obesity and eating behavior as a relationally informed health outcome. Also emphasized here is the parent–health care provider relationship as a context for supporting healthy outcomes within families as well as screening and intervention efforts to support optimal relational health within families, with the goal of improving mental and physical health within our communities.

‘Viewing development through the lens of relational health reflects recognition of the critical role that relationships play in children’s social, emotional, health, and cognitive outcomes.’

“In order to develop normally, a child requires progressively more complex joint activity with one or more adults who have an irrational emotional relationship with the child. Somebody’s got to be crazy about that kid. That’s number one. First, last and always.”—Urie Bronfenbrenner “If a community values its children it must cherish their parents.”—John Bowlby

Introduction

Bronfenbrenner recognized the critical importance of the emotional relationship between a child and an adult, whereas Bowlby’s observation underscores the responsibility of communities and practitioners in supporting healthy child development by supporting parents. The belief that we can support children directly, without supporting their parents, overlooks the complex system of relationships within which children develop. 1 Together, Bronfenbrenner and Bowlby remind us that to support healthy development, we must focus on the emotional quality of the relationships within which the child participates—as well as consider how the larger community supports those relationships.

Yet parenting is a broad topic and an exhaustive review is beyond the scope of any one article. Informed by the field of infant mental health with its explicit relational focus 2 and in an effort to contribute to our understanding of parenting as multiply determined, 3 we focus our discussion here on the construct of relational health as a tool for promoting socioemotional and physical health among young children. Relational health reflects a sense of “connectedness” with attuned others, including caregivers, family members, and other individuals within the community. 4 Such a focus is consistent with the field of lifestyle medicine—which considers the environment as a social determinant of health and well-being 5 —and research on health and social behavior, which highlights parents as significant influences on children’s health. 6 Viewing development through the lens of relational health reflects recognition of the critical role that relationships play in children’s social, emotional, health, and cognitive outcomes. 3 Accordingly, the revised Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood (DC-05) 7 considers how characteristics of the broader caregiving environment, such as coparenting quality and other close relationships, relate to developmental and mental health diagnoses. 2

Relational Health Within Primary Care: The Parent-Provider Relationship

We suggest that the parent-provider relationship provides a potentially valuable, although far less emphasized, context for promoting relational health. We present a review of the literature surrounding relational health science and encourage the health care provider to view their patients through the relational health lens. When considered from this angle, for children and their caregivers, the relationship is the patient. As health care providers endeavor to encourage healthy lifestyle choices in the families they serve, each decision a family makes—whether to the benefit or detriment—will occur in the context of their relationships. The health care provider must learn to consider and then acknowledge the family support relationships present in the exam room, the waiting room, and at home to best engage a family’s healthy choices. When caring for patients through this approach, the provider will consider the patient’s treatment choices in their realistic and relational context, rather than as compliant versus noncompliant. Moreover, by acknowledging the provider’s own relationship to the family, the provider can become a supportive member of the treatment decision team rather than an information broker, motivational interviewer, or reticent supplier of difficult-to-follow advice.

The relational health perspective considers the practitioner as a supportive (or unsupportive) “other” in navigating the sometimes difficult, uncertain, or fear-provoking experience of parenting a child from preconception through adulthood. An awareness of relational health in pediatric and adult medicine settings may increase positive outcomes in both parents and children through increased empathy. Specifically, during challenging situations, the practitioner should assess and address relationship quality rather than judging parenting or assigning sole credit or blame to either the parent or child. The focus lies in identifying strengths and opportunities in service to the relationship. 4

Relational Health Within Families: The Parent-Child Relationship

A relational health perspective on development embodies a family systems perspective as well, which recognizes the interconnectedness of individuals and relationships within families 8 and the bidirectional, transactional nature of relationships 9 ; parents affect children and children affect parents. 10 A relational health approach to understanding parent-child relationships emphasizes the dyadic connection between parent and child. Although a multitude of factors have been explored as correlates and predictors of parenting and child outcomes, we focus here on a subset of the factors that may influence relational health, with the goal of increasing practitioners’ understanding of relationship-focused approaches to health promotion within families.

Parent-Child Attachment Relationships: Parental Sensitivity and Reflective Functioning

One of the most influential relationship-focused frameworks for understanding development is attachment theory. An extensive literature describes the early parent-child attachment relationship as an enduring, emotional bond that enables children to explore the environment, 11 yet maintain the proximity and contact necessary for healthy development. Parent-infant attachment relationships, therefore, provide the earliest contexts for children’s relational health. Secure attachment balances developmentally appropriate exploration of the world with seeking closeness and comfort from the caregiver when distressed. Secure parent-child attachment relationships are associated with a range of positive social and emotional outcomes in children. 12 , 13 Conversely, disorganized attachment, a form of insecure attachment, is a risk factor for poorer developmental outcomes 14 and has been linked to disturbed caregiving behavior. 15 - 17 Efforts aimed at increasing security within these critical early relationships remain of interest to researchers and clinicians. 18 Interventions including Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC), 19 , 20 Circle of Security, 21 and Video Intervention for Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD) 22 have been effective in promoting secure attachment and positive child outcomes (including fewer behavior problems) via creation of measurable, positive changes in parents’ sensitive and responsive behavior, a key factor in secure attachment. 23 , 24 Yet these interventions are not widely available to the public, thus limiting the ability of clinicians to offer them to their patients and families.

Perhaps the most effective mediator toward creating change in parental sensitivity and responsiveness is fostering growth in a parent’s reflective functioning (RF). RF reflects the extent to which a parent can consider the mental states (ie, thoughts, feelings, intentions) that may motivate the behavior of self and other. 25 This capacity can be described in terms of both self-focused RF and child-focused RF. 26 , 27 Interventions such as Minding the Baby 28 , 29 and Mothering from the Inside Out 30 , 31 appear effective in supporting healthy relational outcomes via a focus on growing RF. The concept of RF is also relevant for understanding how adults’ own early relational experiences may affect their parenting. 32

Recommendations for Providers

These 2 elements of parenting—sensitive, responsive caregiving and RF—support the formation of secure parent-child relationships. 24 We suggest that health care providers use thoughtful questioning that may support parental RF, as recently suggested and detailed by Ordway et al. 33 Health care providers can also demonstrate and model RF and help build this capacity in families via routine care and also in medically intensive environments. In environments such as the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), for example, barriers to parent-neonate relational health development are prominent because of parents coping with fears of infant death and infants experiencing frequent stressors. 34 - 39 Although NICU staff recognize the critical role they play in supporting early parent-child relational health and promoting positive socioemotional outcomes among infants born prematurely, 40 this role may come secondary to the provision of direct medical support to neonates. Professionals’ engagement in reflective practice, with its focus on awareness of the mental and feeling states of self and others, 41 may be one pathway toward promoting positive infant outcomes via the provision of greater psychological support to parents of premature and medically fragile newborns. Building reflective capacity among a range of health care providers may further strengthen the foundation of early relational health within families. 33

Mothering, Fathering, and Grandparenting

Although attachment perspectives historically have emphasized the mother-child relationship, attachment theory and research has been extended to a variety of other caregiver-child relationships, including father-child relationships. 42 - 44 A family systems perspective 8 on relational health suggests that to understand development, we must consider how mother-child and father-child relationships may independently or interactively contribute to developmental outcomes.

Rigorous recent research indicates that children benefit socially and emotionally when fathers are more involved in their lives. 45 Moreover, the benefits of father involvement hold for nonresident as well as resident fathers. 46 Yet fathers’ engagement in parenting is multiply determined, 47 and individual, family, and institutional-level factors may all play important roles in predicting paternal involvement. At an individual level, a father’s identity as a parent, 48 , 49 as well as a father’s attitudes and beliefs about his role in his child’s life, 50 , 51 matter for his engagement. At the family level, evidence highlights the quality of the father’s relationship with a child’s mother. For example, mothers are more likely to be gatekeepers within families, controlling fathers’ access to children as well as the quantity and quality of fathers’ interactions with their children. 52 , 53 At a policy level, compared with countries such as Sweden where paternal leave is supported, the lack of paid paternal leave within the United States may also present barriers to fathers’ involvement with their young children as well as erode fathers’ sense of efficacy in the parental role. 54

Above and beyond these individual, family, and policy variables, mothers’ and fathers’ parenting may differ and uniquely predict developmental outcomes. For example, mothers may be the primary providers of emotional security for children via the establishment of early parent-child attachment relationships, whereas for fathers, exploration of the world may be a primary emphasis in parenting. 55 Fathers’ more stimulating play style—often involving rough-and-tumble play—may promote positive outcomes in children, including developmentally appropriate risk taking and establishment of autonomy. 56 , 57 Mothers, by contrast, are more likely to engage in object-mediated teaching interactions as well as providing structure for their children. 58 However, though mothers and fathers may have interaction styles that differ, the fact remains that many children in the United States are raised in households headed by mothers and may experience wide variability in contact with their biological fathers. 59 This fact, coupled with increasing acceptance and prevalence of families headed by same-sex parents, cautions against a return to the belief that to develop optimally, children require both fathers and mothers (known as the “essential father” hypothesis). 60

We must also recognize that nonparental primary caregivers may play a central role in the care and raising of young children. For example, the increasing number of grandparent-headed households means that more grandparents—with their own sets of strengths and challenges—are making health and wellness decisions for children and may require a unique set of supports from health care providers. 61 Even when not primary caregivers, many grandparents—especially maternal grandmothers—report being involved and influential in their grandchildren’s lives. 62 In fact, involvement of maternal grandmothers with grandchildren may buffer young children from the risks to their development posed by difficult temperament and harsh parenting by mothers. 63 A wider relational health perspective suggests that grandparents (both custodial and noncustodial) be considered as potential sources of support in children’s health and well-being.

Shifting demographics suggest that fathers, nonparental caregivers, and grandparents play an active and involved role in the lives of children. As providers, recognition of the range of relationships in which the child is embedded is critical. Examining potential biases around who is most knowledgeable or best equipped to care for children may help providers approach each adult who is involved in the child’s life as a potential partner in health promotion. 64

Coparenting Relationships

The recognition that children develop within relationships between multiple caregivers, including mothers, fathers, grandparents, and others, makes it critical to also consider the health of the relationships among these adults (ie, coparents) who share responsibility for raising particular children. 65 , 66 Whereas constructs such as marital quality or marital satisfaction focus on the intimate partner relationship, the coparenting relationship, although related, is separate and distinct. Coparenting reflects a wider range of relationship structures and processes specific to parenting. 67 , 68 For example, coparenting relationships occur among a variety of individuals who share responsibility for parenting, whether romantically involved or not, 65 , 69 such as same-sex parents, adoptive parents, divorced or never married parents, and mothers and maternal grandmothers. 70

Consistent with a family systems perspective, 8 better coparenting relationship quality is associated with children’s positive social and emotional development over and above the effects of both romantic relationship quality between parents (if present) and mothers’ and fathers’ parenting. 71 Notably, coparenting relationship quality among same-sex parents shows similar associations with children’s socioemotional development. 72 If supportive, coparenting relationships may help caregivers, especially fathers, promote children’s positive socioemotional development, 73 but undermining or conflictual coparenting relationships may have a detrimental effect on child development. For instance, although grandmother involvement may benefit children, conflict between mothers and grandmothers can be detrimental to children’s socioemotional development. 63 , 74 Thus, prevention and intervention programs have been developed to support effective relationships between coparents. 75 , 76 For example, Feinberg’s Family Foundations program targets couples expecting their first child and focuses on building strong coparenting relationships across the transition to parenthood 77 , 78 —a critical foundation for parent-child relational health.

Coparenting research highlights the role of supportive versus undermining coparenting for children’s development. Often, the extent to which coparents support or undermine one another stems from whether they share the same views on parenting goals and practices and have a similar perspective on the child’s development. Thus, when interacting with patients, we suggest inquiring about the extent of agreement versus disagreement among the adults who make decisions regarding the child’s health and development. For example, the primary custodial parent may emphasize healthy food choices and regular physical activity, whereas the nonresidential coparent may provide markedly different choices during visitation periods. Alternatively, one parent may have concerns about a child’s language or motor development, whereas a grandparent may continually emphasize that the child is “just fine.” These discrepancies in perceptions of typical versus atypical development may delay or interfere with prevention efforts, medical diagnosis, and treatment. Disagreements among multiple caregivers may create stress and tension within families, and challenges with coparenting can be addressed through prevention and intervention programs.

Parental Characteristics That Contribute to Parenting and Relational Health

Psychosocial resources and mental health.

