(Gurtong)
General News
13/11/2008 07:53:11
Sudanese Citizens Trained On Parenting the Kiwis Style
NEW ZEALAND, November 11 (Gurtong)-Four members of the Sudanese Community based in Auckland, New Zealand have just concluded a six-weeks parenting training session.
The four- Santino Atem Deng, Monica Adut Jok, Aban Yor and Theresa Aliah Ring, received the training that was facilitated by Strategies With Kids-Information for Parents, (SKIP).
SKIP’s vision is to see that all children are raised in a positive way, with parents loving and nurturing their children as well as setting boundaries to guide and teach them.
The objective of the training was to create a balance between the Sudanese parenting styles and the local New Zealand parenting styles. This is to ensure that the children born here in New Zealand do not lose their cultural touch due to the different cultural up bringing.
“There seems to be a struggle between parents and their children, particularly those born here and who do not know much or are not prepared to know about their roots”, observed Santino Atem Deng, the chairperson of the Sudanese community in New Zealand.
“Unlike in Sudan, the New Zealand laws do not permit violent disciplining of children, the only way therefore is to start talking to them as early in their childhood as possible”, he added.
Deng acknowledged the need to make Sudanese citizens adapt well into their new lifestyle and pledged to approach the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) to fund more of such training to cover a wider group.
The topics covered during the six-weeks training included; Talking to your baby, Learning, Language and books for young children, Understanding your child, Learning right from the beginning, Building your relationship as your child grows and many others.
The training session was highly applauded for its helpful ideas by the participants who are already busy transmitting the skills they gained to the wider Sudanese community. So far, more than 25 fathers and mothers have been recruited.
Parenting has proved to be a huge task particularly for single parents with a large number of children and especially worst when these parents speak little English. This is coupled with the cultural shock that many of them experience on a daily basis.
A massive party to celebrate the program’s success is scheduled to be held on November 22, 2008.
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