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Resources on Parenting

The quality of the relationship that parents have with their children is critical to children’s well-being throughout their lives. Both parents and children contribute to the quality of the relationship. The research shows us that when parents experience more stress in their lives through financial problems, living in poor neighbourhoods, suffering because of mental health problems or marital conflict, it is harder for them to develop a good quality relationship with their children. But the research also shows us that the quality of the relationship is not all down to parents. Characteristics of children make it a lot harder for parents to develop that good relationship. When children cry and whine a lot, or get angry when very little has gone wrong, a parent’s job in building that relationship is much more challenging. Other aspects of children, such as their age, their ability to communicate and their birth order also make the parent’s job easier or harder.

ON: Understanding & Mitigating the Impact of Homelessness on Young Children (pdf)
Project Leads: The Child Welfare Institute, Children’s Aid Society of Toronto; From 3 to 3; The Atkinson Centre, April 25, 2013

Description: "Youth homelessness is a growing epidemic in Canada. It is estimated that of the 150,000 homeless individuals in Canada, roughly 65,000 are young people. Interestingly youth homelessness appears to be an intergenerational phenomenon where a large majority of youth experiencing homelessness report growing up in families who had difficulties maintaining housing. Evidently, the heightened risk for homelessness in youth may be exacerbated by early life experiences, such as parental homelessness."

Research Bulletin: Playing Favorites is Bad for Child Health (pdf)

Excerpt: "In a study recently published in Social Sciences and Medicine, PhD student Dillon Browne and psychologist Jennifer Jenkins sought to determine if being a disfavored sibling can have negative consequences in terms of general health. Browne and Jenkins followed 501 families over a period of 18 months as part of an investigation called the Kids, Families, Places Study, led by Dr. Jenkins at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Kids were an average of 2 years old at the initial assessment and approximately half were female. Browne and Jenkins observed that disfavored kids had poorer mother-reported health 18 months later, after adjusting for their initial health status. However, this pattern was only observed in homes where mothers had low levels of education."

Research Bulletin: Playing Favorites is Bad for Everyone (pdf)

Excerpt: "In a study recently published in the journal of Developmental Psychology, psychologist Jean-Christophe Meunier and his colleagues at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education tested to see if playing favorites, as a family style, has negative consequences for all children in the family, rather than just the disfavored child."

Research Bulletin: Siblings Teaching Siblings (pdf)

Excerpt: "Research demonstrates that young children teach one another, showing individual differences in the amount of teaching they do and the strategies they use. There is a special teacher-learner relationship among siblings, in particular. Younger children are more likely to solicit teaching from their older siblings as opposed to older peers. Similarly, older siblings are more likely to provide explanations and feedback than are older peers. This is not surprising, given siblings’ high levels of intimacy and familiarity. We developed a measure to capture teaching between siblings when the youngest child was age 3 and their older sibling between 4-8 years old..."

Research Bulletin: Genes, Experience and Parenting Behaviour (pdf)

Excerpt: "In a recent study, Dr. Rossana Bisceglia and her colleagues wanted to see what factors affected mothers' ability to provide sensitive care to their children. The hypothesis was that both biological and environmental variables would impact mothers’ sensitivity, and that certain combinations of factors would be more detrimental to parenting than others."

Looking Through Your Baby's Eyes (pdf)

Excerpt: "It's 5pm, you just ran around all day doing groceries, taking your kids to play dates, making meals, and feeding your baby. Just as you sit down to rest, your newborn awakes from her nap and starts crying. You’re groggy and exhausted, but you don't think twice about picking up your baby and comforting her – most parents would. However, there is more to sensitive parenting than simply responding to your baby’s cries. Researchers have found that responding appropriately to a baby's signals is the key to forming a strong parent-child bond. This kind of relationship affects how children develop emotionally and cognitively throughout their lives."

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