Parent Training Today:
A Social Necessity
Many of America's most pressing and depressing problems can
be traced back to breakdowns in the family and in child/parent
relationships. The comprehensive book, Parent Training Today,
clarifies the role that contemporary parent training programs play in
solving these problems. Child abuse, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency,
school failure, crime and urban unrest all have their roots in the
disintegration of the family unit.
Authored by noted clinical child psychologist and nationally
and internationally recognized authority on parent training, Dr. Kerby T. Alvy, Parent
Training Today spells out how effective parent training programs can
be in stemming these social evils.
Parent Training Today also offers guidelines for how
various segments of our society - the media, churches, schools, businesses
and government - can work together to provide parents with the kinds of
training that are necessary for survival and achievement in the 1990s and
beyond. It is a call to action, a plan for comprehensive action, and the
most authoritative book ever written on parent training.
Parent Training Today deals effectively and
authoritatively with the following issues:
| The rapidly changing family contexts in which
America's children are being raised |
Modern parent training programs that teach effective
parenting |
| The numerous responsibilities and challenges of
contemporary parents |
Cultural adaptations of effective parent training
programs |
| What propels children and parents to behave the way
they do |
The multiple benefits of parent training programs for parents,
children, families and entire communities |
| What is known scientifically about effective
parenting |
Training and supporting parenting instructors
|
Book review in Contemporary Psychology
by Bonnie Winslow-Garvin, University of Iowa
|
In this comprehensive look at the state of parent
training today, Alvy makes a persuasive argument for bolstering our
parent training resources. The book is laid out in an organized
fashion, with Part 1 addressing the importance of parent training
and developments in the parent training field. The author stresses
that parent training is necessary because many of the problems that
plague our communities can be traced back to difficulties in the
family and parent-child relationships. He also discusses the changes
in family lifestyles and parental workforce trends in the last 30
years and the importance of early environmental experiences in a
child's growth and development.
Part 2 includes a discussion of basic background
information, highlighting general parental functions and
responsibilities. Research-based models of effective parenting and
skills that will be needed to enter the workforce in the year 2000
are included in Part 3. This section ends with a list of the 10
parental qualities that make up a model of an effective modern
parent.
Part 4, the largest in the book, contains a
description of the three original parent training programs: Parent
Effectiveness Training, Systematic Training for Effective Parenting
and Confident Parenting. Revisions of these programs, a comparison
of the programs, and several other more recent parent training
programs are discussed. The Center for the Improvement of Child
Caring has attempted to develop culturally adapted parenting
programs. After 10 years of research, they created the Effective
Black Parenting and Los Niņos Bien Educados programs.
Important research data about the effectiveness of
parent training is included in Part 5. The author points out that it
is difficult to do outcome research on parent training because there
are so many factors, such as the competence of the instructor, that
impinge on the effectiveness of the training. However, research does
show that, in general, parent training programs effect at least a
short-term positive change.
The book ends on an optimistic but challenging note
with the author describing his "blueprint for a safer and better
America" (p. 355). Parent Training Today is a compendium of
information on the topic of parent training. It is well worth
reading for any of its components: history, research, or visions of
a brighter tomorrow through parent
training. | |
![[ Parent Training Today book cover ]](parent-training-today_files/parent-training-today-large.jpeg)