KIPS Blog: Parenting Assessment in Practice & Research

I have to admit that the  Keys to Interactive Parenting Scale (KIPS)  has become a bit of a passion of mine. As an Early Childhood Professional and a mother of two young bo ys, I have become a fierce advocate for quality interactions between parents and children.  As a KIPS coder, I find it easy to empathize with parents as I assess parenting.  We all want our children to do their best, especially when they are on camera!  Once the camera turns on, it is natural to want our children to be on their best behavior or to share all of the brilliant things they can do during the 20 minutes of the assessment.  One of the beauties of KIPS is that for once we have an assessment where the scores are not based on how well the child performs…but they are based on the parent.  Focusing on parent behavior is important, because it is through parenting that we can best impact our children.

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Tags: Parenting Assessment, parent-child interaction, parenting scale, strength-based, helping parents, assessing parenting, engagement-parent, family, community

Recently, I was talking with a couple of service providers taking the online Keys to Interactive Parenting Course (KIPS).  They both found learning the parenting assessment’s item on promoting exploration and curiosity particularly challenging.  This item was a late addition in the development of the parenting assessment, and the psychometrics showed that it complemented the other 11 KIPS items.  Long after KIPS was finalized, we came upon the work of Todd Kashdan at George Mason University, which further reinforced the importance of including this item in assessing parenting.  My thinking about exploration and curiosity has been deeply influenced by Kashdan’s book entitled: Curious: Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life (2009, Harper Collins).  Kashdan argues that curiosity is among the most valuable of traits, because if one is curious, then one has the ability to learn and adapt.  He further states, “Children are born with boundless curiosity.” (p.7). It is our upbringing, schooling and society that constrain this birthright.  He also stresses that play provides a safe opportunity to explore.  This reinforces the use of play as the focus of the KIPS structured parent-child observation. 

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Tags: parenting outcomes, parenting behavior, Parenting Assessment, parenting scale, exploration, character development

Why the KIPS Cradle?

Our May survey of KIPS users, reported in the August KIPS TIPS issue, revealed interest in a blog about KIPS use. So due to popular demand, here is the first post to the KIPS Cradle.

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Tags: parenting feedback, parenting outcomes, Parenting Assessment, parenting evidence, parenting scale, strength-based