Belsky’s early model of parenting competence suggests that multiple factors affect parenting and child outcomes, with parents’ psychosocial resources playing a prominent role. 3 Individual differences between parents in their personality characteristics affect the quality of their parenting. 79 In particular, higher openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness, and lower neuroticism has been related to more optimal parenting cognitions, practices, and behaviors, including parental warmth and support for autonomy. 79 - 81

For parents with common mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, the experience of parenting may be especially challenging. Maternal depression has been linked consistently with more negative and disengaged parenting behavior and lower engagement in healthy feeding and sleep practices. 82 Less research has considered fathers’ mental health in relation to their parenting, 83 although there has been a recent increase in attention to fathers’ antenatal and postnatal depression, 84 and fathers who experience postpartum depression demonstrate lower levels of developmentally appropriate positive engagement with their infant children. 83 Anxiety disorders in fathers as well as mothers have been linked with more overinvolved parenting behavior that does not foster age-appropriate independence in children. 85

Although prevalence rates suggest the importance of considering parental anxiety and depression, other mental health disorders should be considered as well. For example, for mothers diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, higher levels of negative affectivity as well as lower rates of effortful control 86 and sensitivity, and support for child autonomy 87 have been reported. Less maternal sensitivity has also been reported among mothers with obsessive compulsive disorder. 88

Screening for parental mental health concerns from pregnancy (or from pregnancy planning) throughout the child’s development is consistent with a relational health approach. Beyond screening, health care providers can become aware of evidence-based treatments that may support healthy outcomes in children by supporting maternal mental health and parenting skills. 89 For example, the attachment-based, group intervention Mom Power, which emphasizes parenting, self-care, and engagement in treatment, holds promise for supporting positive outcomes for children by supporting maternal mental health and parenting competence. 90 With increased knowledge of evidence-based treatments for fathers’ mental health and parenting, we may be able to move beyond a focus on mothers to provide all parents with a stronger support system and resource base for effective parenting.

Parental Developmental History and Adverse Experiences in Childhood

According to Belsky’s model of the determinants of parenting, a parent’s psychosocial resources stem from their developmental history. 3 The experience of adversity and toxic stress during development may affect brain architecture , 91 a term used to convey how early experiences help build the structural foundation for healthy brain development. Under conditions of sustained, persistent stress such as maltreatment or neglect, the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis may be affected, contributing to atypical diurnal patterns of cortisol and increased risk over the course of development. 92 As our understanding of the impact of toxic stress on children has grown, the focus on understanding patterns of intergenerational transmission of impaired parenting has grown as well. Experiences of adversity and toxic stress in one generation are linked to poorer parenting and developmental outcomes in the next generation. 93 Thus, improving the quality of the caregiving environment as early as possible may help improve stress responding in young children. 92

Foundational work on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) as predictors of physical, relational, and behavioral health has contributed to a growing understanding of the dose-response relation between experiences of adversity in early childhood (conceptualized as exposure to abuse and household dysfunction) and well-being in adulthood 94 as well as the experience of parenting. 95 Pregnant women reporting higher levels of ACEs in early childhood, for example, exhibit more hostile parenting toward their own infants; this pattern of hostile parenting then increases the child’s risk for poorer developmental outcomes. 96

In response to growing recognition of the impact of adversity and toxic stress within families, in 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a policy statement recommending education for health professionals on ACEs along with 2-generational screening for ACEs within families. 97 , 98 By screening for parental and child ACEs, health providers may be able to provide referrals to trauma-informed therapeutic supports within the community that can help build or rebuild relational health.

Yet, in the face of adversity, the presence of individuals who are connected to the child, such as family members, can help mitigate its negative effects. 4 In addition to exploring multiple factors related to the experience of adversity, a relational health perspective suggests the importance of identifying and growing supportive connections. For example, the neurosequential model of therapeutics focuses on relational health and connectedness with others. 99 Results from recent work with this model highlight the importance of promoting the health, safety, and positivity of the parent-child relationship.

Although pediatric health care providers are aware of the impact of ACEs on parenting and developmental outcomes, additional research, education, and resources are necessary to support practitioners in identifying and addressing these impacts within families. 100 The limitations and potential cost-benefit analysis of screening for ACEs must also be considered because screening without provision of adequate referrals to evidence-based treatments may undermine the possible value of the screen. 101 Moreover, identification of appropriate screening tools for ACEs remains an important consideration. Focusing on the experiences of adversity as an ACE score that relates to poorer health outcomes may confuse correlation with causation; thus, to best inform policy and practice, factors such as timing of adversity, the overall pattern of stress, and the absence or availability of protective factors must be considered. 4 Yet through increased awareness of ACEs (both the parent’s and the child’s) as well as other psychosocial risk factors for impaired relational health, professionals can widen their lens of assessment when interacting with parents and children during medical visits.

Child Characteristics That Contribute to Parenting and Parent-Child Relational Health

Another set of key factors in the quality of parenting and parent-child relationships involves characteristics of the child. Recognizing the bidirectional nature of relationships between parents and children, Bornstein noted that “caregiving is a two-way street.” 102 Although early literature emphasized the parents’ impact on the child, a relational health approach to development suggests that we consider child contributions to parenting as well as to the overall parent-child relationship. Among a number of child characteristics that may affect parent-child relational health, research has focused on child temperament and age as well as children with special health care needs.

Temperament

Although early research on temperament emphasized the child’s inborn characteristics (eg, rhythmicity, mood) and temperament types such as easy, difficult, and slow to warm up, 103 our current understanding of temperament reflects the interplay between biological and environmental factors over the course of an individual’s development. 104 Definitions of temperament typically include individual differences in activity, emotionality, attention, and self-regulation. 104 However, particularly relevant to the experience of parenting is the temperamental characteristic of reactivity, defined as the extent to which the child is predisposed to experiencing strong negative and/or positive emotions, which may reflect the sensitivity of the nervous system to environmental stimuli. 105

Although difficult child temperament has long been viewed as a risk factor for poorer parent-child relational health, 106 more recent theory and research on the concept of differential susceptibility suggest that children with difficult or highly reactive temperaments may be more susceptible to both the negative and positive effects of the parenting environment. 105 , 107 For example, children with more difficult temperaments, reflecting higher levels of reactivity, may be particularly susceptible to the detrimental effects of negative parenting. 108 In contrast, for highly reactive children, the experience of more positive parenting is associated with fewer child behavior problems 109 and greater social competence. 110 Parenting intervention studies have further shown that more reactive children appear to benefit more from experimentally induced positive changes in parenting. 111 Thus, it is important for practitioners to shift their perspectives on “difficult” children from vulnerability to opportunity and support parents in adopting a similar view. Indeed, to the extent that the biological parents of a highly reactive child may share similar underlying genetic sensitivities, 112 these parents may be especially responsive to practitioners’ efforts, just as their children are particularly responsive to their parenting.

Because the demands and challenges of parenting change as a function of children’s age, parents must have opportunities to gain research-informed recommendations for supporting relational health with their children from birth throughout the life span. For example, within early childhood, toddlers’ and preschoolers’ growing autonomy and self-awareness creates new demands and opportunities for both parent and child. Thus, supporting parents in reflecting on the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs regarding their child’s increasing autonomy could be one strategy for supporting relational health as children move through the early childhood years. Moreover, the roles of various parenting practices for supporting children’s self-regulatory capabilities may differ across early childhood, with responsiveness most critical in infancy and other forms of support becoming more critical during the preschool years. 113 Research must, therefore, identify which practices are most relevant, at which age, 113 and for which outcome of interest. Doing so will help practitioners provide targeted support to families, based on parents’ concerns regarding their child’s particular social and emotional strengths and challenges.

Special Health Care Needs

Children with special health care needs represent a growing demographic, 114 and expert recommendations continue to promote early detection in primary care. 115 , 116 Just as providers should consider the parent factors contributing to relational health, the child’s contribution to parent-child relationships is paramount. Within the family context, a child with a developmental disability and/or special health care needs may require disproportionate resources and time compared with neurotypical siblings. 117 The child’s condition may translate into added health care costs and increased stress for parents along with decreased access to social support and leisure activities within the community. 118 , 119 For example, a systematic review of parenting stress in the face of chronic child illness indicated that among parents who were parenting a child with chronic illness, significantly higher levels of parenting stress were found; in turn, this stress was related to lower levels of psychological adjustment among parents and children. 120 Among parents of children with autism specture disorder (ASD), higher levels of parenting stress and psychological distress have also been reported. 121 , 122 These higher levels of parental stress and distress may, in turn, affect parental availability and sensitivity, thus affecting relational health.

In light of the evidence on child contributions to parenting and developmental outcomes, it seems important to consider the “what” and “how” of child contributions to relational health. Identifying the ways in which child characteristics influence and interact with parenting behaviors and relational health may provide practitioners with the tools and questions necessary to shift from a focus on the effects of parenting on children to also consider how parenting has been influenced by the child and how the overall health of the relationship has been shaped by both relational partners.

Contextual and Process Variables That May Affect Relational Health

Although the bidirectional nature of parent-child relationships underscores the importance of considering parent and child contributions to relational health, a family systems approach, coupled with a bioecological approach, suggests that the social and contextual contexts in which parent-child relationships are embedded should be considered as well.

Parent-Child Feeding Practices

The promising protective role of healthy parent-child relationships in the development of obesity 123 in early childhood is also evident, perhaps via links with more optimal self-regulation in young children. 124 , 125 For example, theoretical models 125 and research 126 on the development of appetite self-regulation and positive physical activity habits, 127 , 128 which are critical to weight-related health throughout the life span, highlight the important role of parenting. Parental behaviors such as permissiveness or indulgence have been associated with weight status and obesity in childhood. More specifically, allowing children too much freedom regarding food choices in society’s obesogenic food environment can increase children’s risk for obesity. 123 Similarly, unrestricted, unmonitored screen time has also been associated with unhealthy weight status. 129 Yet the question remains to what extent these cycles occur within families, whereby parents’ lack of control over their own food choices and screen time contribute to unhealthy weight status for their children and the unhealthy weight status of children contributes to parents’ continued struggles with their own food choices and activity levels. Thus, a family-level relational approach to understanding risks for obesity may be particularly advantageous.

Given that parents’ attitudes and beliefs can shape a range of parenting behaviors related to health and wellness, including feeding practices, exploring relational correlates and predictors of feeding practices beginning in infancy seems prudent. Parents’ feeding practices provide a unique window into parent-child relationship health, because from birth, feeding makes up a critical part of parents’ daily interactions with young children. Decisions regarding breastfeeding and/or bottle-feeding can cause considerable stress for parents. 130 And although children’s eating behavior emerges early and is relatively stable over time, eating is influenced more by external factors across development. 131

Mothers who use food to soothe their distressed infants or toddlers have reported lower parenting self-efficacy and higher child negativity. 132 Using food to soothe was also linked with higher weight status among children, particularly for children who were perceived as having more negative temperaments. 132 Among preschoolers, parents’ use of food for the purpose of emotion regulation was associated with children’s increased intake of sweets when not hungry, a pattern that may reflect the early origins of children’s emotional eating. 133

Eating behaviors and nutrition are important components of lifestyle medicine. In promoting healthy eating behavior and weight outcomes for children, health care professionals can consider how parents’ attitudes may shape their feeding practices—above and beyond a child’s weight status—and how dyadic and family-level interactions around food may support or undermine relational health. From birth, providers can recognize that decisions regarding feeding (eg, breast and/or formula; homemade meals versus fast food) may be multiply determined and best understood through a relational health lens, where parent and child factors are viewed as contributing to parenting practices, practices that may differ from recommended best practices for promoting child health outcomes.

The Household Environment: Family Chaos, Technology, and Social Media Use

The home environment represents an important context for parent-child relational health, including the quality of parenting as well as children’s well-being and health. 134 - 138 Recent research, focused on household chaos, has highlighted the role of disorder/disorganization 139 and instability/turbulence 140 for understanding parenting quality and family well-being. Lower levels of household chaos (evidenced by greater organization, stability, and predictability) are associated with higher-quality parenting behavior than home environments characterized as noisy, crowded, unpredictable, and disorganized. 138 Among preschoolers, recent evidence suggests that higher rates of household chaos are also associated with higher screen use. 141

In fact, parents’ and children’s increasing engagement with, and reliance on, technology and social media suggest the need for providers to consider technology and social media as interactive partners. For example, Facebook may provide new parents with an important source of social capital, 142 and parents report using the internet to gain information about pediatric health. 143 , 144 Yet parents (and grandparents) do not report universally positive effects of their technology use. For example, parents may experience a range of internal tensions surrounding their use of mobile technology, such as cognitive, emotional, and relationship tension. 145 Researchers are documenting how technology may interrupt the flow of interaction patterns between children and their parents—a concept known as technoference. 146 For example, higher levels of child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems have been reported by mothers who also reported higher levels of technoference in their interactions with their children. 146

Supporting parents in identifying, reducing, or coping with household chaos, as well as technoference, may be promising avenues for supporting relational health. Because the experience of chaos in the home environment often co-occurs with poverty 139 as well as parental mental health symptoms, 147 screening and intervention approaches aimed at identifying and addressing the multiple co-occurring factors that relate to family chaos may be warranted. Moreover, gauging the perceived impact of technology and social media use on parent-child relational health may be an important area of inquiry for health practitioners.

