Child-friendly
Table 2: Dr Chris Holligan

We live in angry times: empathy and kindness often seem in short supply. The eminent child psychologist John Bowlby demonstrated the deep, enduring impact parents have on children so perhaps this intolerant trend illustrates a generational neglect of the needs of children in a 'me-first culture'. The social fabric of the UK is weak and the extended family is absent or under unmanageable pressures. This socio-economic landscape, typically laced with poverty, is known to have pathological effects on the growing child. Support through parenting classes means the state is acting like a good surrogate parent trying to fill the sociological vacuum caused by the forces of modernity. Although lip service has been given to the concept of parenting classes, there is, astonishingly, much ambivalence to the idea. We require a driving licence before we can drive a car, yet we can bring up our children without any guidance at all if we wish. Is this because we believe parenting is genetically programmed? More likely it lies in the mundane cause of a lack of resources for this challenging project.
     Recent research indicates that fewer parents read bedtime stories to their children. Are they too busy or just bored by the idea? Research has also found many children go to sleep 'to' the television. Parents are inclined towards TV as a resource to help them cope. Late night, post-watershed programmes are the new bedtime lullaby. This is a highly undesirable recipe for healthy growth. The benefits of traditional story-time are known to be enormous, in social, emotional and intellectual terms. Parenting classes should nurture pro-social behaviours and respect for diverse values that promote healthy lifestyles, mental and physical.
     Parenting classes should be deeper than mere training, but should involve unpacking the ideas held by the parent of what the child is as a human being. 'Parents-as-partners' is a common mantra found in education circles, but what if parents lack knowledge and understanding of how to socialise their offspring? Many rely upon grandparents for that knowledge. But older generations can be a source for the transmission of prejudice, and may not be ideal guides. Psychologists and educationalists should stop apologising and step forward to share their expertise more confidently.
     The lives of many parents are stressful. Parenting classes could examine anger and stress management, teaching people how to control stress, and preventing a disruptive vibe from damaging the development of their child. Courses in child development, and interesting contexts to converse about children's needs and behaviour are urgently required. The lack of adequate social capital in many neighbourhoods means the community no longer exists to engage supportively with families. Formal interventions are long overdue, but many people see teachers as moral preachers, offering dull sermons on how to live, so the language to describe this education must avoid negative connotations and above all those who run these interventions must not be boring people themselves.
     The doctrine of early intervention and the Sure Start programme incorporate this line of thought, and have proved successful. Could compulsory parenting classes take this thinking a step further? They should be embedded in the deep fabric of educational provision, and made compulsory for all who are now parents and those who may later decide to be parents.
     There are difficulties attached to inculcating not just a set of parenting skills, but a modification of the concepts of childhood and the conditions under which a child will flourish, but those difficulties themselves attest to the deep importance of a parenting class project. For all our sakes we should make it happen.

Chris Holligan is a senior lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland