Parenting – an ongoing education

| March 24, 2013

As the education debate continues, Raising Children Network Executive Director, Dr Julie Green, examines the learning curve that is parenthood and the importance of education beyond the classroom.

While children’s learning and education has been prominent in recent public discourse, another important and related population is also worthy of attention – the learning and knowledge needs of parents.

Parenthood is one of the most universal transitions and central milestones in society. The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that every one minute and 46 seconds an Australian becomes a parent to a newborn child. Being a parent is exciting and rewarding. It also comes with different challenges and responsibilities, as well as multiple and competing factors. One constant is the information, guidance and support parents seek to help raise their children.

The learning curve for parents is a steep and an ongoing process. For younger parents, the timing of parenthood might also coincide with interruptions to their education and fewer opportunities to have accumulated informal learning from life experience.

At the Raising Children Network, parents have told us they learn alongside their children’s own learning and development. It’s a journey parents and children are taking together. Now, and even more so in the future, they are relying on technology to find answers to their questions on everyday issues ranging from behaviour, communication, toilet training and sleep.

A change in online audience behaviour indicates parents are looking for real-time advice and bite-sized, digestible information. The prevalence of smartphones is increasingly guiding parents to what they seek. In fact, by 2015 more Australians will spend more time accessing the internet via their smart phones than their PCs.

Parents are motivated to access information and resources for different reasons – to feel ‘normal’, for emotional relief, reassurance, validation, to tap into a network of support. Families are different to each other and children are different within families. So the provision of information to support parents needs to be respectful of the knowledge they bring to being a parent and their ability to make decisions according to their needs and circumstances.

Conveying messages around ‘growing and learning with your child’ subtly reassures parents that they don’t need to know everything about parenting – that it’s okay to learn on the job. It’s sending a signal they can progress and that it’s possible to develop as parents – without putting any pressure on them to do so – or drawing attention to the fact they might have more to learn.

Platforms that provide a psychologically safe environment and connect learning to everyday life are critical to knowledge growth. With the internet as the information vehicle of choice for Australians aged between 20-39, trusted sources of online information provide a safe, non-judgmental place for parents to learn. It’s important to consider multi-channel strategies to create a buzz for parents, and those who work with parents, to connect, learn, and look after their own needs alongside their children.

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