Caregivers and parents in Nyamira South Sub-County have been trained and certified on positive parenting in a bid to ensure that children grow and thrive in safe and conducive home environments.
The initiative is courtesy of a partnership between the Department of Children Services and the Investing in Children and their Societies (ICS) organisation.
Billy Adera Nyamira, South Sub-County Children Officer, observed that there is an alarming rate of child neglect cases in Nyamira, a worrying trend which indicates that children are always on their own in very many homes in the region without any responsible adult who can give them proper care, guidance and protection because they are very vulnerable.
“By the time a child neglect case is reported at our offices, it clearly reveals that the child is grappling with extreme psychological turmoil and can hardly survive under adverse living conditions which have become unbearable.
Most children are left under the care of aged and ailing grandparents and their children leave home without a trace to go and look for some job to sustain their children, while some return home empty-handed,” Mr Adera remarked.
Mr. Adera said because of the rising number of neglected children, the Department of Children services partnered with ICS to take parents and caregivers through an 11 module comprehensive training on positive parenting to empower caregivers with successful parenting skills, which if adopted will enable them to raise wholesome happy families and hopefully reduce the number of neglected children in the area.
The ICS County Officer Moses Gundi, who is in charge of the training programme in Nyamira, said the reception by parents of the positive training initiative has been very good and he was optimistic that this programme will transform very many homes in Nyamira south and enable children to access rightfully deserved care and love to make them secure and thrive as they grow.
“In the 11 module training curriculum, some of the topics covered include family relations, roles and responsibilities of positive parents, child development, simulation and secure attachment, mental health, self-care and self-esteem, home values and positive discipline, understanding violence, neglect and abuse and prompt responses to abuse, nutrition, family financial budgeting, expenditure and saving mechanisms.” Mr. Gundi listed.
Mr. Gundi presided over a graduation ceremony last week where parents and caregivers shared some of the critical lessons they learnt on positive parenting and promised that such lessons have given them another dimension on how much better they will start managing their homes and raising happy families where all family members are involved in decision-making and given a chance to give some input whenever a family wants to make a major decision.
Mr. Gundi said as ICS they are targeting to train at least 1,000 parents by 2027 and they have already trained 300 parents in Nyamira South.
By Deborah Bochere
