“Support, NOT perfection” has been one of the blueprints of our work for years. Created and led by our Head of programs, Smiljana Grujic, it has so far helped more than 2,200 parents across Serbia. In recent years, in accordance with the epidemiological situation, we had to organize the workshops online, and Smiljana was joined on several occasions by our co-founder and global CEO, Jelena Djokovic, who shared her parenting experience and the challenges she faces on a daily basis.

With the support of our long-term partners, Generali Osiguranje Srbija and The Human Safety Net, last year we started the project of building 15 Parent Centers throughout Serbia, which will be a gathering place for parents and guardians in the next cycle of workshops. As we look forward to this project coming to life in all its splendor, we share with you the experiences of several parents who attended the recently completed workshops. We look forward to the new contingent of workshop participants who will have the opportunity to socialize and share experiences in a cozy environment.

Here is what the satisfied mothers said after the workshops, as they continue their parenting journey enriched with new knowledge and friendships:

“What was new to me and what I started to apply was the technique of short-term goals and everything related to emotional intelligence. To talk more with the children about emotions, to name and recognize them and to deal better with negative emotions. “- Katarina Milenković

Katarina Milenković says she could not be happier with the techniques she learned during the “Support, NOT perfection” workshops.

“A recommendation from the bottom of my heart, Smiljana will give you a concrete answer to everything that bothers you – not something vahue, but a real and concrete answer!” I would attend over and over again! “- Sanja Vukčević Vasić

Sanja Vukčević Vasić with her husband and son.

“I had regularly followed all NDF activities and participated in webinars, which motivated me to apply for the workshops. I wanted to find out the tips for parenting and raising children, and to share experiences with other parents. Now I am much more calm and I realized that the problems I face are not only mine but of other parents as well.
The most important practical examples that I adopted at the workshops were how to handle the rivalry between the big brother and his baby sister. “- Biljana Kostadinović

“All the information was useful to me, I enjoyed the company of mentors, and the way they approach all parents. I bought a book that Jelena recommended and it’s safe to say that I’m thrilled. Emotions and their regulation, love, tenderness, methods, healthy boundaries, self-messages””they can all really change the relationship between adults and children.
With a great dose of love and dedication, the whole team was at our disposal. They ensure that, after the program’s completion, a parent will know how to connect with the child and his needs, how to integrate true life values and thus support the child who will make confident and motivated steps towards a bright and beautiful future.”- Branka Mihailović (family from the cover photo)

A happy Radmilović family: mother Danka with her husband, daughter and son.

I learned a lot about myself, became aware of my own childhood and realized how I should not behave with my child. I tried to alter all the situations that reminded me of my mother’s behavior and how I felt in those moments. My family life has become richer in terms of conscious presence. “- Žaklina Andrejić

“I had read a lot about child psychology, but the way the program was designed in combination with Smiljana’s energy and her way of presenting completely enchanted me, so – here I am – finished my second cycle already!” – Danka Radmilović

The Novak Djokovic Foundation thanks all the participants of the workshops. We hope we have made your parenting journey easier and more meaningful. With that in mid, we are looking forward to a new cycle!

The post “Support, NOT Perfection” – Parents’ Workshop Impressions appeared first on Novak Djokovic Foundation.

“Support, NOT perfection” has been one of the blueprints of our work for years. Created and led by our Head of programs, Smiljana Grujic, it has so far helped more than 2,200 parents across Serbia. In recent years, in accordance with the epidemiological situation, we had to organize the workshops online, and Smiljana was joined on several occasions by our co-founder and global CEO, Jelena Djokovic, who shared her parenting experience and the challenges she faces on a daily basis.

With the support of our long-term partners, Generali Osiguranje Srbija and The Human Safety Net, last year we started the project of building 15 Parent Centers throughout Serbia, which will be a gathering place for parents and guardians in the next cycle of workshops. As we look forward to this project coming to life in all its splendor, we share with you the experiences of several parents who attended the recently completed workshops. We look forward to the new contingent of workshop participants who will have the opportunity to socialize and share experiences in a cozy environment.

Here is what the satisfied mothers said after the workshops, as they continue their parenting journey enriched with new knowledge and friendships:

“What was new to me and what I started to apply was the technique of short-term goals and everything related to emotional intelligence. To talk more with the children about emotions, to name and recognize them and to deal better with negative emotions. “- Katarina Milenković

Katarina Milenković says she could not be happier with the techniques she learned during the “Support, NOT perfection” workshops.

