Ideal Parenting Discussion Session Under ACV Project

On 14th & 15th Dec 2022, two meetings were conducted on ideal parenting under ACV (Amplifying Community Voices) project. A total of 42 women from Heramba Gopalpur & Kuyemuri of Herembogopalpur GP participated in these meeting

The meeting started with a game. Participants were divided into two groups. Members of one group were blindfolded and members of the other group were asked to guide the blindfolded persons by holding their hands and leading them to a certain place without bumping into anyone. It became obvious through the game that unless the blindfolded person knew where they were being taken, it is much more difficult to lead them smoothly. The purpose of this game was to make parents aware that they should not impose any decision on their children without explaining it to them. It was assumed that the blindfolded were the children and the ones guiding them were their parents. The participants were asked to share their feelings after the game and to relate their feelings to parenting. In their confidence about their decisions, parents often forget how their decision is affecting the child’s feelings. The meeting was started by reflecting on this.

In the next step, the parents were asked to discuss and list the problems their adolescent children are facing, and what kind of advice they would like to give as parents to deal with these problems. Gathering the parents’ opinions it was revealed that the decision of the parents mainly is taken on their children’s outward expressions over any particular action.

The whole process was divided into three layers – the child’s action (which is what the parents can observe most easily), the feelings behind the action, and the real reason behind the feelings/action. By discussing these layers in detail, the parents tried to assess how rationally they are guiding their children and whether they are solving the problems at all.

It was conveyed that an ideal parent must be non-judgmental and must carry a friendly attitude toward their children. Children’s fear of their parents should be removed so that they can express their feelings spontaneously to their parents.

This was a primary session on parenting. In the next session, there will be a detailed discussion on what kind of behavior parents should adopt to address the roots of parenting problems.