Cultural Context and Relational Health

Understanding relational health requires us to also consider the impact of race, ethnicity, and culture on parent-child relationships; accordingly, consideration of diversity has moved to the forefront of our current research and practice efforts. Although broad parenting goals are remarkably similar across diverse cultures, 102 the processes by which parents in varying cultural contexts seek to achieve these goals may differ. For example, some scholars have suggested that the concept of sensitivity, the primary determinant of secure attachment according to attachment theorists, may be biased toward more individualistic cultures because it is focused on meeting the child’s individual needs. 148 Moreover, the meaning of parenting constructs such as controlling behavior may vary across cultures. For example, Asian American parents may emphasize strict control of children as part of culturally embedded approaches to parenting, which are not equivalent to western notions of harsh/controlling parenting and do not appear to have negative effects on their children’s development. 149 , 150

These debates can support practitioners in reflecting on how their own beliefs about what is the “best” kind of parenting to promote relational health and positive child outcomes may be shaping their messaging for parents. For example, among immigrant families, attention to acculturation—the process of adapting to a new culture—rather than parenting behavior, per se, may provide a window into relational health. For example, acculturation may happen at different rates for children and parents, and greater discrepancies in the level of acculturation may contribute to increased parent-child conflict. 151

The roles of culture, race, and ethnicity in parenting practices are particularly apparent with respect to discipline practices. For example, higher rates of corporal punishment, including spanking, are generally reported by African American parents, in comparison to Hispanic or white parents, 152 although recent evidence suggests similar endorsement of spanking by African American and Hispanic mothers, along with longitudinal associations between endorsement of spanking and children’s later internalizing and externalizing behaviors. 153 Evidence continues to highlight the negative impact of corporal punishment on children 154 and the AAP’s 2018 statement on effective discipline emphasizes the need for positive alternatives to corporal punishment and spanking. 155 And, although many parents report spanking their young children, these same parents may also be looking for nonphysical, effective alternatives for guiding their children’s behavior. 156

Understanding how cultural beliefs and practices shape parents’ expectations and socialization goals may help us better define what relational health is, both within and across diverse families. Health care professionals can be a source of guidance and support for parents to choose discipline strategies that align with research and support parent-child relational health. When practitioners recognize the larger context in which parents’ discipline decisions are embedded, they may more readily identify the beliefs, histories, and socialization goals that underlie families’ discipline practices. Health providers can recognize parents’ concerns regarding children’s behavior and provide culturally responsive, research-informed, preventive recommendations for helping parents identify alternative strategies to the use of corporal punishment and physical discipline.

Reducing Risks to Relational Health: Screening and Referral

Given that the parent-child relationship is critical for healthy development, health providers must adopt a dyadic-level, family systemic, and culturally informed approach to screening, referring, and treating parent-child dyads to integrate research with practice. Equipping health professionals with knowledge of relational health may provide a solid foundation for supporting parent-child relational health from birth. For example, evidence from research with pediatric residents suggests that training in a parent-child relational framework was effective in supporting residents’ observational skills and knowledge of child development. 157

An emphasis on transactional associations within families further underscores the importance of screening and early intervention to support child and parental well-being and use of positive parenting practices. 10 Commonly used assessments in parent-child attachment research, such as the Strange Situation Procedure 158 Attachment Q-Set, 159 are labor-intensive and were not developed as clinically relevant screening tools. Moreover, even when insecurity in the parent-child relationship is suspected, access to attachment-based interventions (ie, VIPP-SD, ABC) may be extremely limited.

Whereas much of the research literature on early parent-child relationships (typically mother-child relationships) has focused on attachment, recent work highlights the dyadic-level construct of emotional connection for understanding early parent-child relational health. The development of the Welch Emotional Connection Screen (WECS) 160 reflects an effort to provide practitioners with a rapid and valid screening tool for parent-child relational health from birth to 5 years. The WECS considers the presence or absence of 4 mutual behaviors that may serve to promote and maintain emotional connection within a parent-child dyad: attraction, facial responsiveness, vocal responsiveness, and sensitivity/reciprocity. Based on the overall interaction, a score of EC+ (connected) or EC− (not connected) is assigned to the dyad.

The WECS developed out of work with the Family Nurture Intervention, which seeks to support the development of emotional connection and coregulation via the provision of calming sessions that focus on the sensory experiences of touch, vocal soothing, and skin-to-skin contact. 161 - 163 Results from an RCT study indicated that mothers and infants participating in the Family Nurture Intervention showed improvements in face-to-face dyadic interaction, including increased frequency and quality of mothers’ touch and for boys, infant’s vocal affect and gaze. 164

Emotional connection, as assessed by the WECS in infancy, has been associated with healthier autonomic responding among infants born prematurely 165 as well as with fewer internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in a full-term, longitudinal sample. 166 Thus, emerging evidence suggests that the WECS holds promise for screening, anticipatory guidance, and referral of early parent-child relationships that may benefit from support and intervention to promote healthy regulatory functioning and decrease risk for later child behavior problems. Efforts are under way to train a range of professionals—from pediatric residents to infant mental health practitioners and home visitors—to be reliable raters of parent-child relational health using the WECS.

In families with elevated risk for maltreatment, the automated self-report survey, the CARTS (Computerized Childhood Attachment and Relational Trauma Screen), reflects a relational approach to the assessment of trauma in childhood. 167 , 168 The CARTS considers what trauma occurred and assesses caregivers’ emotional availability, along with responses to the reported maltreatment. In contrast, the SEEK program (Safe Environment for Every Kid) focuses on risk factors related to child maltreatment, including parental depression, stress, and substance abuse. 168 , 169 Thus, the SEEK program may benefit pediatric primary care professionals through its focus on psychosocial stress within families, which if addressed early, may prevent child maltreatment.

Notably, SEEK embodies a relational health perspective by acknowledging the parent’s love for the child as a pathway to healthy outcomes for both parent and child as well as by acknowledging the relationships between health professionals and parents as protective factors for parents and children. 169 , 170 For example, part of the SEEK program is the SEEK Parent Questionnaire, which begins by empathetically validating the sometimes challenging everyday experience of being a parent while simultaneously offering support to parents dealing with concerning circumstances. SEEK also aims to support relational health through the REAP approach, which encourages health care providers to Reflect-Empathize-Assess-and Plan with parents.

Intervention approaches that incorporate mindfulness practices, such as the 9-week Mindful Parenting course tested in the Netherlands, also hold promise for supporting relational health within families. Mindful Parenting aims to increase awareness, decrease parental stress, and improve coparenting. 171 Both parents participating in the program and their children report reductions in internalizing/externalizing symptomology. The interpersonal focus of mindfulness-based interventions supports healthy parent-child relationships through increased awareness of parent-child interactions as well as positive changes in both child and parent functioning. 172

Summary and Conclusions

Beyond attachment theory, which emphasizes parental sensitivity and responsivity as a primary determinant of attachment security, a relational health science approach offers a wider lens for understanding how parent-child relationships may affect children’s development. A relational health approach recognizes both partners’ contributions to the establishment and maintenance of relational processes and highlights the potential value of the health care provider as a relational partner for parents and children. Our focus here was on socioemotional development; future work will consider how a relational health framework can be applied to a range of parent-child health decisions from vaccinations and sleep behaviors, to physical activity, and medication use.

Although we view primary care as a valuable context for supporting relational health, continued development and validation of screening tools for relational health that are suitable for clinical and applied contexts remain an important goal along with more widespread availability of effective interventions. Moreover, given the existing demands on health care providers, we recognize that a relational health perspective on development may create additional demands on providers. Perhaps a necessary first step is a shift in perspective, more than a shift in practice. By viewing the parent-child relationship as part of the “patient” and, therefore, part of health promotion, the long-term gains may be worth the initial investment.

By networking with community resources, health care providers can build a pipeline of referrals for parents as a component of pediatric and primary care. Offering parent-friendly pamphlets, information sheets, and face-to-face communication that reflects a relational health view on development may help parents see themselves as partners in relational health, rather than as the cause of their child’s mental health, behavioral, or developmental problems. Such negative attributions may contribute to feelings of shame and guilt—feelings that may undermine parenting self-efficacy and parents’ engagement in children’s wellness and treatment. The AAP’s recent call for pediatricians to partner with parents in supporting healthy outcomes through the sharing of information regarding child development and parenting 155 reflects the promise of a relational health approach.

Returning to the opening quote from Bowlby, we suggest that health care providers are in a strong position to serve children by valuing their parents and viewing child development through the lens of relational health. Perhaps by uncovering who that person is—the one who is “irrationally crazy” about the child, as Bronfenbrenner advised—professionals can help cultivate and reinforce that connection. And in its absence, we can seek to identify ways to build a web of relational health for the child and for the parent, a web that can support each partner in service to the relationship.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Ariana Shahinfar, Robert Ludwig, and Mark Lopez for feedback on an earlier version of this article.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding: The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Ethical Approval: Not applicable, because this article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects.

Informed Consent: Not applicable, because this article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects.

Trial Registration: Not applicable, because this article does not contain any clinical trials.

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Why Parenting Styles Matter When Raising Children

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Amy Morin, LCSW, is a psychotherapist and international bestselling author. Her books, including "13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do," have been translated into more than 40 languages. Her TEDx talk,  "The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong," is one of the most viewed talks of all time.

Verywell / Laura Porter

The Four Parenting Styles

• Impact of Parenting Style

Advantages of Authoritative Parenting

Can you change your parenting style.

• Limitations and Criticism

Parenting styles are constructs used to describe the different strategies parents tend to utilize when raising children. These styles encompass parents' behaviors and attitudes and the emotional environment in which they raise their children.

Developmental psychologists have long been interested in how parents affect child development. However, finding actual cause-and-effect links between specific actions of parents and later behavior of children is very difficult.

Some children raised in dramatically different environments can later grow up to have remarkably similar personalities . Conversely, children who share a home and are raised in the same environment can grow up to have very different personalities.

Despite these challenges, researchers have posited that there are links between parenting styles and the effects these styles have on children. And some suggest these effects carry over into adult behavior.

In the 1960s, psychologist Diana Baumrind conducted a study on more than 100 preschool-age children. Using naturalistic observation , parental interviews, and other research methods , she identified some important dimensions of parenting.

These dimensions include disciplinary strategies, warmth and nurturing, communication styles, and expectations of maturity and control. Based on these dimensions, Baumrind suggested that the majority of parents display one of three different parenting styles. Later research by Maccoby and Martin suggested adding a fourth parenting style. Each of these has different effects on children's behavior.

The four parenting styles that have been identify by Baumrind and other researchers are:

• The authoritarian parenting style
• The authoritative parenting style
• The permissive parenting style
• The uninvolved parenting style

What's Your Parenting Style?

This fast and free parenting styles quiz can help you analyze the methods you're using to parent your kids and whether or not it may be a good idea to learn some new parenting behaviors:

Authoritarian Parenting

In this style of parenting, children are expected to follow the strict rules established by the parents. Failure to follow such rules usually results in punishment.

Authoritarian parents don't explain the reasoning behind these rules. If asked to explain, the parent might simply reply, "Because I said so."

Other common characteristics:

• While these parents have high demands, they are not very responsive to their children.
• They expect their children to behave exceptionally and not make errors, yet they provide little direction about what they should do or avoid in the future.
• Mistakes are punished, often quite harshly, yet their children are often left wondering exactly what they did wrong.

Baumrind says these parents "are obedience- and status-oriented, and expect their orders to be obeyed without explanation." They are often described as domineering and dictatorial. Their approach is "spare the rod, spoil the child." They expect children to obey without question.

Effects of Authoritarian Parenting

Authoritarian parenting styles generally lead to obedient and proficient children, but they rank lower in happiness, social competence, and  self-esteem . They may also be more likely to lie to avoid punishment.

Authoritative Parenting

Like authoritarian parents, those with an authoritative parenting style establish rules and guidelines that their children are expected to follow. However, this parenting style is much more democratic.

Common characteristics of the authoritative parenting style:

• Authoritative parents are responsive to their children and willing to listen to questions.
• These parents expect a lot of their children, but they provide warmth, feedback, and adequate support.
• When children fail to meet expectations, these parents are more nurturing and forgiving than punishing.

According to Baumrind, authoritarive parents are good at setting standards and monitoring their children's behavior. Their disciplinary methods are assertive and supportive rather than intrusive, restrictive, or punitive.

For authoritative parents, the goal is to raise children who are socially responsible, cooperative, and self-regulated. The combination of expectation and support helps children of authoritative parents develop skills such as independence, self-control, and self-regulation. 

Effects of Authoritative Parenting

Authoritative parenting styles tend to result in happy, capable, and successful children.

Permissive Parenting

Permissive parents , sometimes referred to as indulgent parents, make very few demands of their children. These parents rarely discipline their children because they have relatively low expectations of maturity and self-control.​

• Other common characteristics of permissive parenting:
• Permissive parents prioritize being their child's friend rather than being a parent.
• They are warm and attentive but tend to set few rules, rarely enforce rules, and have few expectations.
• They allow their children to make their own decisions. 

According to Baumrind, permissive parents are responsive to their children but not demanding. Because they do not expect mature behavior from their children, kids may struggle to set limits for themselves. On the positive side, this can help kids become more self-sufficient and independent. On the downside, it can contribute to poor self-regulation.

Permissive parents are generally nurturing and communicative with their children, often taking on the status of a friend more than a parent.

Effects of Permissive Parenting

Permissive parenting often results in children who rank low in happiness and self-regulation. These children are more likely to experience problems with authority and tend to perform poorly in school.

Uninvolved Parenting

In addition to the three major styles introduced by Baumrind, psychologists Eleanor Maccoby and John Martin proposed a fourth style: uninvolved or neglectful parenting.

An uninvolved parenting style is characterized by few demands, low responsiveness, and very little communication.

Other characteristics of the uninvolved parenting style:

• While these parents fulfill the child's basic needs, they are generally detached from their child's life.
• They might ensure that their kids are fed and have shelter but offer little to nothing in the way of guidance, structure, rules, or even support.
• These parents may seem indifferent, unresponsive, and dismissive.
• In some cases, these parents may reject or neglect the needs of their children. They may also be physically or emotionally abusive.