“A recommendation from the bottom of my heart, Smiljana will give you a concrete answer to everything that bothers you – not something vahue, but a real and concrete answer!” I would attend over and over again! “- Sanja Vukčević Vasić

Sanja Vukčević Vasić with her husband and son.

“I had regularly followed all NDF activities and participated in webinars, which motivated me to apply for the workshops. I wanted to find out the tips for parenting and raising children, and to share experiences with other parents. Now I am much more calm and I realized that the problems I face are not only mine but of other parents as well.
The most important practical examples that I adopted at the workshops were how to handle the rivalry between the big brother and his baby sister. “- Biljana Kostadinović

“All the information was useful to me, I enjoyed the company of mentors, and the way they approach all parents. I bought a book that Jelena recommended and it’s safe to say that I’m thrilled. Emotions and their regulation, love, tenderness, methods, healthy boundaries, self-messages””they can all really change the relationship between adults and children.
With a great dose of love and dedication, the whole team was at our disposal. They ensure that, after the program’s completion, a parent will know how to connect with the child and his needs, how to integrate true life values and thus support the child who will make confident and motivated steps towards a bright and beautiful future.”- Branka Mihailović (family from the cover photo)

A happy Radmilović family: mother Danka with her husband, daughter and son.

I learned a lot about myself, became aware of my own childhood and realized how I should not behave with my child. I tried to alter all the situations that reminded me of my mother’s behavior and how I felt in those moments. My family life has become richer in terms of conscious presence. “- Žaklina Andrejić

“I had read a lot about child psychology, but the way the program was designed in combination with Smiljana’s energy and her way of presenting completely enchanted me, so – here I am – finished my second cycle already!” – Danka Radmilović

The Novak Djokovic Foundation thanks all the participants of the workshops. We hope we have made your parenting journey easier and more meaningful. With that in mid, we are looking forward to a new cycle!

The post “Support, NOT Perfection” – Parents’ Workshop Impressions appeared first on Novak Djokovic Foundation.

The Adult’s Active Role

Parents and guardians play an active role in children’s education. How we talk with our kids now affects them later in life. With the incessant pressure current generations face, we need to enforce positive affirmations into our children’s lives and thoughts. We put a tremendous amount of faith into kids, but along with that we also unload a tremendous burden onto them. We believe they can fix the world, so we unload the world’s problems onto their tiny shoulders. In order for our children to succeed, we cannot only give them resources on how to grow and save the world; we must be an active resource and example. When these kids grow up, they are suddenly indoctrinated into how the world actually works: Opportunities and success are subjective and certain people/ideas are valued over others. This can cause the dreams of a better world to quickly come crashing down.

“Children are never too young to understand and we do not always need to protect them from inherent truths. To truly help them navigate realities, we must lead by example, by being their favorite teacher.”

Kids become who we are, even if it is not directly our fault

Children learn from us whether we are actively teaching them or not. They mimic our mannerisms and inherit our traumas, while our ideologies become their moral compasses. The things we feed our egos with and the emotional addictions we surrender to become the habits our kids feed off of. Personal morality and strong judgment can lead to children fearing disappointing their parents if they believe conflicting views. This is why we must focus on bettering ourselves, too. Our children cannot be all of the things that we failed to be. Although our intentions may come from a good place and we only wish to give our children the things we ourselves lacked, that does not mean that we are not hurting them in other ways. Even if it is not intentional, or even directly our fault, kids learn from us, both good and bad. It is important for us to be conscious of our behavior towards them, but more significantly, around them.

“Do not force your children to be something they are not. It is your job to live a life that inspires children to live theirs to their fullest potential.”

Stop imposing yourself on your children, let them be who they are

We need to let our children be themselves, no matter who they choose to be. It is their choice to decide who they want to be in this life. We can only help them along the way by doing the work to set a good example, ourselves – starting with accepting them for who they are. It is imperative that we learn to have children for unselfish reasons and be prepared to give them the resource of a present and mindful, level-headed adult. Progress means working towards unwrapping our own traumas and working on our poor habits today, not tomorrow. We have to realize that our children can’t be everything we couldn’t be for ourselves. Children should also not be brought into this world for the sake and pressure of other family members. Have children when you are ready to selflessly provide another human being with the means to live their own lives, not the life you want for them.

Ways we can hurt our children (even unintentionally)

The fact of the matter is that we can unintentionally hurt our children. We can pass down generational trauma and even our best intentions can be detrimental if we put too much pressure on our children to fit our ideals. Letting our own problems go unsolved, avoiding the work for self-improvement, and putting pressure on our children can lead to some common health struggles, both somatic and emotional.

