Parenting Hub
A guide through the upraising journey
- Available in:
- English
- العربية
UNICEF Egypt's Parenting Hub equips parents and caregivers with practical tools and techniques to help them bring up a child who is self-disciplined through connecting and listening while at the same time setting clear boundaries and structure.
It focuses on five main thematic areas: caring for the caregivers, health & nutrition, learning/cognitive, social/emotional support and protection from the ages 0-18 with the aim of filling in information gaps, correcting misconceptions and providing advice on positive parenting.
You can download the The Positive Parenting Toolkit for children from 0-18 or choose your child's age group
Pressures on parents prompt some of them to use disciplinary violence, click here to learn about the impact of violence on children's personality.
Learn about positive parenting
Positive parenting is focused on building a strong healthy relationship between the parent and the child. It offers solutions to the daily parenting problems and challenges in child behavior based on well-researched & applied methods that brings the best out of children. It focuses on bringing up a child who is self-disciplined through connecting and listening while at the same time setting clear boundaries and structure.
As much as there is a part of parenting that requires instinct, there is a lot of knowledge to be learned. Parenting education is based on decades of research & application on thousands of children to see what are the best strategies to bring up healthy, happy and successful children.
Parenting education does not tell us how to raise our children, but rather equips us with tools and techniques that help us be more efficient and impactful in raising our children.
Positive parenting is not a magical solution, it does NOT:
Raise children who don’t make mistakes
- Everyone makes mistakes, including parents. Children need to learn that it is ok to make a mistake but they are responsible for fixing their mistakes and trying to avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future.
- A parent’s job is not to help a child be perfect, because no one is. One of our jobs as parents is to help the child learn to be responsible for their mistakes and develop alternative strategies to avoid them in the future.
Provide one method that fits all children
- Children are born with many differences in their characters, abilities and preferences.
- The more we understand the uniqueness of our children, the more we will be able to help them by choosing what works better for them.
Spoil children and make them do what they want
- Positive parenting entitles having a balance between being firm and kind at the same time. It teaches a child to be responsible for their choices and actions without using emotional and physical violence that negatively affects their wellbeing.
- Positive parenting encourages having very clear rules agreed on by parents and children. It encourages parents to allow children to handle the consequences of their actions without jumping in to rescue them.
So, what is expected from raising children using positive parenting?
- Be self-confident and develop a healthy level of self-esteem and respect
- Love their parents and caregivers whether they are teachers, trainers or others
- Talk to their parents and caregivers on the challenges and problems they face
- Appreciate values of their family, school and other communities
- Have better relationships with others in the future
- Be less effected by external factors such as trends or peer pressure
- Be motivated to always try their best without the need for bribes & threats
- Learn from their mistakes and take responsibility for their actions
- Listen to advice and cooperate to materialize them
- Learn self-discipline and do what they believe is right even when no-one is watching
6 Golden rules for parenting
Communicate
- Talk to them everyday. Tell them how your day went, your small achievements and challenges then hear them out as well.
- When you make a mistake, lose your temper and lash out at them for whatever reason, make sure that you apologize.
- When we humanize ourselves as parents, we start to become more relatable to our children.
Set rules together
- Engage them in putting rules and expectations that are attainable and realistic.
- Agree together on the action to be taken if they do not follow rules.
- Hold them responsible for the consequences of breaking these rules rather than punishing them.
Respect
- Make sure that you listen more than you talk.
- Respect their opinions and choices even if you don’t necessarily agree with them.
- Show them that their opinion matters and that they count.
Be a Role Model
- Fathers: role model to your son how a proper man treats a woman with genuine respect and trust.
- Mothers: role model to your daughters how a woman should be independent and an integral part of their families and communities.
- Separated parents: Keep children away from the conflict and do not talk negatively about your ex in front of them. Always tell them that both your ex-spouse and you love them but in a different way and nothing would change that.
Support
- Have their backs when they need it.
- Allow them to explain and express themselves freely.
- Take actions to develop their talents and encourage them.
Love unconditionally
- Make sure that your children feel, and are reminded that they are, loved. When children do not feel loved or feel like they belong to a family, their self-worth starts to falter.
- Small gestures such as hugs and “I love you” for no reason go a long way.
Taking care of more than one child at the same time
Caring for more than one child at the same time may be stressful, especially if they are at close ages. Here are some tips to help you:
- Involve older children in caring for their younger siblings:
Let the older take care of the younger (according to his/her abilities). This teaches them to take responsibility and creates bonding between siblings. Have them take on some responsibilities appropriate to their age (greater responsibilities can strain the relationship between the brothers) such as singing to them or helping them wash their hands.
- Plan the sharing in games and resources:
If there's a game or device they use to entertain, set a timetable for who uses it and when.
You have to teach them to resolve their conflicts by finding solutions that satisfy everyone. The next time your children start fighting for something, ask the following questions:
|
|
Mini parenting master classes
"Ahl El-hetta" (The people of the neighborhood) docudrama series