Christian Service News
Issue 59 (April 2008)
Newsflash
Play@Home
Most parents in Hong Kong lack awareness and recognition of the importance of 'play' for their children. It is believed that the more interaction between child and parent through PLAY, the better parent-child relationship. The project "Play@Home" which started from December 07 till December 08 is aimed at enhancing the parent-child relationship among deprived families in Shamshuipo district where there is a higher potential of family crisis. The project was co-organized by Hong Kong Christian Service Shamshuipo Happy Teen Club and Pricerite Stores Limited (a member of CASH Group) with the sponsorship of Partnership Fund of the Social Welfare Department.
- Play mentor said "We are ready as mentor for Play@Home".
The project includes three parts, Training, Practicum and Community Education.
Training sessions are conducted to the participating parents to teach them to be aware and recognize the importance of play and learn the skills of "child-centered parent-child play". They will practice with other parents in the group. It is expected that the training session will help them develop emotional and mutual supportive network among the served parents and mentors. A tailor-made "Play Kit" would also be provided to the served families as we hope the parents would finally be trained to build up motivation and confidence to play with their children at home.
A trained mentor would be offered to each served family and expected to perform as a 'partner' to the parents in the parent-child play training session and as 'facilitator' in the practicum session with their children.
At the final stage (around September or October) of the project, all the service users and mentors would jointly plan a community education activity in the Shamshuipo district to promote 'the importance of parent-child play' with their valuable experience.
We believe that parents will eventually adapt effective communication skills and become happier as they enjoy playing together with their children.