Social Support & Parenting

In general, the term social support means the assistance or help that people provide each other. For example, this type of support could be by way of helping each other out with certain task, or having someone to tell your 'woes' to, and of course with internet access to on-line forums, many people are engaging in communication that provides them with some feeling of support.

Research done on the importance of social support for parents shows that reliable and trustworthy people (which could be family members and/or friends) can lighten the load that is attached to feeling burdened and stressed by everyday life with a new baby. Social support also helps to break the feeling of isolation that can occur from being at home with a baby ... and this feeling of isolation is not necessarily dependent on where you live. It can happen living in a city, country town or on a remote rural property. Furthermore, good sources of social support can boost parents' feelings of competence/ability in the caregiving tasks and relieve them from feeling 'low' or mildly depressed which can be brought on from the stress of being a new parent. Importantly, research shows that feeling supported can help parents to bond and develop companionship with their baby more so than parents who are not feeling supported. Overall social support can be beneficial to parents and Baby.