Sample Articles
Article for Parents – Short Version
Article for Parents – Long Version
Media Release to Promote an Event Associated with the Campaign
E-mail Announcement for Service Providers
Article for Service Providers
Article for Parents – Short Version
Parenting can be challenging! It is sometimes difficult for parents to find ways to guide their children towards appropriate behaviour. Research shows that slapping, spanking, yelling or shaming does not work. These can harm children and may have negative lasting impacts. Children tend to mimic what they see and may use the same behaviours towards others. There are more positive ways to teach children that do work.
The Best Start Resource Centre has developed a website on child discipline to help parents of children from birth to age six. The website offers short videos that explain how parents can guide their children in a positive way. The videos include interviews with an expert on child psychology. Parents also share some of their tips in dealing with everyday challenges. Links to additional resources and programs for parents are provided on the website. For more information, visit: www.ChildrenSeeChildrenLearn.ca.
Article for Parents – Long Version
All parents want to have a child who is well-behaved and can deal with everyday challenges. Children learn how to resolve conflict from their parents. If the parent often yells, spanks, threatens and/or shames the child, the child will learn that it is okay to act that way with others. These methods can harm children and may have negative lasting impacts on their relationships with others. There are more positive ways to teach children that do work!
The new website www.ChildrenSeeChildrenLearn.ca offers many suggestions to help you guide your child from birth to age six. The website has eight short video clips. Four of these videos share suggestions for parents to guide their children in a positive way and comments from experts.The videos show real-life situations that were filmed with families from Ontario. The other four videos offer tips from parents who have young children. All the videos can be shared with your online social networks.
Here are some of the positive discipline tips found in the videos:
· Think about what your child understands at this age.
· See the situation from your child’s point of view.
· Redirect your child’s attention.
· Help your child understand why their behaviour is not acceptable.
· Give your child choices.
· Help your child learn to problem-solve.
· Help your child see how to fix mistakes.
· Show your unconditional love.
The website was developed in response to a survey of 500 Ontario parents of children aged zero to six years old. The survey confirmed that parents find parenting challenging. The majority of parents reported that, at least occasionally, they got annoyed with their child and lost their temper. Twenty-six (26%) of parents slapped or spanked their children at least occasionally. Given the number of young children in Ontario, this indicates that there are a quarter million young children who are sometimes slapped or spanked! Yet, research clearly shows the negative, long-term impact of physical punishment. Parents need help in finding positive ways to guide their children.
Parents of young children indicated that they like to learn about parenting using interactive websites. www.ChildrenSeeChildrenLearn.ca has been designed with the needs of busy parents in mind. The website is easy to navigate and the videos are interesting. Experts were consulted in the development of the website to make sure that the information was based on research. Many parents tested the website and said they found it very useful.
For more information and resources for new and future parents, visit the Best Start Resource Centre’s website at http://en.beststart.org/for_parents.
Media Release to Promote an Event Associated with the Campaign
Name of Community/Organization Taking Part in Campaign to Promote Positive Child Discipline
Parenting can be challenging! It is sometimes difficult for parents to find ways to guide their children towards appropriate behaviour. Too often, in stressful situations, parents resort to physical and emotional punishments. Children learn that it is okay to act with others in a similar way. Research is clearly showing physical and emotional punishment can harm children and may have negative lasting impacts on their relationships with others.
Name of Community/Organization is part of a province-wide campaign to help parents guide their children in a positive way. The central element of the campaign is a new website for parents of children aged zero to six years old: www.ChildrenSeeChildrenLearn.ca. The website offers short videos that show positive discipline techniques.
Name of organization in city/town is offering a local initiative to promote the campaign. Add in information on what your event will be and the programming you offer to this target audience. Be sure to include why this event is relevant to your community.
To find out more about this community event please contact add contact information. To find out about child discipline, visit: www.ChildrenSeeChildrenLearn.ca.
