The International Parenting Survey - UK
It has been said that being a parent is one of the hardest jobs in the world. Every day, we strive to protect and keep our children safe from harm, to teach them about life, and all the while making sure they are healthy and happy. Parents are master jugglers, but even the 'super parents' among us look for support from time to time. Sometimes, we are not sure where to look for support or the support available is not appropriate.
The International Parenting Survey - UK (IPS-UK) is an online survey designed to give parents from the UK their say about these important issues.
We (researchers in the Parenting and Families Research Group at The University of Manchester) are working together with Glasgow Caledonian University to find out more about parents in the UK. Our findings will add to information collected from parents across the globe, including parents in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Germany.
This will be a chance for parents to tell us what support they want and how they want to get it. The IPS-UK gathers vital information from parents on topics such as:
- child behaviours
- confidence in responding to children's needs
- types of challenges that parenting brings
- what type of support parents want and how they want to access this support
Understanding the challenges that parents face, and the support that they want, will give service providers a chance to design support that meets parents' needs.
We need parents who are living in the UK and who have children aged between 2 and 12 years old to give us 20 to 30 minutes of their time to fill in the survey. The more parents that get involved, the more influence this survey will have. We want to hear about parent's views, experiences and the challenges that they face.