Emotional/behavioral troubles include:

• Anxiety
• Mood disorders
• Eating disorders
• Depression
• Body / self image issues
• Guilt
• Fear
• Anger
• Confusion
• Attitude changes
• Social withdrawal / isolation

While physical problems can manifest as:

• Migraines
• Appetite loss
• Fatigue
• Insomnia
• Gastrointestinal issues
• Stomach / digestive issues

What can you do?

It is important to remember that this work is something that doesn’t happen overnight. This is something that needs to be worked on every day, slowly, but consistently. Some may need more time than others, but the work to ground ourselves needs to be done. We should never feel the need to stop improving. We are always learning and changing. To better ourselves, we need to put in the work. Self-awareness is a journey, not a destination. The revolution of raising ourselves and new generations has to start with us, not with our children. It has to start today because kids inherit our behaviors and trauma. They don’t only learn from them, they inherit them. So, let’s learn to sit with our own discomfort and, together with our kids, we can improve every day.

About the Author: Diana Randjelovic is a writer, designer, and artist. With a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture, Diana’s designs and writing focus on memory work of people and place. She is behind the online community, mala mgzn which focuses on community care for Serbian women and daughters of immigrants.

The post Be Your Child’s Favorite Teacher appeared first on Novak Djokovic Foundation.

The Adult’s Active Role

Parents and guardians play an active role in children’s education. How we talk with our kids now affects them later in life. With the incessant pressure current generations face, we need to enforce positive affirmations into our children’s lives and thoughts. We put a tremendous amount of faith into kids, but along with that we also unload a tremendous burden onto them. We believe they can fix the world, so we unload the world’s problems onto their tiny shoulders. In order for our children to succeed, we cannot only give them resources on how to grow and save the world; we must be an active resource and example. When these kids grow up, they are suddenly indoctrinated into how the world actually works: Opportunities and success are subjective and certain people/ideas are valued over others. This can cause the dreams of a better world to quickly come crashing down.

“Children are never too young to understand and we do not always need to protect them from inherent truths. To truly help them navigate realities, we must lead by example, by being their favorite teacher.”

Kids become who we are, even if it is not directly our fault

Children learn from us whether we are actively teaching them or not. They mimic our mannerisms and inherit our traumas, while our ideologies become their moral compasses. The things we feed our egos with and the emotional addictions we surrender to become the habits our kids feed off of. Personal morality and strong judgment can lead to children fearing disappointing their parents if they believe conflicting views. This is why we must focus on bettering ourselves, too. Our children cannot be all of the things that we failed to be. Although our intentions may come from a good place and we only wish to give our children the things we ourselves lacked, that does not mean that we are not hurting them in other ways. Even if it is not intentional, or even directly our fault, kids learn from us, both good and bad. It is important for us to be conscious of our behavior towards them, but more significantly, around them.

“Do not force your children to be something they are not. It is your job to live a life that inspires children to live theirs to their fullest potential.”

Stop imposing yourself on your children, let them be who they are

We need to let our children be themselves, no matter who they choose to be. It is their choice to decide who they want to be in this life. We can only help them along the way by doing the work to set a good example, ourselves – starting with accepting them for who they are. It is imperative that we learn to have children for unselfish reasons and be prepared to give them the resource of a present and mindful, level-headed adult. Progress means working towards unwrapping our own traumas and working on our poor habits today, not tomorrow. We have to realize that our children can’t be everything we couldn’t be for ourselves. Children should also not be brought into this world for the sake and pressure of other family members. Have children when you are ready to selflessly provide another human being with the means to live their own lives, not the life you want for them.

Ways we can hurt our children (even unintentionally)

The fact of the matter is that we can unintentionally hurt our children. We can pass down generational trauma and even our best intentions can be detrimental if we put too much pressure on our children to fit our ideals. Letting our own problems go unsolved, avoiding the work for self-improvement, and putting pressure on our children can lead to some common health struggles, both somatic and emotional.

Emotional/behavioral troubles include:

• Anxiety
• Mood disorders
• Eating disorders
• Depression
• Body / self image issues
• Guilt
• Fear
• Anger
• Confusion
• Attitude changes
• Social withdrawal / isolation

While physical problems can manifest as:

• Migraines
• Appetite loss
• Fatigue
• Insomnia
• Gastrointestinal issues
• Stomach / digestive issues

What can you do?

