Responding, Preventing, Monitoring, Mentoring, and Modeling. Five seemingly simple steps in parenting are rarely so simple! The system, known as “RPM3,” is outlined in the Adventures in Parenting series from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Some of our runners are as young as two years old, so many of our athletes’ parents may have faced the same struggles that are examined in the stories! For each important part of parenting, the NICHD provides a story of a parent and their child in a particular situation. For example, for responding, we read about “Caroline and Abby.” Abby is age 1 1/2 and spends most of her day at daycare. Caroline does a great job of responding to Abby while cooking dinner after her work day. There are four questions for you to focus on while reading the story, and encouragement at the end for how you can best respond to your young child.

Apart from responding, there are helpful stories – some on what to do, others on what not to do – about “preventing risky behavior,” “monitoring your child’s contact” with the surrounding world, mentoring your child, and modeling your own behavior to provide a consistent and positive example! Follow this link to read all of the stories:

https://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubs/adv_in_parenting/Pages/under_3.aspx

Have you followed the RPM3 parenting model? How has it helped, or where have you seen any shortcomings with it? Let us know in the comments!