Positive Parenting Sessions to Help Mothers Take Care of Their Children
Positive parenting is something every mother aspires to implement while taking care of her children. In order to raise the awareness of parents on how to build a strong and healthy relationship with their children, MECC implemented positive parenting sessions targeting 300 mothers in Damascus and Rural Damascus.
During the three-day training, the mothers were introduced to parenting styles, the importance of positive parenting, the correct methods of dealing with exhaustion and self-care, the characteristics of different age groups, active communication, problem-solving, and how to provide support and motivate children.
These sessions aim at helping mothers to adopt the concept of positive parenting, which, in turn, helps to create a supportive safe environment at home in addition to increasing the knowledge of mothers about growth development and children’s needs during every age stage, the different types of abuse they might be exposed to, effective communication skills that are supportive to children, in addition to guiding them to take care of themselves so that mothers have sound mental health in order to be able to take care of her home and children in a better way.
One of the participants said,” I benefited a lot from the experience of other mothers and from the discussions with the specialist who was correcting many of our wrong concepts that are inherited form our parents regarding raising children. I used to think that child abuse is limited to beating, which I never do, but, after the sessions, I realized that neglect is a form of abuse, consequently, I became very keen to listen to my children when they approach me to tell me about anything”.
Another participant said,” Among the very beneficial things that I learned was emotional understanding, as it is important to acknowledge my son’s feelings and not underestimate them. The child might cry for a reason that we regard to be simple, but for the child, it is a very important reason. Therefore, in such cases, I need to understand and help him understand his feelings so he is able to name them. The child does not realize that he is experiencing sadness for example and it is our duty to help him understand his feelings and deal with them appropriately”.
