Enhancing Effective Communication Between Mothers and Children
The Service and Relief Department- Diakonia, at the Middle East Council of Churches, Syria’s office, implemented sessions on positive parenting for mothers in order to help them deal in a better way with their children and families and to break their daily routine cycle through enabling them to engage in a new positive activity.
In total, the activity targeted 80 mothers whose children were participants in the summer school in July and August.
The mothers were introduced to the concept of positive parenting, self-care methods and stress management.
The mothers were divided into four groups; each group had three sessions in addition to a session with their children ages 6 to13. The fourth session included a full day of purposeful activity aiming at enhancing positive communication between mothers and their children.
One of the participant mothers said,” The stress we experience because of life pressures makes us use violence with our children. I used to lose my temper and feel very angry and, therefore, did not allocate time to sit with my children and listen to them. After the sessions, I started applying the learned knowledge. The first thing I started to apply was the positive thinking and discharging my depression using methods that do not harm my children. Moreover, I started spending more time with my children to listen to their problems and have positive discussions to find the best solutions for those problems”.
