Building Better Human Connections: Parenting/Caring Education for Children and Teens in School

Childhood Education, Winter 2003/2004 by McDermott, Dana R

In 1990, O'Connor wrote: "Education for parenthood has for many years been a neglected, low status area of school curricula, despite a professed belief in the family as a stabilizing influence on society" (p. 86). She believes that programs can vary in format and how they are integrated into curricula, but need to be consistent in terms of support by school staff. Hope and Sharland (1997) concur, explaining that their programs were most successful when they were blended into personal and social-emotional education programs that were highly valued by school personnel and the government. Their report of parent education programs for middle and high school (begun in 1994 in Manchester, England) revealed encouraging findings: Parent education in five pilot schools showed a measurable positive impact on students' knowledge about, skills in, and attitudes towards parenting. The majority of students showed an increased understanding of the roles and responsibilities of parenthood, and saw the importance of reading to children and asking for help in coping with a baby's crying. Few differences were found in children's level of interest by gender or ethnicity. Parents saw the program as practical, relevant, useful, and interesting, and expressed regret that they did not have these programs when they were students.

Strong support also exists among U.S. parents for providing parenting education to young people. A national survey by an independent researcher (Lake, Snell, Perry & Associates, 1999) found that Americans strongly favored relationship and parent preparation for young people. This study indicated that 88 percent favored having it in high schools, 82 percent for middle schools, and 69 percent for elementary schools.

The U.S. programs described here are for grades K-12. Ideally, all schools would have on-site family life educators, Family and Consumer Science (FACS) teachers, health teachers, and others who are qualified to teach parenting. These professionals are the backbone of parenting education initiatives. Preservice teachers also could benefit from parenting education.

Experts also believe that parenting courses should be geared towards children's changing learning capacities. The U.K.'s National Children's Bureau describes parent education as a "continuous process, starting with birth and early childhood and going through school days, adolescence and committed relationships, pregnancy and parenthood itself" (O'Connor, 1990, p. 85), with education tailored appropriately to developmental tasks. Others believe that one high school intervention is not adequate to prepare students for such a difficult role (Luster & Youatt, p. 13). Gaudin (1993) emphasizes that:

Schools are in a key position to offer preparation for parenting and life skills development beginning with very young children in kindergarten through critical preteen and teenage years and for young adult parents through extended hour programs. . . . Development of these critical life skills would do much to prevent neglect in the current and next generation of parents. (p. 63)