Why parent education program?

Persuasive goal:

Adoption: I want the audience to think about taking parent education program before they become parents.

Specific proposition:

Policy: Parents should take parental courses before they have children.

Taking parental courses can benefit not only parents but also children.

Audience’s current opinion:

Neutral: Some people think parents should take parental courses while some don’t think so.

Introduction: (example 1, pathos and ethos) When talking about children, what do you commonly think of? Well, if you asked me half a year ago, I would throw out various adjectives like cute, energetic, enthusiastic, and so on. However, now I’ve changed. Last summer vacation, one of my cousins came to visit my family, together with her two-year-old son, my nephew. He is a pretty boy with extraordinary big eyes and long black eyelashes, and when he stared at you wishfully, you will never wish to reject any of his wishes. Even though people always say we shouldn’t judge by appearance, I couldn’t help holding him up and kissed him as soon as I saw him. At that time, he was the loveliest creature in the world until we went to take a nap. I had no idea that he didn’t feel asleep at all and got up secretly after my parents and my cousin went shopping. In just two hours, he broke into my study room and destroyed all my collection of Japanese animation figures. He tore down their heads, dismembered them, and then threw them away. The moment when I found him, he was surrounded by corpses, with my favorite comic book in his hand. He cocked his head and just smiled at me, like an angel proclaiming the end of the world. I was so shocked that I couldn’t even speak a word. But the worse thing happened when his mother, my cousin, arrived at home. The only comment she made after hearing the disaster had only four words: “Oh, you naughty boy.” She didn’t say sorry, not even express that emotion. When I asked her to compensate for the damage, she was even more astonished than me: “They are just toys! How can you be so stingy?!” I wanted to argue more but my parents wouldn’t let me do so. She walked away easily. It’s impossible for me to say that I don’t blame my nephew for what he did, but I did attribute his naughtiness to his mother for she lacked the ability and awareness to educate her child.

Home

Preview statement: Today I like to speak about the necessity for parents, especially parents with their first child, to receive parent education as well as the reasons for taking such courses. To illustrate the points, I’m going to divide the issue into two parts: first, what is parent education; second, why should parents take parent education.

Transition: If you look around in your life in China, perhaps you will notice that many of our next generation are actually raised by their grandparents instead of their parents. Certainly one of the reasons is because they have no time to take care of them, but the deficiency of parenting knowledge and skill also has something to do with the situation. In China, parent education is a brand-new concept that worth our attention for the well-being of our offspring.

1. Main Point 1: (logos) Parent education programs contain mainly three categories.
   1. Sub-point 1: (evidence 1&2, ethos) The authors of the academic paper Facilitators and Barriers to Engagement in Parenting Programs: A Qualitative Systematic Review point out in the article that “Parenting programs are short-term interventions to promote changes in the behavior of parents that result in improved relationships with their children and changes in child behavior” (Julie Mytton, Jenny Ingram, Sarah Manns, James Thomas 127-137) and aim at “activat[ing] the strengths, competence, and possibilities for change that exist in parents and in the social context,” according to Professor Ching-Man Lam from Chinese University of Hong Kong, in order to enable parents to take good care of their children (Lam 147-168).
   2. Sub-point 2: Roughly, there are three types of parent education program as the child grows.
      1. Programs that get parents prepared for the new birth.
      2. Programs that aim at parents with toddlers and young children
      3. Programs that cover common issue with teenagers.