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NEWS
January 2007:
THE ICDP MINORITY PROJECT IN NORWAY
The ICDP project with mothers belonging to the different minority groups in Norway has been successful in its developments so far and will continue to spread around the country during 2007. The work is developed by ICDP in close cooperation with the Ministry for Children and Social Affairs who are also the sponsor. The ICDP trainer Mona Hannestad leads and coordinates this work from the executive office of the Ministry (the Bufdir).
A special feature of this work is that the ICDP group meetings with parents are not held by Norwegian professionals but by persons from the same minority groups who are trained as ICDP promoters and who run the meetings in their own respective languages. Each promoter is accompanied by one Norwegian professional who takes a more passive role and assists the meetings without speaking, except when there are some questions relating to the Norwegian care or education systems.
The ICDP promoters commented that the programme received very good reception and that the mothers often do not wish to leave at the end of the meetings, and sometimes actually stay a whole hour longer; they also ask for meetings to continue in the future.
According to the promoters the mothers now feel more confident in their role as parents; they show more love and are more patient with their children; they spend more time together and as result their children respond positively to them.
Here are some of the comments from the participant mothers:
"To begin with it was really hard for me; I came from Somalia 3 years ago and there were so many problems that I had to solve which took a lot of my time and made me worry, so that in the end I could not take good care of my children. In addition, I had no family and no friends. When I joined the ICDP meetings at first I found it hard to do the home tasks but after a few meetings it got easy. I feel that I have changed because I now have more patience with my children. I would say that I am a nicer person and my communication with my children is good and of that I am proud. Before joining the group I never knew my neighbours, we never talked, but since some of them also became involved with ICDP we now have a lot to share and discuss together, particularly the home tasks. It is so important to have friends."
"I was 3 years old when I arrived to Norway; at the age of 21 I had my first child, a girl. Now I have two girls. My mother lived in Pakistan so it was difficult for me. When my child started school I tried to find a book about parenting in the local library but even after reading it I still had many questions that I could not find answers for.. but now at our ICDP meetings I can ask these questions. One of the things that have changed is that before the programme I hardly ever praised my children but now I do it a lot. I can see that they are happier now. We often talk after school and they tell me how it was for them that day. My younger child is a 7 year old girl and she makes the last chapatti every day with me! But I had not done that with my oldest girl because before ICDP I seldom did things together with my children. This is because my mother did not allow me to do things with her. Now I do things much more with my children. Before I used to think that the way a parent should be is to be strict and serious but this has changed now."
"I have two children; I came to Norway from Pakistan 8 years ago. My children mean everything to me but before the course in ICDP I never used to explain to them about something their were not allowed to do; I would not explain why they were not allowed and they got used to it and in fact they never asked me why they were not allowed. But I know now that children can and need to understand about the reasons and so I explain much more. We even talk about our feelings, how it is for us and I can see that they understand emotions. When my smallest child does something he should not be doing I explain calmly and then he stops; but if I fail to be calm and shout, then he does not want to stop and carries on. Before our meetings I often used to say to my children that they were far too small to participate in my activities but now I allow them to do so and I also get involved in their activities. For example, I help them to put away their things, to tidy up and they do it. When I come home after the ICDP meetings I share and discuss the topics with my husband and he now wants his sister to join our meetings too. I learned from ICDP that a lot of small things are important."
"The meetings helped me understand the differences in cultures. For example, in my culture it is not acceptable for teenagers to show anger and strong emotions but in Norway I found that it is different. However, eventually I came to realize that even when teenagers show anger that does not mean that they do not love their parents but that they just need to express themselves and will calm down later. Now I am more accepting of such behaviour than before."
"I came to see that the most important thing for children are their parents."
WORKSHOP FOR TRAINERS
In parallel with the minority project, the Ministry for Children and Social Affairs has also been sponsoring the ICDP Parental Guidance project, coordinated by ICDP trainer Grete Flakk, who is employed by the same Ministry.
During the period between 22 - 26th January, Grete together with Professor Henning Rye, held in Oslo two ICDP Trainer level workshops for 50 professionals who came from the 5 regions of Norway; north, middle, west, south and east (Oslo). These professionals sit on the regional offices (bufetat) and as ICDP qualified trainers they will become responsible for the training of ICDP facilitators (local nurses, teachers, social workers etc) and will coordinate the implementation of the ICDP Parental Guidance Programme throughout the towns and communities in each of the 5 regions.
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