Cultivating Parental Virtuosi: Therapeutic Grammar and Neuro-Claims in Danish Parenting Courses

In the past decade, the Danish state has introduced several new support measures to cultivate parental skills; for instance, by implementing universal courses for first-time parents in Danish municipalities. The aim of such parental courses, often organised as group-based interventions, is to provide knowledge and improve skills in 'how to parent' and guide parents to manage and carry themselves, so they become better at regulating their emotions so as not to reproduce any negative patterns. In the article, we address how the universal parental courses focus on cultivating a particular form of parenting (intensive, risk-attuned, expert-guided, science-/knowledge-based) as well as a particular kind of parental self (reflective, responsible, sensible, willing to improve). Furthermore, we discuss how the courses end up cultivating gendered ways of becoming and being a parent; with mothers, in particular, being called upon to work on and manage their maternal selves.