"Promoting Positive
Parenting Through Positive Interactions"
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A
child and family program serving infants and teen mothers in Kansas
was disheartened by the lack of involvement of the mothers with their
infants and the poor attendance at group parent meetings. The program
employed numerous techniques to better involve parents, all of which
failed. Alice Eberhart-Wright, a consultant the program engaged, has
been an advocate for identifying and building on strengths during
her long and varied professional career. She began by visiting each
home, getting to know the mothers and getting permission to videotape
them interacting with their infants, a process Alice calls “Focus
and Reflect.” During the videotaping, Alice made only positive
comments: “It’s so wonderful the way you are talking to
your child. I can see that she is really looking at you and following
your voice and movements.” Progressively she engaged the mothers
in conversations beginning with positive questions: “What is
something you remember from your childhood that was so much fun for
you?”
After videotaping, Alice explained to the parents that she would
be editing the tapes, highlighting positive interactions between mothers
and their children and showing them at the next group parent meeting.
She expressed her gratitude for the positive ways of interacting with
infants the mothers had provided and indicated that all parents could
learn from watching one another and talking among themselves.
A month passed. Notices went out for the next parent meeting reminding
parents that they would view their videos. Guess what? Nearly all
the mothers showed up. They were eager to see themselves in the video,
glowed in the praise of others, became engaged in conversation, began
developing relationships and learned valuable skills from one another.
And they were eager for more visits and more parent meetings.
Alice trained the staff on the techniques of using positive questions,
positive interaction and videotaping. The staff now reports continued
success in parent meeting attendance and more importantly, in positive
parent/child interactions.
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