| Parenting education has focused on techniques from a | | | | The equity issue: Parent education is alive and well in |
| certain tradition, either behavioral or humanistic, that | | | | the marketplace, with affluent consumers exercising |
| could be applied to any problem of parenting or child | | | | choice and purchasing information. Low-income |
| behavior change. | | | | parents have far more limited access to formal |
| Mainly highlights the complexity of our society and | | | | parenting programs and less discretionary income with |
| times by exploring the problems faced by diverse | | | | which to purchase information. If parent education is |
| types of parents, children, and parenting situations. | | | | left to market forces alone, the wealthy will become |
| Moreover, the sensitive issues of parenting in unique | | | | more information rich, while the poor will become |
| populations are handled in a caring, straight-forward | | | | comparatively and actually more information poor. |
| way with an emphasis on research-based parent | | | | Parent education programs are growing in number and |
| education programs along with tips and strategies for | | | | becoming increasingly diverse on virtually every |
| everyday use. | | | | dimension imaginable: sponsorship, funding mechanisms, |
| The need to engage in cooperative planning, | | | | audience, intensity, staffing patterns, and evaluation |
| coordination of service delivery, and infrastructure | | | | strategy. Contrary to the approach used in the days |
| development across programs, communities, and | | | | when parent education had a didactic, if not somewhat |
| states is becoming acute. In some locales, voluntary | | | | elitist, orientation, today's approach is more universally |
| networks of parent education and family support | | | | adapted. While programs differ in how they carry out |
| programs are developing, fostering linkages that | | | | activities, they tend to embrace a common set of |
| promote coordination and access. | | | | principles:focus on prevention and optimization rather |
| A stagnant economy routinely demands family | | | | than treatmentrecognition of the need to work with the |
| employment in two or three jobs, leaving little time for | | | | entire family and communitycommitment to regarding |
| effective parenting. Job insecurity often fuels family | | | | the family as an active participant in the planning and |
| discontinuity and fragmentation. Unemployment, once | | | | execution of the program rather than as a "passive |
| the condition of the unskilled, has affected pink and | | | | client" waiting to receive servicescommitment to |
| white collar workers, causing more and more parents | | | | nourishing cultural diversityfocus on strength-based |
| regularly to face complexities that make nurturing | | | | needs analyses, programming, and evaluation |
| children difficult. Finally, the rise in the number of single | | | | Many parents know they have a troubled teen on |
| parents, many of them teenage or never married, | | | | there hands, as this changing face of parenting |
| places heavy burdens on families and on society. | | | | education will help. If you have any suggestions for |
| Changes in nomenclature represent one of several | | | | how to improve this site or any questions pertaining to |
| current issues in parent education. Terminology used | | | | this site, feel free to go: |
| besides parent education includes parent | | | | It offers a wide variety of information pertaining to |
| empowerment, family education, family life education, | | | | parenting teens in today's society. They hope that the |
| parent support, and family support. Some other issues | | | | information presented on this site will be of some use |
| include: | | | | to parents everywhere. |