BALTIMORE – Parents who take behavior seminars for dealing with their children, such as one known as Child-Adult Relationship Enhancement (CARE), can significantly improve a child’s behavior and the parent/child relationship while reducing dependence on corporal punishment as a disciplinary tool.
“[CARE] is a group-based parenting program that involves parents coming into six sessions over 6 weeks, and each session is facilitated by two mental health therapists [who] teach parents different positive parenting skills,” explained Dr. Samantha Schilling of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, adding that parents are taught how to “increase or reinforce positive behaviors [through] different techniques, such as what we call the three Ps: praising, paraphrasing, and pointing out good child behavior.”
In an interview at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, Dr. Schilling discussed the importance of implementing CARE programs and, more specifically, colocating such programs in primary care practices.
Dr. Schilling did not report any relevant financial disclosures.