Introduce
Reflecting on various parenting approaches during pregnancy and the early days of a child’s life provides valuable insight into how parents might communicate, set boundaries, and guide their child’s behaviour. The parenting style a caregiver adopts significantly influences their baby’s development, attachment, behaviour, and overall wellbeing.
Watch the following video to explore different parenting styles and their potential impact on children’s development:
Develop
Emotion Coaching is a parenting approach that has been developed from the research of American psychologist John Gottman. It encourages parents to respond to emotion and behaviour as opportunities to validate, empathise, hold boundaries and problem solve. You can see how it relates to other parenting approaches in the image below.
Image source: Lorna Colter
Learning about emotion coaching can be incredibly helpful for new parents because it equips them with tools to support their child’s emotional development and helps them to navigate challenges. The elements of emotion coaching are outlined in the image below:
Image source: www.emotioncoachinguk.com
The period from preconception to age 2 presents a unique opportunity for professionals to engage with parents, as this is when they are often most open to interventions which may be most effective in changing behaviours. Many parents unconsciously replicate the parenting styles they experienced growing up, which may not always align with their values or be best for their child. Support provides an opportunity to break unhelpful patterns and adopt more positive, responsive approaches.
If you’re in a role that involves supporting parents, it can be valuable to reflect on your own experiences of being parented, as well as your approach to caregiving if you have those responsibilities. This reflection helps you explore your personal values and insights while also identifying any potential biases or judgments you may hold.
Reflect
Stop and Reflect: The following questions aim to help you to consider how best to support parents in reflecting on their parenting approaches:
– How might you create a safe and non-judgmental space for parents to openly share their thoughts and feelings about parenting?
– What are the kind of questions you might use to help parents and caregivers reflect on their approach?
– In what ways could you explore a parent’s strengths as well as areas where they may want to adapt or develop?