The Science of Parenting is an 8-session parent education course that provides parents, parents to be, and those who work with children and families a general understanding of child behavior and positive child guidance strategies. Participants will learn effective, developmentally appropriate, attachment-based strategies for communicating and interacting with children and for guiding children’s behavior. The child guidance skills are relevant for all ages of children and teens. In addition to learning how to manage challenging situations with children and teens, participants will also learn about what children need to grow up happy and healthy, including ways to support children’s brain development, thinking skills, language/reading skills, and social and emotional development. The parenting curriculum is based on the most current research on child development, which has as its centerpiece the critical importance of warm, sensitively-at-tuned, responsive caregiving for the optimal development and well being of children (i.e., attachment security). The curriculum also incorporates the latest research on early brain development, which emphasizes the importance of early parental sensitivity (e.g., Cozolino, 2005; Siegel, 2006).