A 2019 study found that children raised by neglectful parents tend to struggle in school, experience more depression, have worse social relationships, have difficulty controlling their emotions, and experience more anxiety.

Effects of Uninvolved Parenting

Uninvolved parenting styles rank lowest across all life domains. These children tend to lack self-control, have low self-esteem, and are less competent than their peers.

The Impact of Parenting Styles

Research suggests that parenting styles can have a range of effects on children. Some of the areas of a child's life that may be affected in the present and in the future include:

• Academics : Parenting styles can play a part in academic achievement and motivation.
• Mental health : Parenting styles can also influence children's mental well-being. Kids raised by authoritarian, permissive, or uninvolved parents tend to experience more anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems.
• Self-esteem : Kids raised by parents with an authoritative style tend to have strong self-esteem than kids raised by parents with other styles,
• Social relationships : Parenting styles can impact how kids relate to other people. For example, kids raised by permissive parents are more likely to be bullied, while kids raised by authoritarian parents are more likely to bully others.
• Adult relationships : Researchers have also found that kids raised by strict, authoritarian parents may be more likely to experience emotional abuse in adult romantic relationships.

Because authoritative parents are more likely to be viewed as reasonable, fair, and just, their children are more likely to comply with their parents' requests. Also, because these parents provide rules as well as explanations for these rules, children are much more likely to internalize these lessons.

Rather than simply following the rules because they fear punishment (as they might with authoritarian parents), the children of authoritative parents are able to see why the rules exist, understand that they are fair and acceptable, and strive to follow these rules to meet their own internalized sense of what is right and wrong.

Mixing Parenting Styles

The parenting styles of individual parents also combine to create a unique blend in each family. For example, the mother may display an authoritative style, while the father favors a more permissive approach.

This can sometimes lead to mixed signals. To create a cohesive approach to parenting, parents must learn to cooperate and combine their unique parenting styles.

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If you notice that you tend to be more authoritarian, permissive, or uninvolved, there are steps you can take to adopt a more authoritative parenting style. Strategies that may help include:

• Listen : Spending time listening to what your child has to say. Let them share their opinions, ideas, and worries with you. 
• Establish rules : Create a clear set of rules for your household and communicate your expectations to your child. In addition to telling your child what the rules are, be sure to explain why these rules exist.
• Consider your child's input : Authoritative parents set the rules but are also willing to listen to their child's feelings and consider them when making decisions.
• Be consistent : Enforce rules consistently, but be sure to provide consequences that are fair, proportionate, and educational. 

Developing a more authoritative parenting style takes time. With practice and consistent effort, however, you will find that your approach to parenting gradually shifts to a more supportive, involved approach that can lead to better developmental outcomes.

Limitations of Parenting Style Research

Links between parenting styles and behavior are based on correlational research , which is helpful for finding relationships between variables . However, such research cannot establish definitive cause-and-effect relationships.

While there is evidence that a particular parenting style is linked to a specific pattern of behavior, other variables, such as a child's temperament, can also play a significant role.

Children May Affect Their Parents' Styles

There is also evidence that a child's behavior can impact parenting styles. One study found that the parents of children who exhibited difficult behavior began to exhibit less parental control over time. Such results suggest that kids might misbehave not because their parents were too permissive but because the parents of difficult or aggressive children gave up on trying to control their kids.

Outcomes Vary

Some researchers have also noted that the correlations between parenting styles and behaviors are sometimes weak. In many cases, the expected child outcomes do not materialize. For example, parents with authoritative styles may have children who are defiant or who engage in delinquent behavior. Parents with permissive styles may have self-confident and academically successful children.

Cultural Factors Play a Role

Cultural factors also play a significant role in parenting styles and child outcomes. There isn't a universal style of parenting that is always best. For example, while authoritative parenting is linked to better results in European and American cultures, research has also found that this style is not linked to better school performance Black and Asian youth.

Parenting styles are associated with different child outcomes, and the authoritative style is generally linked to positive behaviors such as strong self-esteem and self-competence. However, other important factors, including culture, children's temperament, children's perceptions of parental treatment, and social influences, also play an important role in children's behavior.

A Word From Verywell

Understanding more about your own parenting style can help you explore different approaches to parenting your children. If you notice that you tend to have a more strict, indulgent, or dismissive approach, there are steps that you can take to become more involved and authoritative in how you relate to your children.

Baumrind D. Child care practices anteceding three patterns of preschool behavior . Genet Psychol Monogr. 1967;75(1):43-88.

Durrant J, Ensom R.  Physical punishment of children: lessons from 20 years of research .  CMAJ . 2012;184(12):1373-7. doi:10.1503/cmaj.101314

Power TG. Parenting dimensions and styles: a brief history and recommendations for future research .  Child Obes . 2013;9 Suppl(Suppl 1):S14–S21. doi:10.1089/chi.2013.0034

Kuppens S, Ceulemans E. Parenting styles: A closer look at a well-known concept .  J Child Fam Stud . 2019;28(1):168-181. doi:10.1007/s10826-018-1242-x

Alizadeh Maralani F, Mirnasab M, Hashemi T. The predictive role of maternal parenting and stress on pupils' bullying involvement .  J Interpers Violence . 2019;34(17):3691-3710. doi:10.1177/0886260516672053

Beyarslan SD, Uzer T. Psychological control and indulgent parenting predict emotional-abuse victimization in romantic relationships . Curr Psychol . 2022;41(8):5532-5545. doi:10.1007/s12144-020-01072-w

Bi X, Yang Y, Li H, Wang M, Zhang W, Deater-deckard K. Parenting styles and parent-adolescent relationships: the mediating roles of behavioral autonomy and parental authority . Front Psychol . 2018;9:2187. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02187

Huh D, Tristan J, Wade E, Stice E. Does problem behavior elicit poor parenting?: A prospective study of adolescent girls .  J Adolesc Res . 2006;21(2):185-204. doi:10.1177/0743558405285462

Bernstein DA.  Essentials of Psychology . Cengage Learning; 2013.

Benson, JB, Marshall, MH. Social and Emotional Development in Infancy and Early Childhood . Academic Press, 2009.

Macklem, GL. Practitioner's Guide to Emotion Regulation in School-Aged Children . Springer, 2008.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Essay on Role of Parents in Children’s Life

Students are often asked to write an essay on Role of Parents in Children’s Life in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Role of Parents in Children’s Life

The importance of parents.

Parents play a crucial role in shaping their children’s lives. They are the first teachers and role models. Their love, care, and guidance greatly influence a child’s development.

Nurturing Values

Parents instill values and ethics in their children. They teach respect, kindness, honesty, and responsibility, shaping the child’s character and worldview.

Providing Support

Parents provide emotional, financial, and educational support. They help children navigate challenges, fostering resilience and independence.

Encouraging Dreams

Parents encourage their children’s dreams and ambitions. They provide motivation and inspiration, helping children achieve their goals.

In conclusion, parents play an irreplaceable role in children’s lives.

250 Words Essay on Role of Parents in Children’s Life

The pivotal role of parents.

Parents play a crucial role in shaping the lives of their children, serving as the primary influence and guiding light. They are the architects of a child’s early environment, nurturing and molding them into responsible adults.

Emotional and Social Development

Parents are instrumental in a child’s emotional and social development. Through their interactions, they teach children how to express emotions, communicate effectively, and form relationships. They provide the emotional security a child needs for a healthy psychological development.

Educational Guidance

Parents are the first educators. They instill the value of education, encourage curiosity, and foster a love for learning. Their involvement in a child’s academic life significantly impacts the child’s attitude towards education and their academic success.

Moral and Ethical Development

Parents play a critical role in imparting moral and ethical values. They set the standards for behavior, teaching children about honesty, respect, kindness, and responsibility. These lessons form the foundation of a child’s character.

Setting Life Goals

Parents guide their children in setting and achieving life goals. They provide advice, share experiences, and offer support, helping children navigate life’s challenges.

In conclusion, parents are the cornerstone of a child’s life. Their influence shapes a child’s personality, beliefs, and values, laying the groundwork for their future success. However, it’s important to remember that effective parenting involves a balance of guidance and allowing children to make their own decisions, fostering independence and resilience.

500 Words Essay on Role of Parents in Children’s Life

The pivotal role of parents in children’s life.

Parents play a crucial role in every stage of a child’s development, shaping their world view and preparing them for the challenges of life. Their influence extends beyond providing basic physical necessities and extends to the psychological and emotional development of the child.

Parents as First Teachers

The first education that children receive is from their parents. They learn basic skills such as talking, walking, and social interaction by observing and imitating their parents. Even before formal education begins, parents lay the foundation for cognitive development and curiosity. They introduce children to books, nature, and the world around them, fostering a love for learning.

Parents as Emotional Anchors

Parents are the primary source of emotional support for children. They help children understand and manage their emotions, fostering emotional intelligence. Through their interactions, parents teach children how to express their feelings appropriately and handle stressful situations. They also provide a safe and loving environment where children can express their feelings without fear of judgement.

Parents as Moral Guides

Parents are the first moral guides for children. They teach them the difference between right and wrong, instilling values and ethics that shape their character. Parents model behavior and attitudes that children often adopt. The values parents instill in their children, such as honesty, kindness, and respect, significantly influence their future behavior and relationships.

Parents as Role Models

Parents serve as role models, exhibiting behaviors that children tend to emulate. The way parents handle their responsibilities, treat others, and react to life’s ups and downs sets an example for children. Their actions, more than their words, have a lasting impact on a child’s behavior and attitudes.

Parents as Navigators of Socialization

Parents also play a critical role in the socialization of children. They introduce children to societal norms, expectations, and rules. Through parents, children learn how to interact with others, understand social cues, and behave in different social situations. Parents also help children develop empathy and compassion, essential for forming healthy relationships.

The role of parents in a child’s life is multifaceted and profound. They are the first teachers, emotional anchors, moral guides, role models, and navigators of socialization. The influence of parents shapes the child’s personality, behavior, and outlook towards life. As such, it is incumbent upon parents to provide a nurturing environment that promotes the overall development of the child. The importance of parents in a child’s life cannot be understated as they lay the foundation for the future of the child.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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439 Parenting Essay Topics & Examples

Get a good parenting topic for any assignment – from essays to speeches – on this page.

🔮 Top 10 Parenting Topics to Write about

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Sometimes, finding the right idea is half the battle. It can be the case when it comes to writing about parenting. Topics on this subject can cover anything from parent-child relationships to children’s behavior and parenting styles. Thus, picking one good title to discuss, research, and write about can be essential. That’s why our experts have gathered this list of topics on parenting. Find your perfect idea on this page!

