What to expect from your child? New parents don't really know
Friday, May 9, 2008 - 18:59
Nearly one-third of U.S. parents know surprisingly little about typical infant development, and this lack of understanding can rob their babies of much-needed mental stimulation, researchers say.
"But once a baby is born, a surprising number of parents are not only unsure of what to anticipate as their child develops, but are also uncertain of when, how or how much they are to help their babies reach various milestones, such as talking, grabbing, discerning right from wrong, or even potty-training," said Paradis, who presented her findings at Pediatric Academic Society meeting in Honolulu recently.
She and colleagues analyzed parenting know-how based on a sample of U.S. parents representing more than 10,000 9-month-old babies.
These parents completed an 11-question survey designed to see which parents were well prepared and which were not.
Parents who got four or fewer correct answers were considered to have low parenting knowledge.
The researchers then compared these surveys with a videotaped analysis of the same families teaching their child a new task, such as playing with blocks.
They also looked at information provided by the parents about how often they engaged their children in enrichment activities, such as reading books, singing songs or telling stories.
They found that 31.2 per cent of the parents had a low level of knowledge about what to expect from their child, and this was strongly correlated with lower parental education level and income.
"The fact that almost one-third of parents could only answer four out of 11 questions correctly was very surprising to us," Paradis said.
Even when the researchers controlled for factors like the mother's age, education, income and mental state, they still found a significant number of parents with unrealistic expectations about their baby's development.
And that had a negative impact on the parent-child relationship. "Parents who had less knowledge had less quality interaction with their kids," Paradis said.
"But once a baby is born, a surprising number of parents are not only unsure of what to anticipate as their child develops, but are also uncertain of when, how or how much they are to help their babies reach various milestones, such as talking, grabbing, discerning right from wrong, or even potty-training," said Paradis, who presented her findings at Pediatric Academic Society meeting in Honolulu recently.
She and colleagues analyzed parenting know-how based on a sample of U.S. parents representing more than 10,000 9-month-old babies.
These parents completed an 11-question survey designed to see which parents were well prepared and which were not.
Parents who got four or fewer correct answers were considered to have low parenting knowledge.
The researchers then compared these surveys with a videotaped analysis of the same families teaching their child a new task, such as playing with blocks.
They also looked at information provided by the parents about how often they engaged their children in enrichment activities, such as reading books, singing songs or telling stories.
They found that 31.2 per cent of the parents had a low level of knowledge about what to expect from their child, and this was strongly correlated with lower parental education level and income.
"The fact that almost one-third of parents could only answer four out of 11 questions correctly was very surprising to us," Paradis said.
Even when the researchers controlled for factors like the mother's age, education, income and mental state, they still found a significant number of parents with unrealistic expectations about their baby's development.
And that had a negative impact on the parent-child relationship. "Parents who had less knowledge had less quality interaction with their kids," Paradis said.