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Relationships matter: How clinicians can support positive parenting in the early years
Robin C Williams1, Anne Biscaro1, Jean Clinton1
1Canadian Paediatric Society, Early Years Task Force, Ottawa, Ontario.
Insights
Secure parent-child relationships are vital for children
Area of Science:
- Child development and pediatrics
- Attachment theory and parenting
- Primary care and family medicine
Background:
- Secure attachment with a healthy adult is crucial for a child's coping skills.
- Primary care providers (pediatricians, family physicians) can support parents in clinical settings.
- Clinician visits offer opportunities to assess child-parent relationships and family dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To outline principles for positive parenting in children aged 0-6 years.
- To recommend in-office practices promoting secure parent-child relationships.
- To enhance family engagement and build trust with parents.
Main Methods:
- Focuses on children aged 0 to 6 years.
- Describes basic principles of positive parenting.
- Recommends practical, in-office strategies for clinicians.
Main Results:
- Identifies crying, sleep, and behavioral issues as key discussion points.
- Highlights opportunities for clinicians to offer anticipatory guidance.
- Emphasizes responsive parenting support during encounters.
Conclusions:
- Clinicians play a key role in fostering secure parent-child bonds.
- Integrating parenting support into primary care enhances child development.
- Proactive guidance on common childhood challenges builds stronger families.
Abstract:
A secure attachment relationship with at least one healthy adult is essential for a child to develop optimal coping abilities. Primary care providers like paediatricians and family physicians can help by supporting parents in practice settings. Every clinician encounter is an opportunity to ask parents about children's relationships and their behaviour, daily routines, and overall family function. This statement, which focuses on children aged 0 to 6 years, describes basic principles in support of positive parenting and recommends in-office practices to promote secure parent-child relationships, engage families and build trust with parents. Crying, sleep, and difficult behaviours are described as opportunities for clinicians to provide anticipatory, responsive guidance to parents.
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