It is important to remember that this work is something that doesn’t happen overnight. This is something that needs to be worked on every day, slowly, but consistently. Some may need more time than others, but the work to ground ourselves needs to be done. We should never feel the need to stop improving. We are always learning and changing. To better ourselves, we need to put in the work. Self-awareness is a journey, not a destination. The revolution of raising ourselves and new generations has to start with us, not with our children. It has to start today because kids inherit our behaviors and trauma. They don’t only learn from them, they inherit them. So, let’s learn to sit with our own discomfort and, together with our kids, we can improve every day.

About the Author: Diana Randjelovic is a writer, designer, and artist. With a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture, Diana’s designs and writing focus on memory work of people and place. She is behind the online community, mala mgzn which focuses on community care for Serbian women and daughters of immigrants.

The post Be Your Child’s Favorite Teacher appeared first on Novak Djokovic Foundation.

The academic and emotional gaps between children raised in poverty and their wealthier peers begin almost immediately in life. Without effective interventions, an entire group of children faces a continuous barrage of learning challenges, lowered expectations, and missed opportunities to end the cycle of poverty.

While many have struggled to effectively reverse these differences, a group of researchers may have found an effective mechanism to prevent these differences all together. Good parenting and fostering an effective relationship between mother and child can work wonders to change the often-negative behavior that is seen in less-privileged children. Short attention spans, hyperactive behavior, and separation distress are just three of the issues that can prevent children from learning effectively once they arrive at school and lead to other behavioral issues later in life. Although discipline may be our gut reaction to deal with and correct these behaviors, New York University child development specialist Alan Mendelsohn takes a different approach. Instead of approaching these issues with negativity, which can snowball into emotional issues for the child, Mendelsohn encourages parents to focus on the positive behaviors.

Copyright: Evgeny Atamanenko

Wealthy parents have the opportunity to hone these effective parenting skills in expensive one-on-one coaching sessions. These sessions, which include home visits and a steep price tag of $1,500 to $10,000 per year, are often out of reach for many parents, particularly in lower income brackets. So how can we ensure that new parents know how to work with their children and prevent any emotional and behavioral issues, without financially or logistically burdening new parents?

That was the question that Mendelsohn and his colleagues asked. Their solution was to pair regular doctor’s visits with parenting coaching.

Arriving with their babies and toddlers, new mothers experienced varying degrees of parenting education from their physicians aimed at addressing socio-emotional issues and ensuring that children from less privileged backgrounds were ready for school when they got there.

To measure the impact of these interventions, pairs of new moms and toddlers were put into three groups. For some mothers, their doctors’ visits were not changed at all. As with most new moms, physicians offer basic advice and coaching on reading to their children to support the child’s development. A second group of mothers and children received slightly more support. In addition to verbal coaching, these moms were provided with books, toys, and informational pamphlets. The third and final group received the most parenting support. During their doctors visits, moms and their children met with an interventionist who facilitated parent-child interactions, shared reading materials and recorded the sessions on videotapes. The intervention coaches then informed the new moms about the positive things that occurred during the session and sent home the tapes for review.

Copyright: gpointstudio

With a greater degree of intervention, children showed a greater benefit across a range of emotional metrics. Children who worked with their parents and an interventionist before or after their doctor’s visits were able to focus more and showed diminished levels of separation distress. Overall, fifty percent fewer children in the video interaction group showed signs of hyperactive behavior than those who received no intervention at all.

Their counterparts who simply received toys did also show some gains in their ability to play and decreases in separation distress, but did not have improved attention spans, compared to the control group.

Improving a child’s attention span and decreasing their hyperactivity could have important goals for their overall learning outcomes. Early childhood expert and director of the Children’s Learning Institute, Susan Landry, noted that if children are able to control their behavior and increase their attention, they are able to gain more information during class and activities. This could help correct the gap that begins early for children with emotional and attention issues compared to their focused, and often more privileged, classmates.

Unlike the costly home visit programs that are realistic for only a small fraction of new mothers, this approach is significantly less time consuming and costly. Whereas in-home visits often require 25-30 hours per year, these sessions were only 30 minutes before or after a regular check-up. Similarly, in contrast to the overwhelming cost of at-home programs, these interventions were extremely affordable; the cost of the intervention was lowered to $200.