• Discussing Boundaries with Kids.
• Link Between Marriage and Children.
• Choosing a Parenting Style.
• When You Realize Yourself as a Parent.
• Explaining Divorce to Children.
• Important Aspects of Family.
• How to Influence Your Teens.
• Improving Parent-Child Relationships.
• Steps to Adulthood.
• Loveless Marriage vs. Single Parenthood.
• Are Parents Responsible for Their Children’s Behavior? Consequently, parents should create time for their children in order to establish a close relationship that can have a long influence on the child’s behavior.
• Are Women Better Parents Than Men? Essay Another reason why women are better parents is that they are more conscious and conscientious to the needs of their children than men.
• Comparison Parenting Between Asian Parents and Western Parents Concerning authoritarian parenting, children are expected to be submissive to their parents and the demands of their parents; in this regard, the parents are supposed to be strict and emotionally detached.
• Parents’ Influence on a Child Essay: How Parents Affect Behavior and Development Education level of the parents If the parents are well educated, they ought to understand the importance of education and will encourage their child to study better and up to high levels.
• The Three Parenting Styles This style of parenting is where the parents let their children to make decisions on their own. The good thing about this style is the fact that communication is always open and parents are able […]
• Communication Between Parents and Teenagers Communication between parents and their children, especially teenagers, is an ongoing process that can be developed and modified in order to create a sense of openness and support that will become a basis for the […]
• Why I Am a Good Son to My Parents The third reason why I believe I am a good son to both my parents is grounded on the fact that I have been, and will always be, a shining star in academics and extra-curricular […]
• Single-Parent Families The chief materials that are to be used in the proposed experiment are the measurement scale to evaluate changes in adolescents’ attitudes towards single-parent families and the source of information about single-parent households.
• How Does Society View Single Parents? A single parent refers to one who cares for one or more children without the help of one of the biological parents of the child or children. It is therefore important to note that society […]
• Are Peers More Important Than Parents During the Process of Development? On the other hand, children need to understand that they are under the authority of the parents. In the life of a human being, most of his/her time is spent with peers and not the […]
• How Do Teenagers Deal With Problems and Consequence Without Parent’s Support? This is because the parents are not in a position to be of good guidance during the period of the problems and they are not reliable and therefore teenagers tend to rely on themselves.
• Parents Should Spank Their Children While some parents uphold spanking as the most appropriate mode of disciplining their children, others argue that inflicting physical pain to the child can lead to negative consequences in the future. The parents should be […]
• Spoiled Children and Parenting Mistakes However, in order to bring a child who will earn the respect of the society at present and in the future, it is important for the parents to reverse this trend in spoiled brats by […]
• Parental Hopes and Standards for Sons and Daughters However, even in a contemporary society characterized by the evolution of tolerance and equality, families have different standards for their sons and daughters that are preconditioned by the power of some stereotypical representations about female […]
• Parental Rejection and Its Severe Consequences Parental rejection can either be from a mother, a father, or a guardian. However, rejection from a mother seems to have more severe consequences of the three categories.
• Role of Parents in Physical Education and Sport The involvement of parents in physical education and sports is viewed differently in regard to how it affects the child’s participation in sports even later in life.
• Parental Responsibility for Crimes of Children Parents should be held responsible for the crime of their children because in most cases criminal involvement of children is the result of lack of parental control.
• Parenting Styles: Advantages and Disadvantages Kids do what they are made to do because they want to escape the punishment. As parents support children, they become independent and strong-willed.
• Cybernetics and Parenting Styles in Family Therapy This concept will be very helpful in my future work since I will be able to notice negative behavior in children that is the result of the parenting style adopted by the parents.
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• Parental Involvement in Teenage Relationships Parents can monitor their child’s academic progress, engage them in conversations about romance and relationships, and give them career advice and guidance. Parental involvement in their children’s academic and social lives helps parents to understand […]
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• Parental Care and Responsibilities In such a case, it is only logical for both parties to be involved in fending for, and taking care of the family.
• The Struggles of Single Parenting The associated unavailability of proper housing, insecurity and abuse increase the influence of single-parenthood to development of a child in spite of the fact that wealth is no guarantee of positive outcome in character of […]
• What Is a Parent? In the cases wherein the egg and sperm do not come from the couple, and a surrogate is used to carry the child, who is the real parent of the child?
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• Parents’ Involvement in Schoolwork Parent involvement is important in improving academic performance as students have to prove to teachers and parents that they are working hard at school.
• Parent-Child Relationships in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker The more distant and fractious relationship is between the narrator and Dee. The narrator is referred to as “Mama,” and a mama she is.
• Parenting Education Programs: Pros and Cons To ensure that new pregnant couples are prepared to handle the responsibilities associated with raising kids and with helping alleviate stress and support families, it is essential that parents take parenting education programs.
• Authoritarian vs. Permissive Parenting Styles Authoritarian and permissive styles are parenting approaches that are commonly used and that have varied effects on children because they approach the concepts of discipline, warmth, nurturance, and communication differently.
• Parental Responsibility for Childhood Obesity It is widely known and proven by numerous studies that parents have the most significant influence on their children’s lifestyles, especially their eating habits; in addition to the fact that children copy everything their parents […]
• Collectivist and Individualist Parents The grandparent’s role in a collectivist family would be similar to that of parents, and they would be expected to help with the upbringing, and children would need to bey them.
• How Ineffective Parenting Affects a Child’s Future In addition to impairing a child’s social skills, ineffective parenting may result in a codependent relationship between a parent and their child.
• Adolescents’ Decision-Making and Parenting Concerns Parents are to give their children freedom of choice in love life and dating as anyway, teenagers will do whatever they want but without parental notification.
• Marital and Parental Subsystems in Family In a conventional family system, these members include the husband and wife, the siblings, and the relatives who make up the extended family.
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• Parent-Teacher-Youth Mediation Program Analysis Firstly, the parent-child communication quality will be evaluated within the framework of the characteristics of their relationships and the ability to manage the conflicting situation.
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• Group Therapy for Pregnant and Parenting Teenagers It is important for the girls to understand that life still has meaning in spite of their circumstances. If the girls are able to develop a positive perception of life, they will be motivated to […]
• Parenting Styles and Their Influence on Adulthood The family context is regarded as essential because it helps to establish the link between childhood and the relationships of a person with their parents with future behavior and performance.
• Why Chinese Parents Are Superior They deny their children many forms of popular leisure, are not shy to criticize them when they fail and drill them until they are perfect at whatever given task.’Western parents’ on the other hand, the […]
• Conditioning in Parenting: Getting Kids to Do Chores One of those is an attempt to teach the child the love to the core and develop the initiative of helping with the housekeeping duties.
• Parents’ Duty to Monitor Children’s Online Activities Parents on the other hand should take responsibility and control the content which their kids are exposed to online so as to prevent their exploitation.
• Parental Issues in A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Reading the Science of Law Into a Cautious Tale About the Return Into the Lapse of Nature When Literature Meets Jurisdiction: The Mother, the Father and the Child As it has been mentioned above, the play incorporates the elements of a moral dilemma concerning who the parent of a child should be […]
• Parenting Style in Japan and USA Parenting encompasses the growth ecology of a growing up child, and hence it is very important in shaping up the behavior of the child and in their physical survival, social growth, cognitive development, and emotional […]
• The Relationship Between Parental Influence and Juvenile Delinquency Parents that do not allow their children to play with their neighbors, or discourage their children from associating with particular families lead to the children developing a negative attitude towards the families.
• Parental Dietary Behaviors and Children’s Eating Habits The child forms eating behavior based on the parental example and the traditions adopted in the house. I think the article is based on the theory that children tend to adopt their parents’ patterns of […]
• Understanding and Addressing Family Stress: Parental Responses and Impact on Children The spousal relationship, employment, a lack of structure in the household, and psychological suffering all contribute to stress. They are regarded as potent mediators, and therefore, offending elders indicates disrespecting the father and may lead […]
• Disability Equality of a Disabled Lone Parent Although the officials were initially reluctant owing to her physical condition and the nature of work she was to perform, they allowed her to try.
• “Blood Wedding” by F. G. Lorca and “The Metamorphosis” by F. Kafka: The Impact of Roles of Parents To compare the role of parents in the stories, we must first get a brief background of the parents in both stories.
• Parenting Styles and Authority Problems Authority or the right to influence the actions and opinions of other people plays an important part in many areas of our life, including the relations between a parent and a child.
• Parenting Styles and Academic Motivation Lyengar and Brown conducted a study about the correlation between the academic achievements among the students and the parenting styles. This report paper tries to synthesize the literature review that surrounds the influence of parenting […]
• Parental Investment Theory In this theory, Trivers linked the levels of parental investment in their offspring with the potential of this offspring’s survival in the future, as well as the parental ability to invest in a new offspring […]
• Self-Concept, Parental Labeling, and Delinquency The key objective is to point out broader determinants to specify the self and argue the dependence of appraisal from the standpoint of other people on delinquency.
• Parent–Child and Sibling Relationships In the literature on quality of sibling relationships, the focus has been made on studying psychological implications of sibling relationships, variations in sibling relationships in societies, and the implications of their successful and unsuccessful development.
• The Role of Parents in Children’s Life The effect that was brought up in the life of Lopez is that of a person who became bitter with life and looked forward to developing the life that he would value.
• Parenting: Managing and Controlling Behavior of a Child The main objective of the author is to inform the public about the parenting needs and challenges faced by parents in bringing up children.
• “Against the Grain: Couples, Gender, and the Reframing of Parenting” The soundness of this suggestion can be explored in regards to Gillian Ranson’s book Against the grain: couples, gender, and the reframing of parenting, concerned with exposing the actual motivations behind the process of parental […]
• Parenting Styles: China vs. North America Since Chinese parenting styles pay critical emphasis on the role of parents in shaping their children’s outcomes, it may be viewed as better compared to the North American style that only focuses much on self-esteem.
• Different Parenting Styles The disadvantage of this style of parenting is that it over-estimates the value of discipline and forgets to highlight the importance of independence and self reliance, which is vital for maturity of an adolescent child.
• How Parents in Different Cultures Scaffold Their Children’s Learning Playing with the children is one of the most significant foundation for learning among young children, where learning of the child basically takes place through observations and associations with vastly skilled and highly developed members […]
• Parent Interview: Through the Generations I was wondering about her understanding of the roles of mothers and fathers in a family and society, as well as the changes modern parenting undergoes. The development of family relationships is a choice a […]
• Low-Functioning Parents: Resolving the Issue The first is to put the child in the custody of foster care. The first option is likely to cause trauma to the child and parents.
• Parent-Teacher Conferences and Their Forms The picture is a great example of a successful parent-teacher conference as all factors presented in it can greatly contribute to the mutual understanding and further cooperation of parents and a teacher.
• Parental Care and Its Role in Poor Families The findings of this analysis will explain the protective factors that may minimize the effects of living in poverty on infant development.
• Parenting for Healthy Emotional Development The development of emotions gives one the ability to be empathetic to others, handle conflicts in the right way, and understand the importance of regulating emotions.
• Should Parents Be Allowed to Choose the Characteristics of Their Children Through Genetic Manipulation? At the outset, genetic manipulation might be important to many parents as it trims down the prospects of grave infections in the newborn babies. The disadvantages of parents going for genetic manipulation seem to outweigh […]
• Parental Behavior in the Great Apes In contrast to chimpanzees, orangutan and gorilla newborns are less frequently separated from their mothers and have highly developed motor skills.
• Impact of Free Childcare on Working Parents At the same time, having a free caregiver can improve the financial situation of parents and the child, as they can return to work.
• Parenting Practices and Theories in Early Childhood While modern parenting practices and thoughts do not specify precisely how to interact with children through the ages of 6-11, they suggest that parents can develop knowledge about children’s development process.
• Parenting Behaviors and Their Impact on Children The final research paper on the effect of good and bad parenting is the most important part of the portfolio. The question regarding the effects of good and bad parenting appears provocative and uncertain, and […]
• Parenting: Plan for a Program Evaluation The purpose of the evaluation is to assess the changes to the parenting style of foster parents. The data collected at the end of the evaluation will provide the valuable information on the effectiveness of […]
• Parenting: The Role of Socioeconomic Level and Discipline The influence of stress on discipline was modulated by the parent’s perceptions and thought functions such as concerns about the future of the child and the availability of alternative correctional tactics.
• Addressing Single Parents’ Needs in Professional Counseling In conclusion, after reading the article, I understood the need to reinforce the positive aspects of being a single parent while adequately addressing the adverse impact such a state has on one’s psyche.
• Parental Perception of Weight Management Barriers The study examined the parents’ perception on factors that contribute to childhood obesity and sort their suggestions on the possible ways of overcoming the barriers.
• Society and Parenting: Survey Results Among the participants, the age group category of 30-40 was the highest, followed by 40+ years, then the 20-30 years category, and finally, the below 20 years.
• Parental Knowledge, Attitudes, and Cultural Beliefs Regarding Oral Health A good understanding of parental knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and awareness regarding oral health is important for improving health promotion efforts focused on elevating the dental health of young children.
• The Role of Parental Involvement in School Life The expert states the pointlessness of the argument and the joint work of the institutions that are important in the education and life of the child.
• Safety Promotion for Parents and Caregivers of Infants Recognizing and assessing the risk involved leads to the containment of the matter by identifying the plan required to promote infant safety.
• Parental Education on Overweight and Obese Children The search term used includes “Effect of parental education on BMI,” “the importance of parental Education in reducing Obesity,” and “BMI, parental education, and Bodyweight”.
• The Partnership With Parents and Community The relationship between parents and children is a complex system of relationships, the subject of the study of the psychology of parenthood, the purpose of which is to determine the mechanisms of the development of […]
• Old-Young and Parent-Child Relationships in Early Chinese Society It is possible to apply the same principle to the relationships of the parent and the child, where the child should always respect the parent and follow their orders and advice.
• “Black Parents Ask for a Second Look” by Adjei & Minka The authors claimed that the lack of understanding of the former often results in children of color being taken away from their families by Child and Family Services.
• Child-Parent Relationships in Contemporary International Cinema Understanding the quality of the relationships between parents and children plays an important role in modern society, and various methods are used to deliver the message and share opinions.
• Ethical Dilemma of Parental Refusal From Children’s Vaccination Kerry attempts to convince the Smiths of the relevance of vaccination in preventing infection by chronic diseases. Autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice are ethical principles applicable in resolving the moral issue of whether or not […]
• Epilepsy and Seizure Disorder: A Guide for Parents The use of electrodes is completely painless, and it allows the detection of the movement of neurons in the patient’s brain. First, a child is likely to experience challenges in learning due to seizures and […]
• Parental Role in Adolescents’ Phone Addiction In other words, the connection between the guardian and the teenagers is critical and should be maintained to allow children experience the love of their parents.
• Education for Parents of Children With Cancer The hospital was selected because I am have been working there for a long time, and the personnel is willing to help me with the implementation of the process.
• “Parental Characteristics and Offspring Mental Health” by Jami The title of the article is “Parental characteristics and offspring mental health and related outcomes: A systematic review of genetically informative literature”.
• Teachers-Parents Partnership and Children’s Literature The literature also allows children to learn and appreciate their differences with other kids and families, facilitating the establishment and maintenance of friendship.
• Parental Leaves for Both Parents in the US and Other Countries In the absence of federal paid leave policies in the U. As of 2018, in addition to the FMLA, four states had paid family leave laws in place, and three more were determined to pass […]
• Minors Seeking Treatment for Sexually Transmitted Diseases Without Parental Consent Due to the severity of sexually transmitted diseases, it is very important for doctors to provide minors with the necessary care.
• Parental Control as a Guarantee of Children’s Safety on the Internet Parents are liable for the safety of children on the Net and therefore are obliged to control and expand their knowledge in this field constantly.
• The Four Basic Parenting Practices This type of parent listens to their children and provides love and comfort in conjunction with boundaries and reasonable chastisement. Children that have authoritarian parents are more personality and capable of thinking for themselves.
• Parental Differences in Eastern and Western Cultures The main finding of this study was that children of Chinese families were better equipped for school, when the family employed greater parental involvement combined with high authoritative parenting style.
• Should the Church Baptize Babies of Commited Christian Parents? One of the most common is the idea of the unity of the believers that surpass any genetic or race accessory.
• Adolescent Shoplifting: Infographics for Parents The consequences of unaddressed juvenile shoplifting are the involvement of teenagers in organized theft, other serious gang activities, and placement in a youth detention center.
• The Impact of Parental Incarceration and Foster Children to Delinquency It was proved that the causal relationship between events such as parental incarceration and foster care and the social phenomenon of juvenile delinquency truly exists.
• Case Study: Parental Dispute The threshold criteria are the evidence and facts that are to be proven by the social services in order for the court to consider making the Care and Supervision Order.
• A Generational Dance: How Parents and Kids Relate In summation, it is vital to note that the well-being and development of a child depend on the wholesome relations with their parents.
• How Does Having a Child With Autism Affects Parents’ Lifestyle? The creation of a system of psychological, pedagogical and social support can reduce the risk of a complete family life dedication to a child with autism.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Parenting Style On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being lowest and 10 being highest, how much do you believe that kids need to learn early who the boss is in the family?
• Parental Corporal Punishment of Young Children But did you know that the States is the only permanent and non-permanent member of the United Nations that is not a signatory to Article 19, which condemns and prohibits all forms of physical abuse […]
• Parenthub as Resource for Parent-Child Relationships Building Unfortunately, not all parents understand effective methods of upbringing, do not realize the value of a favorable environment for the child’s independence, and neglect the appearance of the youth’s emotional anticipation.
• How Parents of Color Transcend Nightmare of Racism Even after President Abraham Lincoln outlawed enslavement and won the American Civil War in 1965, prejudice toward black people remained engrained in both the northern and southern cultural structures of the United States.
• Parenting Counseling in the New York City Community Overall, Cap4Kids has developed a wide range of resources and opportunities for children and their parents, thus, addressing the parenting issues that New York City community members are likely to experience presently.
• The Relationships Between Parents and Children and Keys to Their Success The key points, which people frequently neglect, are the need for parents to be nurturers, never-ending personal development, and the risks with which the prevalence of emotional motives for parenthood is associated.
