Parents as coaches?

It is not coaching.

And it is definitely not Solution-Focused.

However, the concept of parental guidance put forward by psychologist George W. Holden in his research article Childrearing and Developmental Trajectories: Positive Pathways, Off-ramps, and Dynamic Processes does remind me of coaching.

From Physorg.com:

In his conceptual framework, Holden hypothesizes that parents guide their children’s development in four complex and dynamic ways:

• Parents initiate trajectories, sometimes trying to steer their child in a preferred developmental path based on either the parents’ preferences or their observations of the child’s characteristics and abilities, such as enrolling their child in a class, exposing them to people and places, or taking a child to practices or lessons;

• Parents also sustain their child’s progress along trajectories with encouragement and praise, by providing material assistance such as books, equipment or tutoring, and by allocating time to practice or participate in certain activities;

• Parents mediate trajectories, which influences how their child perceives and understands a trajectory, and help their child steer clear of negative trajectories by preparing the child to deal with potential problems;

• Finally, parents react to child-initiated trajectories.

Tags: coaching, George W. Holden, guidance, parenting