‘Parents need to become independent problem solvers’: a critical reading of the current parenting culture through the case of Triple P

Professional pedagogies of parenting that build resilience through partnership with families at-risk: a cultural-historical approach

“…Thus we argue such processes are not constructing idealised notions of parents who cope without the need for help or intervention. Parenting culture that asserts that 'good' parents are those that become 'independent problem solvers' has been contested as geared towards state cost savings (Ramaekers and Vandezande 2013). This is echoed in Dahlsted and Feje's (2014) critique of the ways in which parents become constituted as subjects who (must) 'become their own coaches'.…”

“…State-sponsored parenting programs can reproduce notions of good and bad parenting that are classed and gendered, and may (inadvertently) reinforce a sense of failure and blame in parents who fail to conform to particular socially prescribed notions of success (Widding 2015). Ramaekers and Vandezande (2013) echo Dahlstedt and Fejes (2014) in showing how parenting programs can present a problematic idealised construct of parent as independent problem solver, while professionalised discourses of parenting can marginalise or alienate parents (Ramaekers and Suissa 2011). Counselling and psychotherapeutic literature addresses questions of parenting support from a different theoretical basis, often around notions of parent-child attachment (eg.…”

The Good Parent: Southern Italian Mothers’ Conceptualization of Good Parenting and Parent–Child Relationships

“…The concept of good parenting was introduced by Winnicott (1957Winnicott ( , 1964 in his discussion of the term good enough parent to promote the idea that perfectionism is unattainable and unrealistic and should not be the basis on which a parent is judged. In fact, imperfect parenting can be sufficient for raising children to be functioning adults through a variety of parenting methods (Ramaekers, Leuven, & Vandezande, 2012). Budd and Holdswoth (1996) used an alternative term, minimal parenting competence, and underscored the lack of agreement on what constitutes minimal parenting competence or "good enough" parenting.…”

Educational parenting programmes – examining the critique of a global, regional and national policy choice

“…There have been more focused critiques of parenting programmes themselves, attempting to address parenting education in terms of its effectiveness. These critiques are fewer in number than policy-focused work, and are still, typically, presented within the context of the primary critique of policy (Lucas, 2011;Ramaekers & Vandezande, 2013;Cottam & Espie, 2014;Wainwright & Marandet, 2013). The over-arching policy critique highlights the imperatives of neo-liberalism; the 'New Economy'; the privileging of the parenting norms of a fraction of the middle-class, with a particular focus on 'mothering'; a deficit model of working-class parenting; an attempt to resocialise the working-class; the belief that parenting is a 'context-free' skill that can be both taught and learnt through the use of parenting education informed by experts; and that parenting 'support' policies can be used as an important tool to roll-back welfarism and, 'shape the social context in which future citizen-workers are raised through the provision of parenting education and support', (Holloway and Pimlott-Wilson, 2014, 95).…”

“…The critique is not only characterised by the narrowness of its national focus, but also by failures to identify exactly what parenting education, training, and courses are being subjected to the critique. There are exceptions, but where specific programmes are examined it is within the overarching critique of policy (Lucas, 2011;Ramaekers & Vandezande, 2013;Cottam & Espie, 2014;Wainwright & Marandet, 2013). Typically parenting education, and parenting programmes are referred to in a generic fashion, without any engagement with individual programmes (for example, Holloway & Pimlott-Wilson, 2014;Wainwright & Marandet, 2013;Gillies, 2005b;Gewirtz, 2001).…”