Parenting - a word loaded ... A word
with many many leads ......A world full of unanswered questions!And
Adolescence, a phase of life beginning in biology and ending in
society where person's most biological, cognitive, psychological, and
social characteristics are changing from what is typically considered
child-like to what is considered adult-like. And never the twain shall meet ??? or they
do, they Can !! It was with this positive thought in
mind and a challenge at hand that we decided at the Middle school level to
organize a parenting workshop for on Saturday April 11th, 2015. The workshop was intended to operate
as per a structure with a focus on –
•
Parents getting in touch with their years of
adolescence to connect to their own world of anxieties, fears and questions
•
To acquaint the parents with the 6 domains of
Child development which an adolescent goes through.
•
To share an action plan for building a
connect and a strong relationship with their adolescents.
•
To address parental concerns and
queries So Parwarish,an
Institute Parenting was brought to
make a difference in the area of this nature. The dictionary meaning of
parenting means ‘the upbringing and care of a child’. Thus, parenting is the
work of not just the parents but also of the teachers. Parwarish ,established
in 2008, focuses on bringing education and science in the area of parenting
through specially designed workshops that cater to the requirements of parents
and teachers of children from all age groups.It is always aimed to bring about a
paradigm shift in the way we look at establishing connections with our children
and students with the changing times only the complexity of the issues changes
but the basic issues remain same. So what is required?
Through the two and a half
hours workshop we were empowered as teachers and parents to find our own
solutions to everyday issues and work towards creating a stimulating
environment for the children. For the adolescent, this
period is a dramatic challenge, one requiring adjustment to changes in the
self, in the family, and in the peer group. In contemporary society,
adolescents experience institutional changes as well. Among young adolescents,
there is a change in school setting, typically involving a transition from
elementary school to either junior high school or middle school;
Understandably, then, for both adolescents and their parents, adolescence is a
time of excitement and of anxiety; of happiness and of troubles; of discovery
and of bewilderment; and of breaks with the past and yet of links with the
future.But I felt confident that each one of
us sitting through the workshop that Saturday morning were very focused on
bringing about the changes in ourselves, because Sushant Karla our workshop
leader and company head made it very clear “the workshop was about us and not
the children, we are here to make a difference in ourselves not in the
children.”
The journey into our childhood and the connections we then
established with the childhood or teenage years of our children made us realize
where we could BE THE CHANGE and not ‘be’ our PARENTS. The process of metamorphosis made many of us think
of our role in that process; it was rightly pointed out by a parent that our
role as adults in Chrysalis of "Meaningful Transformations"
of our young ones is Just that of the support..
The Stick. “Just A stick “one would think, but if
you see the actual role of the stick ... it is THE MOST IMPORTANT ROLE
... so it really depended on us whether we wanted to be that stick providing
support all along or have the “ Butterfly “ deformed with our constant
interventions! I was forced to think again ...It was not going to be easy, but
I am sure it would be well worth it for all us teachers and parents to step
back and watch ....just be there in case our children needed us ...they should
be able to look back and feel our presence, and not always “have” us around .All in all, the entire workshop was an enlightening
experience, one that I will value and share most fondly. One that taught me not
only how to be a better teacher but look within the Parent Me. An experience
that made me see what everyone was going through and the children would
probably be confronted with through their personal “Roller coasters”. A
life learning ,and a consolation that I am not alone that we all our in it
together . I am feeling “empowered”.
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