title: Empowering parents to understand and manage children's behaviour.
abstract: While there are many projects successfully targeting the problems associated with the management of unwanted behaviour in children, this article suggests that all parents would benefit from a greater understanding of how to manage such behaviour. Health visitors and their teams are well placed to help parents to understand what is normal behaviour for different ages and developmental stages and empower them to find solutions for unwanted behaviours. However, current financial constraints which allow health visitors to focus only on specific groups mean that they are not able to provide this help as a universal service. Teaching parents to observe their child and record their findings, an approach used by a health visitor-led programme in Wales, provides an opportunity for significant learning to take place. Through such programmes, parents acquire skills that boost their self-esteem and confidence, which in turn empower them to be proactive in the promotion of their family's health and well-being.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boot
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003625:Data Collection; D004282:Documentation; D006266:Health Education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011340:Problem Solving; D012649:Self Concept; D014852:Wales