The China Children and Teenagers Fund recently launched a national program to help young parents to better understand their children. The program is sponsored by the US diet supplement manufacturer D-Cal.

The foundation and the company invited several top healthcare experts, such as Zhu Zonghan and Dai Yaohua, to give speeches to dozens of parents from all walks of life on May 23 in Beijing.

The foundation and D-Cal also designed a set of quiz questions asking how to look after children at different age groups. They invited parents to take the quiz that covered nearly all aspects of parenting, including diet, nutrition, safety and children’s psychology.

Organizers hope to help the parents recognize how they can improve their parenting skills, says Zhang Yuan an executive with the supplement manufacturer.

Zhu Zonghan, an established pediatrist, says that China lags far behind developed countries in research and promotion of good parenting, and instead of having physical problems, many children taken into pediatrics clinics actually have psychological issues due to poor parenting.

He urged parents to pay attention to give their child reasonable care and a balanced diet and not focus too much on competition.

Children start to develop self-awareness from about age 2, and if the guardians neglect children's needs they will probably will start to show behavior associated with anger, anxiety, and distress. It is very wrong for the parents to think the children have simply become rebellious, Zhu says.

"Parents should be careful of what they do and say in daily life, because the children are watching and being influenced by it."

D-Cal donated 1 million yuan ($161,200) to support the program to reach to seven cities across the country, including Taiyuan in Shanxi province, Zhengzhou in Henan province, Hangzhou in Zhejiang province and Nanning in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Wu Zhenying, vice-secretary general of China Children and Teenagers' Fund, said he hoped more social parties will join the effort to help Chinese parents learn about good parenting, and make a friendly environment for children to grow up in.