Programs for Parents of Infants and Toddlers: Recent Evidence From Randomized Trials My initial thoughts and feelings were:

Infancy is a very important stage in children's development. It is at this stage that children are most receptive to both mental and physical change and they are at greater risk of potentially harmful influences than their older counterparts. Infants also get affected much more by parental disruptions than older kids. It has been shown that parent-child interactions during the early stages are great predictors of several late and early developmental outcomes. Lending parents support in coming up and implementing good parenting skills can lead to great child development (Pontoppidan, Klest & Sandov, 2016). Since the child is most malleable during infancy, experiences at this stage shape the child's behavior, wellbeing and brain development and so the effects can last for the entire life of the infant. Parenting interventions given to newborn parents help support parents as they give responsive and sensitive care to newborns, and so ensure healthy infants (Pontoppidan, 2015).

Input from the readings have altered my perceptions in the following ways:

There is controversy as to the influence of parenting in a child's functioning given their shared genetic profiles and the possibility of children evoking different behavior patterns from the parents. Is the behavior because of the genetic profiles or are they caused by the relationship? Despite the controversies, there is growing evidence that parenting and the immediate environment play a significant role in a child's functioning. The extent of such influence is not easy to determine but studies of adoptions have revealed that children who are vulnerable genetically are more likely to record criminality or psychiatric issues on being raised in a dysfunctional family than when raised in a balanced and functioning family (Olds, Sadler, & Kitzman, 2007).

Research indicates that polymorphisms present in genes encoding monoamine...

Such genetic problems only occur where there is extreme and serious stress such as child abuse. It therefore shows that in extreme conditions, the genotype can interact with parenting to influence child outcomes (Olds, Sadler & Kitzman, 2007).
The past few years has seen prevention science come up with sets of standards to develop good interventions that are grounded on sound theory, epidemiology and research so as to identify both risk as well as protective factors. This process has resulted in highly effective interventions being developed for both children and adolescents that have consistently met high evidentiary standards and that have met the threshold to receive public funding (Olds, Sadler & Kitzman, 2007).

A lot of attention has been given to issues concerning implementation of programs developed in intervention research. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) proposes that preventive interventions be subject to pre-trial intervention development stages as well as formative research to raise the chances of success. These efforts include using epidemiologic data to identify those putative mediators contributing to the targeted outcomes, and using strategies informed by sound theory and empirical research to change mediators, and carefully pre-test and pilot interventions (Olds, Sadler & Kitzman, 2007).

Several studies have consistently shown that there is a relationship between early parental care features and child intellectual, emotional and behavioral outcomes. Responsive and sensitive care should be given to a child if he/she is to grow healthily. Children who receive better care record better emotional adjustment in adult life. These studies are in line with an evolutionary view on the relationship between parent and child which tries to emphasize…