Pandemic makes parenting resources a critical need

"Parenting education and support help us do more of the good things we want to do and fewer of the harmful things we sometimes do despite our best intentions. Emotional struggles, in children and adults, whether current or past, mild or severe, framed by comfort or deprivation, persist unless we process them.

Parenting programs help us frame the struggles we experience and become the best parents we can be in three important ways:

• First, they offer positive emotional support and social connections that diminish isolation and other under-recognized social determinants of health.
• Second, they provide information about child development and appropriate expectations for each developmental stage.
• Third, they model and encourage the physical behaviors and habits of speech that provide children support and guidance appropriate to each age and stage. These latter including responsive vocalizations, mutual focus and acknowledgment of children's positive behaviors.

Many well-intentioned parenting education programs emphasize information and skills, neglecting the support for parents that we see as primary." - Eve Sullivan for The Communication Initiative Network