A PARENT ADVICE PACKAGE FOR FAMILY SHOPPING TRIPS: DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION¹

Abstract

THIS ARTICLE REPORTS ON THE PRIMARY STEPS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF PARENT ADVICE FOR POPULAR DISSEMINATION: (a) developing advice for one specific problem situation, family shopping trips; (b) testing the advice program for benefit to children and convenience to adults; and (c) packaging the advice so it can be used successfully by interested parents. Systematic observation of 12 families using the written advice package on shopping trips revealed its effectiveness in reducing child disruptions and increasing positive interactions between parents and children. These findings, along with interview information from families, showed that the package is usable, effective, and popular with both parents and children, and thus is ready for dissemination to a wide audience of parents-a step that in itself should involve research and evaluation.

Reducing Preschoolers’ Disruptive Behavior in Public with a Brief Parent Discussion Group

“…At the same time, many parents report that shopping trips with their children are an exhausting and stressful experience, and that the supermarket is a setting in which disruptive behaviors are common [15]. Problem behaviors such as product disturbance, demanding and wandering around are common for both non-problem and behaviorally disturbed children [16,17]. An earlier study by Sanders and Hunter [18] sought the views of 100 parents on the nature of difficulties parents experience with children on trips to the supermarket.…”

Community‐based prevention using simple, low‐cost, evidence‐based kernels and behavior vaccines

“…Grocery stores are places where parent-child behavior deteriorates. It turns out that simple advice packages, distributed to parents, observably changed parent-child interactions for the better while shopping~e.g., Clark, Greene, Macrae, McNees, Davis, & Risley, 1977;Ergon-Rowe, Ichinose, & Clark, 1991!. In studies of preschoolers, my co-workers and I have been able to change parent-hild behavior while shopping using specially designed shopping bags, distributed in the store, that have sticker charts for the child.…”

Turning the Table on Advice Programs for Parents: Using Placemats to Enhance Family Interaction at Restaurants

“…First, social and educational comments of a noncollective nature (i.e., exclusively between parents or a parent and a child) occurred to a lesser degree during Table-Tradi- Table-No-ma-Tradi- Table-No-ma-Tradi- It is uncertain how these findings may be limited by reactive effects, which are potentially problematic in most studies of family interactions. As in previous studies (Bauman et al, 1983;Clark et al, 1977), families in this study were aware of being videotaped/observed. It is not dear whether any of them behaved differently than he or she ordinarily would have.…”

“…In a study illustrative of this approach, Clark, Greene, Macrae, McNees, Davis, and Risley (1977) We thank Jim Middleton, Jim Renshaw, and the numerous cooperative restaurant personnel; Lin Muldoon and her fine staff of the Child Development Lab; the helpful teachers, staff, and students of Carbondale New School; the Lutzker and Seibel families; artist Charlotte Easton; the families who participated in this study; and the graduate assistants who made it possible.…”