A group of 90 parents from Hillaby/Turner’s Hall Primary School will be given an opportunity to sharpen their parenting skills.

This positive parenting training will be conducted from tomorrow, Tuesday, November 24, under the Ministry of Youth’s Parent Support and Education Programme.

According to Senior Administrative Officer, Marva Howell, the evening seminars were currently being held at Messiah’s Wesleyan Holiness Worship Centre, in St. John; the Ministry of Education and Mayers Road Pentecostal Church in St. Michael. She added that Hilda Skeene Primary School in St. Philip and Workman’s Primary School in St. George would soon come on board.

Some of the topics being discussed include: Becoming a Parent, Adolescence, Domestic Violence, Substance Abuse, Conflict Resolution, Anger Management, Coping with Children with Special Needs and Managing Finances.

Ms. Howell said the response to the programme, which started last September, was great. "Parents have said that the information they are receiving is very much needed, valuable and helpful to them. Because of our culture, we have to give parents time to unlearn what we call the negative parenting emotions, namely fear, hatred and disrespect, and give them a safe environment in which they can learn the new

behaviour and the positive emotions such as love, respect and how to communicate effectively with their children," she explained.

The Senior Administrative Officer noted that officials in the Ministry were monitoring the programme and promised they would improve the content and time allocated for particular subject areas, based on the specific requirements of the parents.

Ms. Howell disclosed that the seminars would end on Friday December 18, with a thorough evaluation undertaken and the programme would resume in early January.

The training initiative is aimed at offering parents the necessary knowledge and skills to empower them to comfortably and confidently raise their children. It is also expected to equip them with the tools needed to develop healthy relationships within their households, communicate effectively, and encourage parent-to-child interaction.

saustin@barbados.gov.bb

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