• Impact of Free Childcare on Parents Willingness to Go Back to Work or College The study is unique in that it assesses the impact of free childcare in aiding parents to get back to college and work, unlike existing literature that focuses on parental return to work only.
• Children and Parent’s Adjustment Process The adjustment process of new children and their parents can be challenging for them and the teacher. Inviting the parents to the classroom can help with the separation anxiety in both children and their parents.
• The Experience of Parents of Children With Disabilities Enhancing support for the mental well-being of parents of children with a disability: developing a resource based on the perspectives of parents and professionals.
• “Home, School, and Community Relations”: The Complex Role Nature of Parenting However, emphasizing work sometimes leads to a lack of attention to the educator’s role, which can also hurt a child. From my perspective, such behavior is a warning signal, which has to be taken seriously […]
• The Sandwich Generation: Impact on the Parent Caring for Children and Parents The person who has the role of taking care of both the small children and the elderly parents meets multiple challenges while managing all the responsibilities simultaneously.
• The Sandwich Generation: Caring for Children and Parents The definition indicates a person “sandwiched” between managing the responsibilities of a parent and a caring child at the same time.
• Raising the Standards for Children of Incarcerated Parents The sources of their hardships extend to social, economic, and emotional levels, and it is up to the community to recognize that and affect change by advocating for appropriate programs, policies, and practices.
• The Relationship Between Single-Parent Households and Poverty The given literature review will primarily focus on the theoretical and empirical aspects of the relationship between single-parent households and poverty, as well as the implications of the latter on mental health issues, such as […]
• Parental Intervention on Self-Management of an Adolescent With Diabetes Diabetes development and exposure are strongly tied to lifestyle, and the increasing incidents rate emphasizes the severity of the population’s health problem.
• Parenting and Its Influence on Adult Children My parents have different views and character traits from my grandparents, and sometimes these contrasts cause difficulties in their relationships. Thus, love in the bonds between children and parents is essential, but it is sometimes […]
• The Difference in Parenting an Adolescent Similarly, the father, who appears to be a disconnected and distant parent, has to support the mother and the child psychologically bonded to their adolescent to improve parenting.
• Parenting Models in Modern Family Unit of Emigrants in the USA The fact is that the Lee family has three children, one of whom is just a baby, and the other two are studying at the moment in high school.
• Empathy in Parent-Child Relationships It is the responsibility of parents to explain to their children what is right and what is wrong so that they can form their own opinion and develop a sense of self-worth.
• Single, Low-Income, or Homeless Mothers’ Health and Parenting Problems To promote their wellbeing, health professionals may support homeless mothers in practices such as the use of strengths-anchored nursing, supporting ideas of good parenting, overcoming stigma, and discovering and eliminating the unsurmountable hindrances encountered within […]
• Parents Who Teach Their Kids About Self-Worth Teaching their kids to be proud is essential because it can give them the strength to stand up for what is right and evaluate the situations around them with a sense of pride and self-worth.
• A Quality All Parents Should Cultivate Parents should be able to show their love to their children since they are not able to express themselves when they need it most. Parents’ love for their children is unparalleled, and they need to […]
• Parent-Child Relationships in Later Life My mother, in turn, seeks to demonstrate that she is not a child anymore, and the patronage of that kind insults her.
• What Every New Parent Should Know Undoubtedly, the issue of preparing for the baby is essential, and it touches almost every young couple, so the majority of people are familiar with it. For instance, the conflict between the parents and their […]
• Parenting Styles and Overweight Status The authoritarian parenting style has a strict disciplinarian and a high expectation of the child’s self-control from the parent but a low sensitivity.
• Infantilization: Adult Children Living With Parents When the time comes to leave home, young people are petrified of the idea of living on their own and not having the same level of everyday care and support that they are used to.
• What Is a Concept Good Parent? Overall, a good parent is a parent who can offer one’s child love and affection which is important for his or her normal development as a dignified and contented person, and is also successful in […]
• Analysis of Bullying and Parenting Style Since the given topic usually refers to children and adolescents, it is evident that their parents hold a portion of responsibility because the adults affect the growth and development of young individuals.
• Parent’s Right to Travel Out of the Country This paper seeks to analyze the parent’s right to travel out of the country and outlines why traveling has been an issue for the courts In the US, the Supreme Court acknowledges that every citizen […]
• Parent Involvement and Student Achievement The purpose of the study is to investigate whether parental involvement plays a role in elementary school student achievement.
• Autism and Vaccination Refusal Management Among Somalian Parents Somalian parents in their community in Minnesota refuse from their children being vaccinated, as they believe that vaccination causes autism.
• Parents’ Immunization Decisions and Complex Issues in Toddlers The child and family health nurse can collaborate with diverse professionals, including the state’s immunization specialists, to improve the child’s health prospects while also empowering the mother to get updated information from national authorities in […]
• The Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters Aarash said that children’s well-being is his priority and mentioned that the family needs proper food for Hamdiya and a washing machine and iron to ensure the children look neat.
• Parents’ Perception of Attending an ADHD Clinic The main principles of the clinic’s specialists should be an objective diagnosis of the neurological status of the child and the characteristics of his/her behavior, the selection of drug treatment only on the basis of […]
• Assessment and Communicating With Parents Technology allows for an accurate quantitative measurement of the students’ progress. Technology helps compare and contrast the results of two assessments.
• Childhood Obesity and Parental Education The thesis is as follows: parents should cooperate with local organizations to receive and provide their children with education on healthy living and the dangers of obesity because they are responsible for their children’s diet.
• The Importance of Parenting Aspects First, it is essential to note the critical periods of prenatal development, when the mother and the baby are the most vulnerable.
• Success: How to Parent? Therefore, it is crucial to choose a competent approach to raising a child to not injure them in this way. This will help in choosing a profession and the entire path of life.
• Technology and Parenting: Gaming and Social Media The current project is a social media campaign report targeted at addressing the increased use of social media and gaming among the growing generation.
• Parent-School Communication The current paper includes an interview with the school’s principal regarding the opportunities for parent-school partnership.
• Positive Parenting Tips for Young Child’s Safety So to keep your child healthy and safe, the first two years of a child’s growth are very important and hence should be taken care of cautiously.
• Adverse Childhood Experiences With Incarcerated Parents The Method of Data Collection: Mixed: survey and secondary data will both be utilized. The Research Design: First, there will be a survey of families in which there are incarcerated parents.
• Jennifer Morse: Parents or Prisons Among the many reasons cited to have led to high the number of cases of juvenile offending is divorce and single parenthood.
• Teen Pregnancy and Early Parental Care The scholars established the high value of prenatal care for the teenage mothers that was likely to save thousands of dollars invested in the newborn care and support of the pregnancies.
• Parental Consent in Minors’ Abortions Thus, the parents or guardians of the teenage girl ought to be aware of the planned abortion and explain the possible consequences of abortion to the girl.
• Vicarious Liability of Parents for Their Children Vicarious liability is a term used to refer to situations where parents are punished because of the offenses committed by their children.
• Parenting Styles Concept Comprehensive Study
• Music in Parental Participation in Pediatric Laceration
• Conjugal Visits: Programs for Inmate Parents
• Care Needs of Children Whose Parents Have Incurable Cancer
• Parental Agony in Natal Alienation in Chesnutt’s The Sheriff’s Children & Harper’s The Slave Mother
• The Challenges of Teen Parenting: Socioeconomic Consequences and Child Development Risks
• Ethical Dilemma: Parental Notification
• Teens Talking With Their Partners About Sex: The Role of Parent Communication
• “Gender Differences in Work-Family Guilt in Parents of Young Children”: Quantitative Research Critique
• The Parent-Involvement Research
• Toddlers and Tiaras: Have Parents Gone Too Far
• “When Couples Become Parents” by Bonnie Fox
• Family Systems Theory: Parenting and Family Diversity Issues
• College Planning Brochure for Parents
• Incarceration of a Parent or a Guardian of Recidivist
• The Influence of Parents on Schoolchildren and Students
• Parenting in Battered Women: The Effects of Domestic Violence
• Lone Parents: Social Work and Exclusion
• Gender-Schema and Social Cognitive Theory in Parenting Styles
• Concern-Based Adoption Model in the Learning Process
• Behavioral Parenting Training to Treat Children With ADHD
• The Issue of Parents’ Censorship
• Why Single Parents Should Stop Working?
• Should Parents Use Monitoring Software?
• Parenting Training Classes: A Psychology Experiment
• Pilgrims and Puritanism Parenting
• Teaching Parents of Schoolchildren on Sex and Sexuality
• “Home, School and Playroom” by Claire Etaugh: The Combined Effects and Interactions Among Parental Child-Rearing Practices
• Why Spanking Is Acceptable in Parenting
• Parental Rights Terminating: Reasons and Procedures
• Parental Rejection Effects on Homosexuals
• Hamlet’s Parental Relationships
• Parents Influence Sexuality, Based on Two Novels
• Parental Intervention for Abnormal Pubescence
• The Relationships Between Physiotherapists and Educators, Parents, and Service Providers
• Communication Plan for Students, Teachers and Parents
• Fine and Lee on Psychoeducational Program for Parents
• Male and Female Parents: Is There a Difference?
• The Idea of Gay Parenting
• Critical Issues in Education: Parenting and Its Implication on Student’s Achievement
• Parenting a Child with a Disability Study Books Used in Class
• A Critical Review of Corporal Punishment as a Form of Parental Discipline
• Problems of Learning and Mutual Understanding of Students, Teachers and Parents
• African-American Community: Parental Involvement
• Parental Roles and Changes in the Last 50 Years
• Parent-Child Relations in Poetry
• Single Parents in the Alcoholic Classification
• Parent Involvement in the Elementary School Setting
• Parent-School Online Communication Platforms
• Antibiotic and Analgesic Self-Medication Practices Among Parents for Childhood Problems
• Parenting in “Hey, Kiddo” by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
• Parental Beliefs’ Impact on Children’s Therapy
• Parental Refusal of Treatment: Ethical Decision-Making
• Parents’ Role in Youth Probation Outcomes
• Parental Divorce and Its Impact on Teenagers
• Parental Report of Vaccine Receipt in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Discharging Minors in a Psychiatric Facility While Parents Feel Unsafe
• Schools and Parents’ Fight Against Cyberbullying
• Parenting Topic in Developmental Psychology
• Parental Disclosure of Artificial Conception
• Mental Illness in Children and Its Effects on Parents
• Parental Responsibilities and Related Conflicts
• Parenting, Child Development, and Socialization
• Family, Marriage, and Parenting Concepts Nowadays
• Children With Disabilities and Parental Mistreatment
• Rights of Parents of Students With Disabilities
• Relations of Parents and Teenagers
• Parent Education and Discipline-Training Programs
• Parenting Behaviors Throughout Child’s Life
• Abbreviated Plans: Parent or Guardian Incarceration
• The Importance of Right Parenting in America
• Developing an Effective Parenting
• Productive Communication With Parents
• Parenting Strategies for Early Childhood Development
• Parents as Teachers Program From Educator’s View
• Parent Volunteering in the Early Education Centers
• Disabled Child Guidance Through the Parents’ Eyes
• “The Economic Benefits of Paid Parental Leave” by C. Miller
• Parental Uninvolvement in Personality Development
• Education Effect on Cultural Practices of Parents
• Parent-Child Perceptions: Sexual Discussions
• Being a Father: Parenting Roles and Experiences
• Poverty in American Single-Parent Families
• Grandparents as Parental Figures in Modern Families
• Group Counseling for Children of Addicted Parents
• Child Counseling and Parenting Problems
• Infant-Parent Attachment: Secure or Insecure?
• The Physiological Impact of Autism on Children and Parents
• Saudi Parents’ Perceptions of Early Intervention
• School Communication and Interaction With Parents
• Vegan Parents’ Influence on Their Children’s Diet
• Children’s Right to Be Parented by the Best Parent
• Computer Literacy: Parents and Guardians Role
• Children’s Success Requirements in Parents’ Views
• Parenting Children With Learning Disabilities
• Child Parenting Guide and Challenges
• Teacher-Parent Collaboration in Special Education
• Parent-Child Relationship in Early Modern England
• Parental Control and Young Adult Criminal Behavior
• Young Adults Increasingly Moving in With Parents
• Parental Narcissism and Adolescent Development
• Parents’ Participation in Cultural Activities
• Teaching Project: The Tube-Fed Children’s Parents
• Why Young People Live Longer With Their Parents
• Parenting, Divorce, Dating in the Dear Abby Letter
• Parental Participation in Educational Activities
• Parents’ Reasons Allowing Their Newborns to Die
• Parental Involvement and Children’s Aspirations
• Emotions in Parent of a Child With Special Needs
• Aljoudah School: Teachers and Students’ Parents Experiences
• Adolescent Self-Perception and Parental Care
• Parents and Community Involvement
• Parent-Teen Relations in the United States and Denmark
• Parents Challenges: Raising Bilingual Children
• “Parental Choice” of Son-In-Law or Daughter-In-Law
• Children Reading Skills: Parents and Babysitters Effect
• Parental Involvement in School-To-Work Transition
• Parents’ Education and Children’s Achievement
• Parenting Styles of Young Adults
• Cartoons, Young Children, and Parental Involvement
• Parenting: Learning That an Adolescent Is Gay or Lesbian
• Association of Parenting Factors With Bullying
• Aspects of Parenting Infants and Toddlers
• Good Parents Traits and Raising Children – Psychology
• Parenting Methods: Pros and Challenges
• Parent-Teacher Interaction Strategies
• Parent Interview and Infant Observation
• Parents’ Depression and Toddler Behaviors
• Children Mental Illness and Its Effects on Parents
• Parenting and Its Major Styles
• Styles of Parenting as a Psychological Strategies
• Cross-Cultural Study: Parenting and Psychological Disorders in Adolescents
• Parents Impact on Children Obesity – Nutrition
• Children Learning Activities and Parental Involvement
• Parents Need Help on Snow Days
• Chinese Parenting Style in Raising Successful Children
• Academic Performance and Parental Influence
• Parents Conferences Role in Education
• Parenting Behavior Supporting Obesity in School-Aged Children
• Children Obesity Issues and Role of Parents in It
• The Lived Experiences of Native American Indian Women Parenting off the Reservation
• Parents’ Involvement and Factors Important for Children’s Growth and Development
• Suggestions for Future Strategies in Analysis of Parental Involvement in School Administration
• Parenting Variables in Antenatal Education
• Single Parents Raise Kids
• Effective Responses to Challenging Parental Behaviors
• “Dating and the Single Parent” by Ron Deal
• “Dating and the Single Parent” by Deal
• Designing Educational Spaces: A Birth-To-Eighteen-Year-Old Training for a Rich Parent
• First Time Parenting
• Relationship Between Parental Involvement and Children’s Motivation
• Abortion and Parental Consent
• The Effects of Parental Involvement on Student Achievement
• Teach Your Parents Well
• How Children of Incarcerated Parents Are Affected
• Parental Involvement in Adolescent’s Life: Contributing to Identity Formation
• Role of Parents in the Education of Young Children
• Does Parental Involvement and Poverty Affect Children’s Education and Their Overall Performance?
• Problems Experienced by Children of Homosexual Parents
• When Couples Become Parents
• Analysis of Psychoeducational Program for Parents of Dysfunctional Backgrounds
• Reflective Entry of “Trauma Through a Child’s Eyes: Awakening the Ordinary Miracle of Healing Children, Parenting and the Family Series” and “Udaan”
• Helicopter Parents
• Gay Marriage, Same-Sex Parenting, And America’s Children
• Parents and Families as Partners
• Families and Young Children: What Constitutes Effective Parental Discipline?
• Principles of Parenting in Psychology
• Plans for Caring for Elderly Parents
• The Development Psychology: Parents’ Probability of Having Another Children
• Milwaukee Parental Choice Program
• Parents Attitude Towards the Importance of Childhood Nutrition
• Psychology: Parents’ Decisions on Having the Second Child
• Parents Need Help: Restricting Access to Video Games
• The Mothers Who Are Not Single: Striving to Avoid Poverty in Single-Parent Families
• The Relationship Between Shin and His Parents. Escape From Camp 14
• What Defines Parental Techniques and Strategies: The Case of Soccer Moms
• Chinese Mothers and Their Incredible Parenting
• How Does the Gender of Parent Matters?
• A Dysfunctional Behavior Involving a Drunkard Parent
• Parent Involvement Interview
• Effects of Parental Promotion of the Santa Myth
• Freakonomics and Parenting: A Position Paper
• Social Network and Personal Loss Among Young Adults With Mental Illness and Their Parents: A Family Perspective
• Parents’ Influence on the Life of the Main Characters
• Harsh Parenting in Relation to Child Emotion Regulation and Aggression.
• Harsh Parenting: Emotion Regulation and Aggression
• Should Justin Ellsworth’s Parents Have Been Given Access to His Email?
• Parent Involvement and Educational Outcomes
• Gay Marriage and Parenting
• Cooperation Between Teachers and Parents
• How Divorce and Single Parenting Affects Children
• Effects of a Parental Death on Younger Children
• Adopted Children With Gay Parents Have Better Chances of Succeeding
• The Impact of Media on Adolescents, and the Roles Played by School and Parents
• Family Issues: Parents Should Stay at Home When They Have Babies
• Parents as Failed Role Models: A Doll’s House and Fight Club
• Parenting’s Skills, Values and Styles
• Psychological Effects of Parental Employment and Early Childcare
• Teenage Alcoholism: Parental Influence and How to Get Rid of Vice
• Gay Parenting and the Issue of Adoption
• Western and Eastern Parenting Styles
• Foster Parenting Together: Foster Parent Couples
• The Five Major Parenting Modes and the Most Effective Parenting Style
• Parenting Techniques and Their Influences on Their Child’s Behavior and Habits
• Family, Parenting and Child Conduct Problems
• Social and Legal Obstacles of Gay and Lesbian Parenting
• Work-Family Conflict and Mindful Parenting: The Mediating Role of Parental Psychopathology Symptoms and Parenting Stress in a Sample of Employed Parents
• Parenting and Family: What’s Intergenerational Transmission
• Valuable Strategies for Parenting an Impulsive Child
• The Correlation Between Cyberbullying and Parenting Style, the Gender Differences in Cyberbullying
• Same-Sex Couples, Adoption, and Parenting
• Gender Equality and Inequality in Parenting Other Chapter
• Parenting Styles According to Social Class
• Authoritarian Parenting- Negative Effects of Authoritarian Parenting
• The Relationship Between Teen Pregnancy and Parenting
• Health and Social Services for Pregnant and High-Risk Parenting Teens
• Socioeconomic Status and Parenting Styles
• Different Parenting Styles and Their Effect on Children’s Behavior
• Economic Deprivation, Maternal Depression, Parenting and Children’s Cognitive and Emotional Development in Early Childhood
• Single Parenting Versus Double Parenting
• Low-Income Single Mothers’ Community Violence Exposure and Aggressive Parenting Practices
• Parenting Stress and Emotional or Behavioral Problems in Adolescents
• Relationships Between Parenting Style and Self Reliance
• Homeownership and Parenting Practices: Evidence From the Community Advantage Panel
• Parenting Styles: Authoritarian, Authoritative, Permissive, and Uninvolved
• Parenting and Education During Early Childhood
• Effective Parenting-Early Development, Various Parenting Styles and Discipline
• Implementing Parenting Programmes Across Cultural Contexts: A Perspective on the Deficit Narrative
• The Social Norm for Parenting and the Three Classic Parenting Patterns
• Family Income, Parenting Styles, and Child Behavioral-Emotional Outcomes
• Parenting Stress Among Child Welfare Involved Families: Differences by Child Placement
• Bidirectional Longitudinal Relations Between Parent and Grandparent and Co-parenting Relationships
• Relationship Between Parenting Styles and Anxiety Sensitivity
• Attachment Theory and Maternal Drug Addiction: The Contribution to Parenting Interventions
• Ideal Family and Parenting Configurations
• Social Behavior, Crime, and Poor Parenting
• The Psychosocial Variables Associated With the Parenting a Child Having Special Needs
• Attachment and Parental Reflective Functioning Features in ADHD: Enhancing the Knowledge on Parenting Characteristics
• Adoptive Parenting and Attachment: Association of the Internal Working Models Between Adoptive Mothers and Their Late-Adopted Children During Adolescence
• Does Strength-Based Parenting Predict Academic Achievement?
• What Are the Different Parenting Types Used by Families?
• How Does Social Class Influence Parenting and Child Development?
• How Has Parenting Changed Over the Generations?
• What Challenges Do Parents Face by Their Gender or Sexual Identities?
• Are the Major Causes of Juvenile Crime Lack of Parenting?
• How Does Culture Affect Parenting Styles?
• What Are the Effect of Bad Parenting?
• What Unites All Parenting Styles?
• Are Testosterone Levels and Depression Risk Linked Based on Partnering and Parenting?
• How Parenting Styles Around With How Culture and Religion?
• When Children Rule: Parenting in Modern Families?
• How Has Technology Impacted Parenting?
• When Behavioral Barriers Are Too High or Low – How Timing Matters for Parenting Interventions?
• Does Parenting Style Matter?
• Does Mothers Self-Construal Contribute to Parenting Beyond Socioeconomic Status and Maternal Efficacy?
• Who Helps With Homework? Parenting Inequality and Relationship Quality Among Employed Mothers and Fathers?
• How Does Parenting Styles Influence a Child’s Development?
• Does Parenting Affect Children’s Eating and Weight Status?
• How Parenting Styles Affect the Psychological Growth of a Child?
• Does Homosexual Parenting Have Adverse Effects?
• How Different Parenting Styles Affect Children?
• When Parenting Fails: Alexithymia and Attachment States of Mind in Mothers of Female Patients With Eating Disorders?
• Does Authoritative Parenting Impact Juvenile Delinquency?
• Why Doesn’t Single Parenting Always Mean Tough Life for Children?
• Are Our Parenting Classes Needed?
• Why Has Parenting Gotten More Difficult?
• How Is Parenting Role and Parental Status Influence on Impatience?
• What Are Parenting Styles?
• How Does Gender and Sexuality Condition Influence Parenting?
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Importance of Parents in Life

