Parent Education

Written by: Dr. TIK Chi-yuen, Director, The Hong Kong Institute of Family Education I enjoy cooking and inviting relatives and friends to gatherings at home. When gathering with family and friends, they share, laugh heartily, play games, and even laugh uncontrollably. Numerous studies have shown that laughter can reduce stress, boost the immune system, and lead to fewer illnesses, while also strengthening relationships. Scientific research indicates that regular family gatherings not only improve communication and strengthen healthy relationships but also help children avoid smoking, drinking, and drugs in the long run, and can even enhance their academic performance. It seems that having more meals together and chatting has many benefits! If you pay a little more attention, helping to wash dishes after a meal, preparing desserts for friends, or volunteering can warm others’ hearts and your own. It is more blessed to give than to receive. No wonder research also shows that these actions can lower high blood pressure and protect heart health. City dwellers endure considerable stress, mostly from academics, work, and family. Consequently, many urbanites suffer from headaches, stomachaches, loss of appetite, and muscle pain. However, research from the University of Illinois at Chicago in the United States shows that frequently expressing gratitude, appreciating others, and giving timely praise can alleviate these stress-induced symptoms and even depression. People who are often grateful do not spend much time comparing themselves to others, thus they are more content and happy. British researchers studied a group of local university students and

Written by: Founder and Volunteer Secretary-General of GLP, Lam Ho Pei Yee   A child’s learning ability, whether strong or weak, is not innate; it is largely developed through training. Logical reasoning is a crucial component of reading methods. Some parents use “teaching reference books” intended for teachers, giving them a sneak peek at the lesson content prepared by the teacher. On the surface, this seems to help children grasp the key points of the teacher’s lessons and accurately understand the classroom content more easily. In reality, however, it deprives children of the valuable opportunity to enhance their own learning abilities. Most people agree that the purpose of education is to learn how to think and communicate. Classroom learning is a comprehensive process that requires children to follow the teacher’s thought process and instruction, step by step, to understand and accept the material. Therefore, learning is a dialectical process of thinking, involving active questioning rather than passive acceptance. In fact, as long as parents find the right methods, a child’s learning ability can be easily improved. Parents should teach children to establish a system of thinking, and organizing information before storing it in the brain, rather than letting it become a chaotic mess. This way, the information becomes organized, systematic, and orderly, making it easier to retrieve and recall in the future. Unfortunately, if parents only focus on exam results, feeling happy when the results are good and criticizing when they are not, rather than focusing on how to cultivate

Written by: Ms. Carmen Leung, Specialist in Child Development Psychology DHA only provides nutrients for children’s brain development. To make children smarter, their brains must receive proper exercise. This time, I will introduce some brain-training games that are very suitable for children aged 2 to primary school age! Maze or Spot the Difference Brain Exercises Although Maze and Spot the difference brain exercises were our childhood games, they are still good friends for children in this era. In addition to mazes and spot the difference, there are many different modes of brain exercises. In short, any image game that requires children to observe and focus to complete tasks belongs to brain exercises. Do you know Wally (translated as “Where’s Wally?” in Chinese)? It is one of the most popular brain games in the world. In fact, brain games do not necessarily need to be purchased or printed in books. We can easily create brain games at home. For example, parents can place two Swiss candies in a pile of miscellaneous items, and the child will find them with great concentration! Tidying Up and Categorizing Household Items Everyday activities, such as tidying up and categorizing items, are excellent opportunities to exercise the brain. Organizing items systematically not only enhances children’s organizational skills but also stimulates their creativity. Sometimes, children’s methods of categorization may differ from those of adults, but they have their own logic. Parents should ask their children why they categorize items in a certain way, as this can reveal

Written by: Hong Kong Registered Psychologist, Ching Wai Keung Around nine months of age, babies become unusually clingy. Even if the mother goes to the bathroom, the baby may appear extremely anxious, clinging tightly to the mother and even crying loudly. Separation anxiety can lead to two different types of reactions. In some cases, when separated from the caregiver, the baby will exhibit attachment-seeking behaviors, such as clinging to the mother, trying every possible way to find the mother, or crawling wherever the mother goes (Ainsworth, Bell, & Stayton, 1971). Separation can also result in behaviors such as despair, resistance, and detachment, depending on the duration of the separation (Bowlby, 1960; Robertson & Robertson, 1989). A child’s reaction to separation can also change depending on the environment. For example, in a familiar home environment, the child will exhibit less anxiety compared to being in an unfamiliar environment (Ross, Kagan, Zelazo, & Kotelchuck, 1975). Around seven months of age, the concept of object permanence begins to emerge in children. They understand that even if they cannot see someone or something, it does not mean that the person or object has disappeared. When children are able to establish this concept, their separation anxiety will relatively decrease. If the mother can frequently communicate with the child, express positive emotions and feelings towards the infant, and provide appropriate stimulation and assistance, the child will more easily grasp and apply the concept of object permanence to both objects and people (Chazan, 1981). Helping children cope

Our school will co-organize the “Positive Parenting” online parent seminar with St. James’ Settlement from 4:00-5:30 pm on 18th January, 2024 (Thursday). We sincerely invite all parents to join. The details are as follows: Introduction “Positive Parenting” helps children to develop self-discipline throughgentle but firm teaching in a respectful and cooperative manner.Through different experiential activities including self-care, discussionand sharing, the lecture allows parents to learn how to raise theirchildren with love and care. Purpose To help parents to understand the Positive Parenting framework andpractical skills, so that parents can learn to use a positive attitude andskills to improve parent-child relationships and deal with children’semotional and behavioral problems. Fee Free of charge Object K1-K3 Parents Mode Zoom (Zoom Link will be informed through Whatsapps on 17th January,2024) Content Explain the “6A Parenting Method”Tips and specific examples of Parenting skills Date/Time 18-1-2024 (Thursday) (4:00-5:30 pm) Total:1.5 Hrs.25 Parents Quota 25 Parents Mentor Miss Yuan Sze Man (Stationed school Social Worker of St. JamesLutheran Kindergarten)Miss Ng Choi Fai (Registered Social Worker of Healthy Seed Centre)

Dear Parents,     In order to let parents understand and experience the building blocks STEM, our school specially invited EVI Company to organize LEGO STEM Parent Education Training Course.Details are as follows: Activity Lego Stem Parent Training Date : 12-1-2024 (Friday) Time : 9:15-10:45AM (1.5 hours) Targetparticipants : Students and their Parents of our school(20 pairs) Mode : Theory and parent-child interactive games in Cantonese only Content: 1. Let parents understand the benefits of building blocks tochildren’s development (observation, performance, problemsolving, collaboration, self-care, etc.).2.Understand the role of parents when their children play games3.Provide activity opportunities for children to think and solveproblems together through story scenes and building blocks Remarks: 1.Students not participating in the course will follow daily classschedule.2. After completing the course, each parent-child pair will receivea small Lego gift.3.If the number of participants exceeds the expected number, thedecision will be made by drawing lots.