Do Parents Need to Be Qualified?

This Chapter considers the role of parents and carers and whether parents need to be qualified. The Start Right Report states that modern parenthood is too demanding and complex a task to be performed well merely because we have all once been children. Since 1994 schools and settings have mostly included parental partnership as one of their priorities. Although being involved with the school and sharing knowledge about children’s development and progress is an important aspect of what Sir Christopher refers to as the triangle of care in the Start Right Report (Ball, 1994), we also need to include parenting and the engagement of parents with their babies and young children in what Kathy Sylva refers to as the home learning environment. It may seem arrogant to say that parents need to be qualified. However, the demands of parenting are now so much more than when the report was written in 1994. This chapter re-considers what parenting means and why it is important, how parenting has changed and what is meant by ‘good’ parenting. The final section of the chapter describes the development of A Winning Attitude Cache endorsed course for schools and settings to share with their parents and carers. The course provides a respectful forum focussing on the personal, social and emotional development of children, including attachment, nurturing and providing them with a safe, secure and stimulating childhood – what children need to start right. This Chapter considers the role of parents and carers and whether parents need to be qualified. The Start Right Report states that modern parenthood is too demanding and complex a task to be performed well merely because we have all once been children. The chapter re-considers what parenting means and why it is important, how parenting has changed and what is meant by 'good' parenting. It describes the development of a Winning Attitude Cache endorsed course for schools and settings to share with their parents and carers. A Winning Attitude (Hamilton-McGinty, 2000) had already been published using a variety of positive quotes intended to change lives by changing attitudes. Parenting is the process of supporting the physical, emotional, spiritual, social and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood through a bond of love.