Parenting support is at the forefront of Government thinking, and in January the Prime Minister announced a renewed commitment to strengthening parenting skills through universal parenting classes and the targeted Troubled Families scheme. For support to be effective, however, parenting programmes need to be evidence-based and implemented properly, particularly when working with more vulnerable families.
There is an extensive body of research showing the positive effect that evidence-based parenting courses can have on a wide range of outcomes for parents and children. There is also a range of evaluated parenting programmes available (see box), among them Mellow Parenting.
MELLOW PARENTING
Developed by a team of child psychologists and psychiatrists, Mellow Parenting’s work is founded on attachment theory and relationship-building. ‘Children’s development in the first two years of life is fundamental to their lifetime development, literally affecting the development of the brain,’ says Christine Puckering, programme director. ‘A lot of parenting programmes are about managing behaviour, but we precede that by developing a relationship between the parent and baby. If you get that right, a lot of things flow more easily for the parent and the child.’
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