Every moment with your child is precious
In 2014, Welsh Government launched the ‘Parenting. Give it time.’ initiative to support parents of 0-7 year olds and provide them with parenting advice and support.
Four years later, our brief was to increase parental engagement by refreshing and re-launching the campaign. Our challenge was to show parents that we understand the daily challenges they face whilst promoting the many benefits of positive parenting.
Raising a child is the most important thing people will ever do
One of our first considerations was how to communicate this issue without being patronising. No parent wants to be told that the way they are raising their child is inadequate, nor do they need to be told how important it is. We were well aware of the importance of never preaching to parents (from our experience of developing successful campaigns to parents such as Education Begins at Home and Oracy). For most people, raising a child is the most important thing they will ever do.
We were also conscious of the research findings highlighting that parents respond most to advice from other parents and experts, but feel wary of accepting the same advice from the government or other figures of authority. For this reason, we felt passionately about creating a campaign that felt authentic by featuring real parents and capturing genuine moments and practical advice.