The Way Forward: Building Communities of Sharing and Learning

Introduction

Parenting is a multifaceted journey that encompasses both the outcomes and the day-to-day interactions of love, affection, and bond-building between parent and child. It's not solely about the end results or the daily expressions of care; it's a blend of that contributes to the holistic development of a child. Parents are both experts and learners in the process of raising children. They bring their knowledge and experiences to the table while continuously learning and adapting to the needs of their children. The literature on parenting presents a spectrum of approaches and insights, drawing from academic studies, expert opinions, and real-life experiences. These diverse perspectives help in understanding the complex nature of parenting and the various factors that contribute to raising well-rounded individuals.

Mindful parenting is about being present and engaged with children, acknowledging their thoughts and feelings without judgment, and fostering a nurturing environment that promotes growth. It involves picking up cues from past experiences and integrating them into the parenting approach to support the development of global children and happy families. Raising global citizens is about instilling values that resonate with universal humanity. It's about teaching children to appreciate diversity, embrace cultural differences, and develop a sense of responsibility towards the global community. By doing so, parents can guide their children to become individuals who are empathetic, socially aware, and equipped to contribute positively to the world at large. This chapter aims to synthesize these concepts and provide actionable directives for parents striving to nurture global-mindedness in their children.

Mindful parenting- Life experiences train us to hold an object or an experience in our attention for short periods of time and pass the judgment by responding to that stimulus as quickly as possible. This automaticity in our responses gives us little or no time to reflect, judge and respond. This becomes a default mode of operating and behaving for individuals. Automized responses are often “mindless” and become a habit for individuals. Within parenting and child relationships, this response automaticity can help in developing coping strategies for children (Dumas, 1997). Due to repeated actions, transactions, children, and parents learn to interact in interrelated ways of thinking, feeling, and acting. In their unique relationships, this becomes a characteristic way of acting and behaving for parents and children. These are called Automatized Transactional Procedure (ATP) (Dumas, 2005). These ATPs are transactional and relationship specific ways of coping. Each family has unique relationship that is an outcome of the unique history learned about ways of thinking, acting, and feeling (Dumas and LaFreniere,1993; Milner,1993). They help parents and children to acquire effective communication skills that enhance prosocial methods of solving problems, communicating, and influencing each other and exchanging information. They are highly resistant to change, ATPs are performed with little or no conscious awareness. ATPs are overlearned ways of thinking and acting in parent chid relationship without much thought. ATPs do not involve specific acts of will at a given moment, they are overlearned ways of thinking and acting in relationships. In all relationships ATPs serve as a guide to current and future exchanges.

Parent child relationships can change from time to time however, the ATPs provide stability and continuity in interaction by making the past ways of coping as guide for parent child relations. So, is parenting all about the automatized response that have been learned in a relationship or is there something more to the parent child and effective parent child interaction? Is it important to be aware of the present moment and non-judgmentally look at what is happening in parent-child relationship?