Table of Contents

Introduction

“There are no bad children, just bad parents”. The importance of Parents in one’s life is quite evident from this eminent quotation. Parenthood is a responsible venture and there’s no debate on that topic.

In this fast-paced era, it is quite difficult for parents to mark their presence in their children’s life.

Millennial children who are exposed to versatilities of distractions find it difficult to find a connection with the ordinary. Not to mention children are quite blinded by the reign of the virtual world. 

Importance of Parents in Life - PDF

Child development lies its root in their parents. Nothing can overcome the rigidity of a child’s upbringing. A parent thereby acts as a visionary to their children. Some important points that talk about the importance of parents in child growth towards education are mentioned in the below Downloadable PDF.

Parents play a pivotal role in their children’s life. They are the pillars of support, guidance, and love. Family is where life begins and love never ends. No matter how old a child gets there’s nothing more comforting and soothing than their parent's arms.

The role of parents in a child’s life is beyond the idea of prompting.

Parenting takes action long before a child’s birth and eventually parents become their children’s alter ego and vice-versa. There is nobody like them who can shape and mould a child’s behavior and development. 

So parents should never seize to inspire and assist their children and thereby parents should strive to be the best teacher in their child’s life.

Maintaining a good Parent-Child relationship is the first step towards wise parenting. Right from the birth of their offspring, parents should be aware of the enormous reliability and accountability in their child’s life.

Studies show that a foetus’ character development is succumbed by the alterations in its mother’s thoughts during pregnancy. Not giving the proper guidance and love can seriously affect a child’s life and can have serious impacts that will lead to character defects.

The parent is the child’s first teacher and will remain a consistent mentor in a child’s life.

What is the role of Parents in a Child's life?

To develop skills.

Parenting is a never-ending skill. Once you sign for it there’s no looking back. You will have to take charge and make the most of your time. Parenting and child development are in a symbiotic relationship.

