Julie Morgan MS, Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services
This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government
The Parenting. Give it Time campaign is designed to support parents. It focuses on positive parenting and early intervention for families with children under seven and provides parenting tips, information and advice about common parenting concerns and signposts to sources of further support.
The Covid 19 pandemic has created new pressures and challenges for parents in Wales, including spending more time at home; the pressures of home schooling, often while working; working from home and caring for children at the same time, together with the risk of anxiety and isolation.
Parenting. Give it Time needed to adapt to provide the information and advice parents need now, in light of these challenges, together with our focus on providing the support parents need about alternatives to physical punishment, as we prepare for the change in the law in March 2022 to end the physical punishment of children.
From May, Parenting. Give it Time started to focus its advice under four new themes – Managing Behaviour; Give it Time; Wellbeing and Challenges. The umbrella name for the campaign was Stay Safe. Stay Positive. New information resources were developed with experts in the parenting field, including top tips for parents of young children and help with separation anxiety as children returned to childcare and school after the extended period many of them spent at home. We also provided funding to make sure a well-established parenting support bilingual helpline was available.
Today, I am launching our new Parenting. Give it Time campaign, which is built on the success of a thematic approach to parenting messages and will direct parents to resources, information and support under three themes – Children’s behaviour; Give them Time and Supporting You.
Our research tells us parents have been looking for advice during the pandemic about managing children’s behaviour during these extraordinary times. The first of the three themes covers advice to help parents understand and respond positively to children’s behaviour.
The second theme – Give Them Time – underlines how effective the simple strategy of giving time to your child can be; and the third, Supporting You concentrates on, and signposts to, other types of support that parents find useful.
The Parenting. Give it Time website has also been re-designed to reflect the new approach.
We will continue to develop our resources over the coming weeks and months.
I am pleased to announce the launch of this new campaign, which will run until the end of March 2021.