This current study highlights the benefits from less time-consuming and costly programs and opens the door to a number of low-cost programs that could benefit children from all socio-economic backgrounds. For example, Susan Landry is hoping to use iPads and other technologies to enable parents to work remotely with child development specialists. The more we can do early in a child’s life to prevent these negative behaviors from developing while also avoiding high cost and high commitment programs will surely have ripple effects throughout the educational system and society.

The post Low-Cost Parenting Coaching During Doctor’s Visits appeared first on Novak Djokovic Foundation.

For us,  at NDF, the concept of family is of the outmost importance and through our work, we strive to help and empower the family to be better, stronger and safer for each and every member of the society. When families are strong, that’s when we see the most progress in the society. That’s when we see early childhood development at its prime.

So today, on the Global Day of Parents, we are taking a moment to appreciate all the parents and parental figures around the world for the vital role they play in the development of the family, and subsequently, children. We thank them for their never-ending work and patience. We would be nothing if it wasn’t for you!

Copyright: Alliance

Here is our selection on texts on parenting. Enjoy!

All They Need Is Love

5 Tips that Can Help Your Child Learn Better

How to Identify a Gifted Child and Encourage Its Talents?

‘Good Enough’ Parents

What Qualities Do Parents Value Based on Their Education?

How to Prevent Children from Thinking Negative about Themselves?

Overparenting Trap and How to Avoid It

Outsourced Parenting

Bringing up Girls

Outcomes of Divorce

A Working Mom Is More Likely to Have a Successful Daughter or a Caring Son

Time in or Time out

Why French Parents Are Superior

How to Talk to Your Kids to Instill a Growth Mindset

Parenting in a Violent World

7 Tips for Raising a Caring Child

The Hidden Benefits of Reading Aloud to Children

How Do Parenting Lessons Benefit Parents and Children?

5 Books You Should Read on Effective Parenting

Make Optimism the Way of Life for Your Child

The post 1st of June: Global Day of Parents appeared first on Novak Djokovic Foundation.

In the past most children experienced the unpleasant routine to carry home weights and weights of textbooks whereas today’s youngsters simply turn to electronic versions of books on their tablets or computers. This technological development may save time, space and weight but there is no scientific evidence that shows that it will help children in the learning process of memorising and understanding information. In turn, research suggests that there is one simple technique that promotes children’s learning and reading skills: taking time to open and read an actual book aloud.

Why Does Reading Aloud Matter?

The national campaign group Read Aloud has raised the concern that more than one in three children start kindergarten without possessing the literacy and language development skills necessary to succeed in life-long learning. According to the findings of educational studies, researchers are confident that parents who read aloud to their children support their kindergarten and school preparation more successfully than parents who do not engage in reading aloud. This means that the typical storytelling routine is not only a calming or entertaining tool but it may also help children to develop a better vocabulary, improve the ability to read and encourage the passion for reading in adulthood.

A review in the Archives of Disease in Childhood concludes that parents who are engaged in the activity to read aloud to their children foster language development skills and the interpersonal relationship between child and parent.

Copyright: gpointstudio

Studies demonstrate that the years from birth to age 3 are the most critical in the development of language skills. This is because children often quadruple the number of words they know between their first and second birthday leaving some children with a 30 million word gap in comparison to their peers at the age of 4 when parents to not read stories aloud to them. According to national Read Aloud campaigners, reading is the only activity that helps young children to increase their vocabulary, familiarise themselves with printed words, improve listening comprehension and enhance their own creativity. The campaign’s website quotes studies that found out that children who lack an extensive vocabulary in kindergarten do not have the ability to read at grade level by the end of first grade. As a consequence, these kids also have an 88% risk of still missing the reading grade level by the end of fourth grade. In the long run, children with low reading proficiency rates are also four times more likely to leave school before graduation.

The Struggle of Reading Aloud in Practice

Despite this evidence, many parents and teachers do not read aloud to their youngsters at home or in the classroom at all or only irregularly. This development fosters an environment where children cannot develop their full potential when it comes to a diverse vocabulary and many children even lack critical language skills such as using full and complete sentences. A report published by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics revealed that only 64% of families read to preschoolers each day. The number even drops below 50% in families who live on low income. The statistics also show that children who grow up in low-income households are less likely to have access to print materials. Reversing this trend is very important, given the fact that the number of words a child knows when starting kindergarten is a key predictor of success in the future.

Copyright: Olesia Bilkei

Why is this? The teaching in the classroom is dominated by oral conversations. Teaching happens through talking rather than reading. This means that the children with the largest vocabularies have an advantage because they understand most of what the teacher is saying but the children with small vocabularies have difficulty keeping up and understanding what it going on.