When one flourishes, the other automatically finds balance. And this is the basic rule of every parent-child relationship.

Parents contribute to the cognitive, socio-cultural, physical, mental, and spiritual development of an individual. Parental values and expertise play a vital role in the healthy upbringing of a child in all these areas. 

The foundation of all beliefs 

The profile of cognitive abilities, beliefs, ethical values, coping defenses, and salient emotional moods that characterize each child at each developmental stage is the result of diverse influences operating in complex ways.

Most students of human development agree that the most important determinants of the different profiles include the inherited physiologic patterns that are called temperamental qualities, parental practices and personality, quality of schools attended, relationships with peers, the ordinal position in the family, and, finally, the historical era in which late childhood and early adolescence are spent.

As children develop from infants to teens to adults, they go through a series of developmental stages that are important to all aspects of their personhood including physical, intellectual, emotional, and social.  

Support and guidance

The proper role of the parent is to provide encouragement, support, and access to activities that enable the child to master key developmental tasks. A child’s learning and socialization are most influenced by their family since the family is the child’s primary social group. Happy parents raise happy children.

Child development lies its root in their parents. Nothing can overcome the rigidity of a child’s upbringing. A parent thereby acts as a visionary to their children.

There’s nothing worldly that comes close to the sacrifices of parenthood. What parents do for their children out of love will always have an indelible remark on the child’s life.

A child who has never ceased to receive a balanced upbringing will continue to advance for the rest of their lives.

Parents also play a major role in the self-confidence of their children. If you want to increase the self-confidence of your child, read 6 Simple Tips to Build Self-Esteem and Confidence your Child.

Providing a good lifestyle

Education is one of the landmarks in a child’s development. A good education will hand over a rewarding career to the person and thereby they can serve society and return its bounties.

It is imperative to know how parents influence the lives of their offspring and plays an important role in the child’s physical, mental, financial, emotional, and career development.

How can Parents become successful in their roles?

The importance of parents is something that children should comprehend involuntarily. It is not something that can be put forward as a moral or ethical question.

Studies show that apart from earlier times, contemporary parents have a higher chance of failure to maintain a good relationship with their children despite the nuclear family setups that we have these days.

Here is how you can build a successful rapport with your child. 

Communication is the key

Be it any relationship, communication is the foundation. Talk to your child about topics other than school and studies. This helps in contributing to better bondage between both parties. 

Engage in activities with them 

You inevitably spent quality time with your loved ones. In this case, do something with your kid that is exciting for them. This will eventually help them polish their interests. 

Apologize when you mess up

Transparent and candidness can do wonders in your relationship. Throw away your ego and apologize for your mistakes. So that the child can stand up for themselves during future endeavors. 

How can parents' actions influence their children?

A recent study shows that parents who actively interact with children help them develop crucial cognitive skills, life skills, and eventually thrive to be successful. Parents contribute to developing focus, concentration, and self-control in their children.

They also improve critical thinking, empathy, perspective, making connections, and communicating. With a supportive parent, a child never regrets taking risks and this prepares a self-directed child. Parents' interactions have a huge impact on the child’s development, be it physical or mental.

Apart from genetic inheritance, children have a tendency to mimic their parents in almost any field. This increases the liability of a parent to be a role model for their children. The efforts from a parent’s side have great effects on their children. 

Even though each child is different and special in their capabilities, parents are the ones who can shape and assist their children without fail. It is the responsibility of parents to ensure a safe and sound environment for their children.

“The attitude that you have as a parent is what your kids will learn from, more than what you tell them. They remember what you are''; these words by Jim Henson alarm us about the role of Parents in a child’s life and justifies the impact and influence of parents in a child’s life. 

Parenting is sometimes about finding happiness in sacrifices. And these sacrifices will not seize to rapture you in the long run. A child with a remarkable upbringing will never fail to make their parents proud. Parents are responsible to provide the necessary food, clothing, shelter, and medical care insofar as they are able.

They are equally responsible for providing sound education and sound knowledge of their religion as well as the moral training of their children. In the same way, children are responsible to appreciate their parent’s promising efforts to ensure a good life for them.

Having said all these, parenthood is not just about sacrifice, it is also teaching your child to master their life on their own.

They should hand over responsibilities for their children so that they learn problem-solving skills at a young age. This will reduce the chances of being left out when they hit adulthood. 

Parents play a pivotal role in their children’s lives and each of their actions will solely depend upon the parenting techniques adopted by their parents. Our future is our children and in order to ensure a better tomorrow, we have to train and shape our children with care and love.

So it’s imperative that every parent decode their child’s peculiarities and assist them in their overall development and thereby contributing to a better tomorrow. When a child is happy, then parents are happy. Parents do almost all the things to make their child educated and well respected in society.

Whatever the situation or whatever is the problem that a child faces in life, parents should try and motivate and inspire them by their own examples to make a tough into good. Parents try to make the balance in their child’s emotional persistence that helps to improve tough situations faster. 

Importance of Parents' in developing Math

Parents play a major role in improving mathematical skills in their children. The most important thing is daily mathematical reasoning.

Early education experts stress reading to children every day, and math should be part of a daily regimen as well.

Since most parents use math in some form every day, they should be able to help their children develop mathematical reasoning without going too far out of their way to design lessons or learn more math themselves.

Parents can help their children apply maths in daily activities like shopping and this brings a lot of difference in their logical skills.

• The parent-child relationship is important because it lays the foundation for the child’s personality, life choices, and overall behavior. It can also affect the strength of their social, physical, mental, and emotional health. 
• Children who have a healthy relationship with their parents are more likely to develop positive relationships with other people around them. They can establish secure bonds and friendships with peers. 
• The healthy involvement of parents in their children’s day to day life helps ensure that their kids can perform better socially and academically.

About Cuemath

Cuemath, a student-friendly mathematics and coding platform, conducts regular Online Classes for academics and skill-development, and their Mental Math App, on both iOS and Android , is a one-stop solution for kids to develop multiple skills. Understand the Cuemath fee structure and sign up for a free trial.

2018 Theses Doctoral

Essays on the Role of Parents in Educational Outcomes and Inequality

Chan, Eric Wai Kin

Parents have been shown to be a crucial driver in a child's educational outcomes in both the economics and education literature. However, researchers have yet to understand the roles that educational interventions, information, and policies might have on parental behavior and engagement toward their child's education and, in turn, how to effectively promote parental engagement for the benefits of children. In my dissertation, I examine how educational interventions and policies can impact the behavior and decision-making of parents and in turn affect student achievement. Specifically, I add to the scholarly literature evidence on (a) how being identified as gifted student affect parental levels of engagement and time investments, (b) how timely information about academic progress might change parental behaviors and improve educational outcomes, and (c) how immigrant mothers react to an expansion of pre-K specifically targeted at their children. Chapter one examines the short-term and long-term effects of an elementary school gifted education program in California that clusters 6-8 gifted students in classrooms. While I examine the academic effects of the program, I emphasize the analysis on the role of parent engagement and time investments in the lives of gifted children. While the gifted education literature has studied the causal effects of programs, there is limited evidence on how parent engagement might change as a result of these programs and its potential as a mechanism for achievement effects. Therefore, this study contributes to the economic debate of whether parent engagement is a complement or substitute to education quality. Using a fuzzy regression discontinuity approach, I primarily find small to no evidence on short-term academic effects, but stronger effects on longer-term course-taking and college outcomes. On the parent side, I find that while most parents are not more engaged overall, parents of minority gifted children and low-socioeconomic students are. The implication is that there is heterogeneity in the manner by which parents react behaviorally to students that are identified as gifted. In Chapter two, a joint paper with Peter Bergman, we run a randomized controlled trial in West Virginia examining the effects of a high-frequency academic information intervention on middle and high school student' academic outcomes. In this field experiment, we send out three types of alerts to parents - weekly missing assignments, weekly class absences, and monthly low grade average - during the 2015-16 school year. We find that the intervention reduces course failures by 38%, increases class attendance by 17%, and increases retention. We find no evidence that test scores improve, but find that there are significant improvements on in-class exam scores. The evidence of improvement in test scores show that there are information frictions between parent and child, and thus parents may have inaccurate beliefs about their child's abilities due to a lack of complete information. Chapter three examines the maternal labor supply and pre-K enrollment effects of a bilingual pre-K policy implemented in Illinois during the 2010-11 school year, which came after the implementation of a statewide universal pre-K program in 2007. Research has shown the importance of quality preschool in the development of a child, with minorities particularly sensitive to the prevalence of quality early childhood education. In this study, I exploit variation in a policy mandating that any school with at least twenty identified English Language Learner student of a particular language is required to open up a bilingual classroom for those students. Using multiple control groups and various difference-in-differences specifications, I find that there is little to no change in maternal labor supply among Hispanics and recent immigrants, including the probability of being in the labor force, hours worked per week, and wage and salary income. However, I also find a significant and robust increase of 18-20 percentage points in the enrollment of 3- and 4-year old children into pre-K programs in Illinois. This result shows that, even in a state where there is universal access to pre-K, the design of such policies might not have sufficient reach to high-need parents. Taken together, this dissertation helps deepen our understanding of the various roles parents might affect educational outcomes and inequality. As my results demonstrate, there are various ways which help and incentivize parents to react in a manner that will improve childhood and long-term outcomes. Whether by programs, information, or public policy, the tools are many, yet it is crucial that scholarly work continues to dive deeper into how parents, children, and other stakeholders react.

• Education and state
• School management and organization
• Educational equalization
• Education--Parent participation

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Essay on Importance of Family for Students and Children

500 words essay on importance of family.

In today’s world when everything is losing its meaning, we need to realize the importance of family more than ever. While the world is becoming more modern and advanced, the meaning of family and what stands for remains the same.

A family is a group of people who are related by blood or heritage. These people are linked not only by blood but also by compassion, love, and support. A person’s character and personality are shaped by his or her family. There are various forms of families in today’s society. It is further subdivided into a tight and extended family (nuclear family, single parent, step-family, grandparent, cousins, etc.)

Family – A synonym for trust, comfort, love, care, happiness and belonging. Family is the relationship that we share from the moment we are born into this world. People that take care of us and help us grow are what we call family, and they become lifelines for us to live. Family members have an important role in deciding an individual’s success or failure in life since they provide a support system and source of encouragement.

It does not matter what kind of family one belongs to. It is all equal as long as there are caring and acceptance. You may be from a joint family, same-sex partner family, nuclear family, it is all the same. The relationships we have with our members make our family strong. We all have unique relations with each family member. In addition to other things, a family is the strongest unit in one’s life.

Things That Strengthens The Family

A family is made strong through a number of factors. The most important one is of course love. You instantly think of unconditional love when you think of family. It is the first source of love you receive in your life It teaches you the meaning of love which you carry on forever in your heart.

Secondly, we see that loyalty strengthens a family. When you have a family, you are devoted to them. You stick by them through the hard times and celebrate in their happy times. A family always supports and backs each other. They stand up for each other in front of a third party trying to harm them proving their loyalty.

Most importantly, the things one learns from their family brings them closer. For instance, we learn how to deal with the world through our family first. They are our first school and this teaching strengthens the bond. It gives us reason to stand by each other as we share the same values.

No matter what the situation arises, your family will never leave you alone. They will always stand alongside you to overcome the hardships in life. If anyone is dealing with any kind of trouble, even a small talk about it to the family will make ones’ mind lighter and will give them a sense of hope, an inner sense of strength to fight those problems.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Importance of Family

One cannot emphasize enough on the importance of family. They play a great role in our lives and make us better human beings. The one lucky enough to have a family often do not realize the value of a family.

However, those who do not have families know their worth. A family is our source of strength. It teaches us what relationships mean. They help us create meaningful relationships in the outside world. The love we inherit from our families, we pass on to our independent relationships.

Moreover, families teach us better communication . When we spend time with our families and love each other and communicate openly, we create a better future for ourselves. When we stay connected with our families, we learn to connect better with the world.

Similarly, families teach us patience. It gets tough sometimes to be patient with our family members. Yet we remain so out of love and respect. Thus, it teaches us patience to deal better with the world. Families boost our confidence and make us feel loved. They are the pillars of our strength who never fall instead keep us strong so we become better people.

We learn the values of love, respect, faith, hope, caring, cultures, ethics, traditions, and everything else that concerns us through our families. Being raised in a loving household provides a solid foundation for anyone.

People develop a value system inside their family structure in addition to life lessons. They learn what their family considers to be proper and wrong, as well as what the community considers to be significant.

Families are the epicentres of tradition. Many families keep on traditions by sharing stories from the past over the years. This allows you to reconnect with family relatives who are no longer alive. A child raised in this type of household feels as if they are a part of something bigger than themselves. They’ll be proud to be a part of a community that has had ups and downs. Communities thrive when families are strong. This, in turn, contributes to a robust society.

Q.1 What strengthens a family?

A.1 A family’s strength is made up of many factors. It is made of love that teaches us to love others unconditionally. Loyalty strengthens a family which makes the members be loyal to other people as well. Most importantly, acceptance and understanding strengthen a family.

Q.2 Why is family important?

A.2 Families are very important components of society and people’s lives. They teach us a lot about life and relationships. They love us and treat us valuably. They boost our self-confidence and make us feel valued. In addition, they teach us patience to deal with others in a graceful and accepting manner.

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