The most important role that most Americans will have in their lives is one for which most are unprepared. Few schools teach basic elements of child development, positive behavioral management, or effective parenting skills, yet everyone who becomes a parent is expected to understand the elements of good parenting.
The President should take a leadership role in promoting and developing a freely available and widely disseminated array of materials and programs to encourage and support good parenting practices, positive family interactions, and research supported methods of improving the family environment to protect and nurture the well being and healthy development of our nation's most precious resources -- its children and youth.