Porpavai Kasiannan Okay, so we’ve looked at all  those principles of parenting influence and the   factors that influence parenting infants, but  there are also challenges. And I will not be   going into great details on these challenges  because that is beyond the scope of this   presentation, but just touch upon some of those  challenges that parents face yeah, currently. One is social media. You know, the advent of  social media and the infiltration of social media   into everyone’s life and including  infant’s lives, has been a challenge.   And there is a lot of research going  on about appropriateness of exposing   children to say YouTube or, you know, videos  and shorts and things like that just to keep   them entertained and distracted and how  that impacts their brain development and   emotional and social and behavioural  regulation skills, and so on and so forth. So, the American Academy of Paediatrics’  recommendation is no screen for infants   unless – other than communicating with  extended family members through video chat,   but otherwise, they recommend  no screentime for infants. Then there are parenting challenges that are  associated with children with developmental   disorders. So, most of these principles and most  of the parenting, sort of, strategies may not work   with children who have developmental disorders,  such as intellectual disability or autism spectrum   disorders or ADHD, and so on. So, they might  have some special some – support and skills. And medical issues, you know,  children with medical issues have   a lot of other challenges. You know,  there can be attachment difficulties,   there can be grief and loss from the parent’s  point of view of not having a healthy child,   and anxiety about getting accurate diagnosis,  and the problems in communication with Doctors   about their – and especially when the babies  don’t have a voice. They cannot tell us what   is wrong with them or what is bothering them, it  makes it even more anxiety-provoking for parents. And we have looked at all the principles,  we have looked at the theories,   how – what are the implications for policy and  practice in parenting, sort of, interventions?   Countries around the world, the – most of  the world have access to this research,   access to – there is so much written, there is  so much publication, there is so much lobbying   by various organisations, and there is even  the World Association for Infant Mental Health,   which is vocal about the needs  of infants and care of infants. Despite all that, countries around the  world are not uniform in how they support   new parents. Apart from these Scandinavian  countries, which includes Finland, Sweden,   Denmark, Norway, and Holl – and also Netherlands,  where they have excellent support for new parents   in the form of paid parental leave, you know,  up to two years in some cases, minimum one year,   and a provision of free childcare when pare  – if parents have to return back to work   from – and other, sort of, paternity, paternal  leave and, you know, carers leave and so on. They – so they, kind of – there is – you  know, if you look at the more, sort of,   advanced countries, other advanced countries  in the world, for example, in America,   paid maternity leave is not always guaranteed.  I mean, you are allowed 12 weeks of leave   or something like that, where – which I  read somewhere, but it is not necessarily   guaranteed that you will be paid for that  period. So, that puts enormous pressure on   parents of – you know, new parents in terms of  having to go back to work and not having enough   time to care for their infants and relying  on, you know, the extended family members or   daycare centres and so on, which all have, sort  of, nuanced influences on infant development. So, all these things are very important  in terms of policies around the world.   And there are various parenting programmes  that are available for parents of infants and   particularly for the vulnerable groups,  you know, single parents, teen parents,   you know, where there is a history of  involvement of child protection agencies or   history of substance use or, you know,  abuse and trauma, and so on and so forth. There is varying levels of evidence of efficacy  for these programmes, and I’ll just mention a   few of the programmes that are available. Some of  them are well-studied, such as Circle of Security,   and some are very new, Baby Triple P, Baby Triple  P is Baby Positive Parenting Programme. which is   currently being evaluated and studied, and some  have some evidence – not robust evidence. So,   some of these are incredible, yes, baby  programme, Baby Triple P, parent-infant   psychotherapy, video interaction guide, video  feedback intervention to promote parenting,   Attachment and Biobehavioural Catch-up. This is – there is one study, though,  that looked at this parenting programme,   which is a ten-session home visitation programme,  which actually has – shows some benefit both for   parents and for the children. So – and there  are many more that are not in this list,   but are available, you know, for  helping parents with infants,   and most of them had their theoretical  underpinnings in attachment or many of   the sort of theories that we talked about,  like, social learning theory, and so on. Okay. That, sort of, brings us to the end of  the presentation. I will just finish with a   few concluding remarks and summarise  what we have discussed so far. So,   infancy is an intensely fascinating and  appealing topic for many professionals,   many disciplines. The developmental challenges  that take place in individuals during the first   two and a half years after conception,  the prenatal, and the infancy periods,   are more traumatic and thorough than  any other periods in their lifespan. The body, the mind, and the ability  to function meaningfully in the world,   all emerge and flourish with vigour  during this period. That dynamism,   in turn, engages the world and vice versa, as  infants do not grow and develop in a vacuum. So,   it is always a mutually responsive process  between the infant and the environment. Every facet of creation infants touch as they grow  and develop, influences infants in return. These   reciprocal relations in infancy makes parenting  the most important role in their development.   The act of parenting provides a  lot of joy, and at the same time,   poses many challenges to parents. There is  strong and popular belief that parenting   in infancy has lifelong implications  in the development of personality and   coping skills, especially in the context  of consistent parenting during infancy.   However, although there is lifelong implications,  we also know that human behaviour is quite   malleable, and plasticity remains a feature  of adaptation in infancy and long after. Biology, personality, beliefs and  intuitions, aspects of economic,   social, and cultural circumstances, and  quality of intimate relationships all   play important roles in determining  the nature of parenting infants. By   virtue of their temperament and quality and  contingency of their own responsiveness,   infants have a major impact on how parents’ parent  and how parents perceive themselves as parents. Infancy is a distinctive period, a major  transition, and a formative phase in human   development. “Neoteny,” which may – which is a  term for prolongation of infancy, is especially   characteristics or characteristic of human  beings. It is thought to have a special adaptive   significance as it allows for enhanced parental  influence and prolonged learning. Understanding   principles of parenting infants is crucial in  fostering the best outcomes for all infants   and parents, and for developing policies that  support parents’ and infants’ mel – wellbeing. Thank you for listening.