Parenting Infants and Toddlers

The report looks at the influences that shape how parents raise their young children. A national parent survey of 1,615 parents of children under 3 years sought to identify what support sources parents of young children turn to and how much parents understand their child’s development.

Survey results, released in May 2010 by the research and advocacy organization ZERO TO THREE, indicate that gaps exist in knowledge about early development. Despite research that shows infants as young as six months can experience emotions such as fear and sadness, 69 percent of survey respondents said that social-emotional development occurs later in childhood. Additionally, 43 percent of parents believe children can control their emotions by the time they reach 3 years and have the capacity to defer a tantrum by asking for help when frustrated. Twenty percent of parents expect this by age 2, whereas the ability to exercise self-control develops between the age of 3 and 5 years.

The report also finds that 41 percent rely on faith or religious backgrounds when developing an approach to childrearing. Parents’ own upbringings also provide a powerful influence; 53 percent of parents said that the way their parents raised them played a major role in their own parenting. Forty-seven percent of parents reported regularly asking their mother or mother-in-law for information about child development and parenting.

Read the report.