Parent education

Parent education, instruction in childrearing. Informal instruction from relatives and friends has always been available, but formal parent education began in the United States in the late 1800s. Such formal education has been important in helping people deal with nontraditional family structure, divorce, and child abuse. Federal government programs involving parent education have included the Children's Bureau (est. 1912) and Head Start, a project established in 1964 to help low-income preschoolers.