Examining the Effectiveness of Wise Parenting in Social-Emotional Values and Resilience among Preschool Children

Background and Objectives: Wisdom is an emerging topic in education and psychology. The present study aimed to incorporate the principles and characteristics of wisdom into parenting programs and examine the effectiveness of wise parenting in social-emotional values and resilience among preschool children. Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study employed a pre-test and post-test design with experimental and control groups. The statistical population consisted of mothers of preschool children (ages 4-6) in Isfahan in 2023. Participants were selected through multistage cluster random sampling and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups (15 mothers per group). The research instrument was a scale measuring social and emotional values and resilience in preschool children, completed by the mothers. The experimental group received ten 90-minute sessions of wise parenting training, while the control group received no intervention. Data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 23) using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). Results: The results indicated that wise parenting training significantly improved children's social and emotional values and resilience (P<0.05). In the experimental group, the mean score increased from 55.26±13.45 in the pre-test to 99.26±9.85 in the post-test, whereas the control group showed no significant difference between the pre-test (70.13±23.41) and post-test (71.13±22.53) scores. Conclusion: As evidenced by the obtained results, wise parenting can enhance social-emotional values and resilience in preschool children. Therefore, it is recommended that wise parenting be integrated into parental education programs alongside other existing parenting approaches.