Watching TV really could help your parenting
July 2006Phase two of The Great Parenting Experiment, which aims to find out whether watching ‘positive parenting’ TV shows can help address problems like child aggression and tantrums, is being launched by clinical psychologist Dr Rachel Calam this week.
The ITV1 series 'Driving Mum and Dad Mad' returns on Monday 17 July, and will follow a new set of families as they try out the ‘Triple P’ parenting programme. This was devised by Professor Matt Sanders from The University of Queensland in Australia, and aims to improve children’s behaviour by rebuilding positive relationships, tackling discipline and setting rules and limits.
Teams from both universities are collaborating on The Great Parenting Experiment which will run alongside the series, wherein parents of three-to-nine-year-old children will be asked to watch the shows and try out its advice for themselves. Funded by the Respect Task Force, the study will test whether, by adopting the ideas suggested, mums and dads can improve their children’s behaviour and reduce their own stress levels.
Dr Calam, of the School of Psychological Sciences, explained: “One group of families will simply be asked to watch the programmes and put into practice what they see, whilst another will be given additional support. Everyone will receive a free self-help workbook at some point during the study.
“Parents will be asked to fill in questionnaires about their child’s behaviour, how well they are dealing with parenting and how they are feeling, before and after watching the series and again a few months later.
“The information we gather will help us understand more about how helpful positive parenting TV is to parents and children. We hope that the parents will find that their child’s behaviour improves and any emotional problems are addressed, and that their own levels of depression, anxiety and stress will be reduced.”
The team is looking for 1000 families from across the UK to take part in the study. Parents interested in finding out more should visit the Great Parenting Experiment website.
