Failure to reach one's potential for growth -is caused by chronic malnutrition and repeated illness during childhood. It reflects the cumulative effects of chronic malnutrition during the 1,000 first days of life, and is also associated with lack of education, poverty, less healthy, and more vulnerability to noncommunicable diseases and is indicative of a poor quality of life that negatively affects the nation's human resources. Globally, Indonesia ranks fifth in terms of stunting. According to the 2014 Global Nutrition Report (based on data from 117 countries), Indonesia is one of the 17 countries with three major malnutrition problems: stunting, wasting and obesity.

Stunting is a public health problem experienced by children globally. These problems have various causes, and have long-term effects. Children who are stunted, views of parents who have stunted children, and programs to prevent stunting. Based on the literature, this article aims to describe the risk factors for stunting and the parent's roles in stunting prevention. The results of this study indicate that parents play a major role in children's health, especially related to nutrition so that it can reduce the incidence of stunting. Therefore, it is necessary to empower parents to improve the nutrition of their children.