As part of our Early Childhood Development projects we organize training courses to improve professional skills for preschool teachers and also provide seminars for parents and community members to help them develop helpful child care skills that will strengthen the whole community. Recently we organized a seminar on positive discipline.
There are no bad children, just good and bad behaviors; this is the main premise of positive discipline. Once parents understand this, they can help their children learn to choose good behaviors in an encouraging and mutually respectful way. Positive discipline is both firm and kind. It creates a warm, long-lasting connection between parents and children. This bond builds stronger families and stronger families build a stronger community.
In the seminar, our consultant, who is a Doctor of Psychology, shared on the following:
(1) Understanding children and understanding ourselves
(2) How to educate children using positive discipline
(3) How to listen to your children, and how to talk so that they will listen
(4) Stress and anger management
More than 300 people attended, including all local preschool teachers (50), the local trainers group (16), and parents of children aged 0-6 years old (about 250).
We were pleased to see that even with the large number of participants and the 7-hour seminar length, the number of participants who remind for the entire program was very high. The skill of the consultant in presenting this very applicable content kept the interest of participants.
We focused the seminar content towards creating a behavior change in the attendees adopting positive methods of training children as opposed to the traditional harsh authoritarian parenting style which can create animosity between parents and children. Local leaders encouraged community members to apply what they learned in their families immediately in the days to follow knowing it will lead to a young generation that will positively influence their family, school and community, and lead to a reduction in family violence.
In addition, the local trainer group will remind families about this content in the following months when they visit families with children from 0-6 years old. Through this training and other similar events, we hope to see stronger families that will create stronger communities so that children can grow in a safe and loving environment and reach their full potential.