Parenting practices have a major influence on child development and behaviour. Many new parents are motivated to develop and improve their parenting skills so that they can give their children the best possible start in life. Families Coping: Effective Strategies for You and Your Child, a new book published by ACER Press, aims to teach parents how to raise resilient and resourceful children who are able to effectively negotiate relationships with parents, siblings, peers and teachers. The book can be used as a self-help manual for parents or as an instructor-led parenting program. It brings together two theoretical frameworks, a skills-based humanistic positive parenting approach and the transactional model of stress and coping, and emphasises that positive parent-child interactions are an essential component of successful parenting. The attention given to enhancing the quality of the parent-child relationship is part of a burgeoning trend in parenting programs and is well supported by research evidence. In their meta-analytic review of 77 evaluations of parent training programs, Wyatt Kaminski, Valle, Filene, and Boyle (Reference Wyatt Kaminski, Valle, Filene and Boyle2008) found that programs that focused on providing parents with the skills to improve the parent-child relationship were more effective. Families Coping: Effective Strategies for You and Your Child provides a clear picture of what positive parent-child interactions look like in practice and highlights how these interactions will benefit families during the childhood years and beyond.
The book addresses parents of young children aged between 4 and 8. It covers topics such as the positive psychology of parenting, coping with stress in the family, everyday worries and anxieties of children, listening to children, collaborative problem-solving, and mindfulness-based parenting practices. Given that parental consistency is reliably associated with better outcomes for children, it might be useful to devote more space to this subject in future editions of the text.
The book is written in a friendly and engaging style and is well supported by diagrams and activities for parents. The activities are designed to assist parents to recognise both their own and their children's needs and to develop the core skills of effective communication, including reflective listening skills. One of the main strengths of the book is that it frequently requires parents to practise the skills with their children as they are being learned. The book also promotes thoughtful parenting by encouraging parents to continually reflect on their interactions with their children. The importance of reflective parenting is further reinforced by the concluding message of the book, which is that mindful parenting, or bringing mindful attention directly to parent-child interactions, moment by moment (Sawyer-Cohen & Semple, Reference Sawyer Cohen and Semple2010), can improve parent-child relationships and promote healthy child development.
The book will be an invaluable resource for those who are new to parenting and for those who want a refresher. The book will also provide educational and developmental psychologists with a comprehensive review of the foundational skills of effective parenting within the context of the contemporary positive psychology movement.