Parent’s Decision to Raise a Reader

Fortunately, parents have the ability to positively influence this development by the simple activity of reading books aloud to children from a young age. The good news for families is that this activity is literally free of charge when borrowing books with a library card and only requires the willingness to spend some quality time with the youngsters. Research shows that even as little as 15 minutes are plenty of time when reading aloud to children each day from a very young age in order to see enhanced vocabulary and knowledge development skills in the long run. This is because scarifying 15 minutes each day for five years adds up to 27,375 minutes or put differently, 480 hours of reading and listening time. All these hours will support children in learning to read better, thinking better and imaging more richly and creatively. Besides these long-term benefits, there is also the immediate enjoyment to share an interesting book and spending quality time with the kids.

No scientific evidence that electronic tools help children to memorise information: healthland.time.com

The post The Hidden Benefits of Reading Aloud to Children appeared first on Novak Djokovic Foundation.

Parenting is an area in which there are no set instructions or manuals to direct parents on how to correctly raise their children, and there is no magical formula that will make the perfect guide. Of course, parenting is subjective, and parents are often the best judge of character of their own children, but why not take the advice of knowledgeable and experienced courses and teachers? People often fail to realize that most parenting lessons and courses are fuelled and taught by experienced teachers, and are supported by reputable scientific reports.

Source: www.avance-austin.org

Although many parents are hesitant to take parenting lessons, because they may feel it’s a reflection of their self-worth as parents, they often fail to realize that most parenting classes work to build upon skills, rather than teach completely new ones. The ideology that most parenting-education institutions try to encourage is that parenting courses aren’t created to help bad parents, but to improve the good parenting skills of most parents.

Especially for new parents, parenting lessons give parents the confidence they need to competently raise children. Having assurance and support from a group of parents and children also provides new parents with a source of feedback and assistance in the event they ever need help or advice. Just as with any other class or group, although it may seem intimidating at first, the group of parents can learn to support and learn from each other, and help ensure the success of each individual family.

Many parenting classes teach the significance of positive discipline and its influence on the development of their child. Learning to manage anger and channel it into positive reinforcement is an integral aspect of raising happy and healthy children. This is one example of a valuable skill that parenting classes teach parents that benefit both the parents and the children.

How do parenting lessons fit into the Early Childhood Development movement?

The first three years of a child’s life are some of the most important years in their development. In particular, brain development, which begins from the time the zygote is first formed, and continues well beyond birth. The way a child is raised in its early years has a significant impact on its mental development, not only during this period, but also throughout the rest of its life.

A child’s exposure to education in the early onset of its life will help shape its views and responses to education for the rest of its life. A child that is in a learning environment that is engaging and non-chaotic will stimulate the child and help them focus their energy and concentration on learning and playing.

Source: www.avance-austin.org

Parenting classes are often fuelled by scientific research in the field of early childhood development, and work to teach parents the most efficient and effective ways of helping their children grow and develop. More educated parents will make better decisions in the lives of their children, in turn improving the mental and emotional development of children in their early years.

What countries are taking action to support Early Childhood Education?

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, has made headlines by announcing that he plans parenting classes for all families, not just low-income families or families in need of counseling and support. This stems from the idea that ALL parents, not just those from deprived backgrounds, need to learn how to parent properly, especially in the early years of their children’s life.

David and Samantha Cameron Photo: GETTY

By providing affordable and accessible parenting classes, the Prime Minister is hoping to encourage parents to take more measures to educate themselves on the science of parenting, and to learn from professionals what methods and approaches are most suitable for the development of their children.

The Prime Minister announced his plan in correlation with declaring that a £70 million investment in relationship counseling would be forthcoming in order to help prevent the splitting up of families. This (relatively) new emphasis on family support the Prime Minister’s goal of improving social mobility and reducing poverty, both of which can be accomplished by providing better support for families.  

Families are the best anti-poverty measure ever invented.  They are a welfare, education and counselling system all wrapped up into one. We all need more help with this €“ the most important job we’ll ever have – Prime Minister Cameron  said,  

And with that, he announced his plan to standardize and encourage parenting classes for families from all income levels and backgrounds. Hopefully, other countries will learn from the example the UK has set, and begin implementing Early Childhood Education and Development programs to aid families support children in this integral period of development.

The post How Do Parenting Lessons Benefit Parents and Children? appeared first on Novak Djokovic Foundation.