TO CARE about the wellbeing of infants and children “we must care about the parents even more”, an international expert in child psychology has said.
Prof Angeles Cerezo, chair of psychology at the University of Valencia, Spain, was speaking at a conference in Ballymun, Dublin, yesterday on infant mental health.
“Accompanying parents down the first years of their child’s development is crucial to that child’s outcomes into adulthood. The biggest social challenge we have is to get every child off to a strong, balanced start.”
Intensive supports for parents should be part of any strategy to achieve this, she said at the A Child Is Born conference, hosted by community group Young Ballymun.
Prof Cerezo outlined the benefits of a support service, pioneered in Spain and replicated in Tallaght since 2001. In place in Ballymun since last year, it offers rigorous support to the parents of every baby born in the area, from pre-birth until the children turn three.
She said parenting was affected by tiredness, lack of support and stress. Children generally only did well when their parents were doing well.
Dr Stuart Shanker, research professor of philosophy and psychology at the University of York, Canada, said some children who seemed “mentally well” could be said to be not mentally healthy.
“It is often difficult to identify why a child who does not have a diagnosable disorder is nonetheless having trouble in a certain environment, such as school. It can take a couple of months to understand what is involved in such cases,” he said.
