KIPS Blog: Parenting Assessment in Practice & Research
Assessing Parenting Helped Me Improve My Own Parenting
Posted by Phil Gordon on Wed, Apr 24, 2013 @ 05:06 PM
Tags: Parenting Assessment, parent-child interaction, parenting scale, strength-based, helping parents, assessing parenting, engagement-parent, family, community
Assessing How Parents Promote Curiosity to Build a Fulfilling Life
Posted by Phil Gordon on Mon, Jan 21, 2013 @ 01:06 PM
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.
Tags: parenting outcomes, parenting behavior, Parenting Assessment, parenting scale, exploration, character development
Parenting Assessment Feedback That Works: Step 1 Self Evaluation
Posted by Phil Gordon on Tue, Sep 11, 2012 @ 07:56 AM
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.
Tags: parenting feedback, parenting outcomes, Parenting Assessment, parenting evidence, parenting scale, strength-based