Lessons from Parenting Programs in Early Childhood

Parenting programs are early childhood interventions focused on engaging parents to provide in-home stimulation to infants and toddlers with the hope of improving young children’s cognitive and motor development, social emotional skills, and overall wellness as they grow. These programs teach parents techniques to stimulate their children’s brain and body development through talk, play, and frequent high-quality interactions. Parenting programs are often combined with other public health programs, specifically programs focused on providing nutritional supplementation. There is evidence that parenting programs, when implemented at a small scale by researchers and non-government organizations, can have a significant impact on children’s cognitive and social-emotional development outcomes, as well as on their future education and earnings. This brief reviews evidence from the SIEF portfolio to assess whether these successes be replicated at scale in low- and middle-income countries.