The first policy objective of the Marmot Review1 Fair Society, Healthy Lives is to 'give every child the best start in life'. Young children are heavily reliant upon their parents to ensure that they are set up for life with the emotional, cognitive and physical skills they need to thrive. Ensuring high-quality parenting is key to fulfilling this policy objective, and the mental wellbeing of parents is a vital determinant of the parenting a child receives.Dodge et al.2 conceptualise mental wellbeing as 'the balance between an individual's resource pool and the challenges faced'. Some of the resources that may be important to ensuring wellbeing are self-efficacy, dispositional optimism, self- esteem, goal pursuit, hope and resiliency.3,4 The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) was developed specifically to capture a broad range of mental wellbeing components from a UK cultural perspective and includes positive affect (defined in terms of optimism, cheerfulness and relaxation), psychological functioning (including energy, clear thinking, self-acceptance, personal development, autonomy and competence) as well as satisfying interpersonal relationships.5 To achieve mental wellbeing, an individual must not only have these resources, but be able to deploy them successfully when needed.6The UK Government's recent mental health strategy7 sets good mental wellbeing for all as a key policy objective and highlights its role in protecting against mental illness. Mental wellbeing, however, is not just of importance to individuals in isolation, it is important for society collectively, not least because of the potential impact it has on the way we parent the next generation.The importance of good parentingChildren develop secure attachments when their needs are met by caregivers, and this is vital to good child development.8 Parenting styles theory posits four general parenting styles: authoritarian, authoritative, permissive and neglectful/disengaged, based on the levels of warmth, conflict and control (discipline) present.9,10 High warmth, low hostility and consistent discipline are associated with authoritative parenting, which is also closely linked to 'positive parenting'. The latter focuses on parents using positive methods, including praise to encourage good behaviour, being sensitive to a child's emotional needs and setting clear boundaries.11 Evidence suggests that authoritative/positive parenting is important for overall child health12 as well as preventing child conduct disorders.13 Abusive or neglectful parenting adversely affects child brain development,14 and epigenetic research has highlighted how early social environment can affect gene expression across the life course.15Overall, an extensive literature of research suggests that 'parental warmth consistently predicts favourable developmental outcomes for children, whereas parental hostility consistently predicts unfavourable developmental outcomes'.16If receiving positive parenting is a key determinant of child outcomes, it is important to understand what influences the types of parenting that a child receives. Belsky's17 process model posits three main determinants of parenting, of which the first is closely linked to mental wellbeing:1. Parental ontogenic origins and personal psychological resources2. The child's characteristics of individuality3. Contextual sources of stress and supportLinking mental wellbeing with parentingThere is a large body of literature highlighting the links between maternal depression and parenting behaviour. A meta- analysis by Lovejoy et al.18 found that a moderate effect size was present linking depression and negative parenting behaviours, and a negative correlation between depression and positive parenting behaviours (positive play, praise, affectionate contact), strongly mediated by socio-economic status - advantaged mothers with depression were significantly more likely than disadvantaged mothers with depression to maintain high levels of positive parenting behaviours. …