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Note:
Potentials special events to link to:
- National Family Week, First week of October
- Child Abuse Prevention Month in Ontario, October
- National Child Day, November 20
- Workshops for parents you are offering
E-mail Announcement for Service Providers
The Best Start Resource Centre has launched a provincial awareness campaign on child discipline.
· The goal of the awareness campaign is to reduce the prevalence of physical and emotional punishment of children from birth to age 6. The main audience is mothers, fathers and other primary caregivers of children from birth to age 6.
· The key element of the campaign is the website www.ChildrenSeeChildrenLearn.ca, containing eight videos in each French and English. Four of these videos depict parent-child interactions and expert comments based on age. The other four videos are interviews with parents of young children who share tips and normalize the parenting challenges. Additional links for parents are included on the website.
· A number of promotional strategies have been developed for service providers, in French and English, to direct parents to this website: radio and television public service announcements, growth charts, graphics, articles, mini-posters, etc. These are available at en.beststart.org/services/campaigns/child-discipline-campaign-campaign-resources.
· A complementary “ready-to-use” parent workshop is also available to be used with parent groups or through home visiting. This tool includes a DVD and facilitator guide, in French and English. The workshop can be ordered at www.beststart.org.
· Full-day regional workshops are offered to service providers on child discipline strategies in October and November. The English workshops are presented by Dr. Chaya Kulkarni, Director of Infant Mental Health Promotion, Hospital for Sick Children and the French ones by Kathleen Patterson, Mental Health Consultant.
For additional information on the campaign, contact .
Article for Service Providers
The Best Start Resource Centre has launched an awareness campaign on child discipline. At the heart of this campaign is the website www.ChildrenSeeChildrenLearn.ca, which emphasizes the importance of role modeling for parents. It offers parents many suggestions to help them guide their child from birth to age six. The website has eight short video clips. Four of these videos share suggestions to guide children in a positive way and comments from experts.The videos show real-life situations that were filmed with families from Ontario. The other four videos offer tips from parents who have young children. All the videos can be shared through online social networks.
To ensure this campaign is evidence-based, the background research that was completed to guide this campaign on child discipline included:
· Interviews with 18 experts in the field of child discipline (Canada and United States).
· An environmental scan of other campaigns on the topic of child discipline and a review of available campaign evaluation data.
· A literature review of current research related to child discipline. Research clearly showed the negative, long-term impact of physical and emotional punishment. Alternative best practices were reviewed to help define effective strategies.
· A needs assessment of service providers who work in maternal child health to define the most effective ways to reach parents.
· A survey of 500 Ontario parents of children aged zero to six years old to assess their attitudes, behaviours and needs regarding child discipline. The majority of parents reported that, at least occasionally, they got annoyed with their child and lost their temper. Twenty-six (26%) of parents slapped or spanked their children at least occasionally. The survey revealed that fathers generally had more negative behaviours than mothers regarding child discipline (fathers were more likely to say they slapped/spanked, less likely to be aware of the negative consequences of punishment, and more likely to believe in strict discipline, etc.). The survey results emphasized that all parents need help in finding positive ways to guide their children. Based on the parent survey, the top sources of parenting information and influence for parents were:
o Family / friends / colleagues
o Internet (information websites)
o Childcare provider / teacher
o Health care provider
Parents of young children indicated that they like to learn about parenting using interactive websites. www.ChildrenSeeChildrenLearn.ca has been designed with the needs of busy parents in mind. The website is easy to navigate and the videos are interesting. Special attention was given to ensure fathers were well represented in the videos. An advisory committee of key stakeholders and experts in child development guided the development of the website. Many parents tested the website and said they found it very useful.
A number of promotional strategies have been developed for service providers, to direct parents to this website: radio and television public service announcements, growth charts, graphics, articles, mini-posters, etc. The Best Start Resource Centre would like to encourage service providers to include information about the campaign in their newsletters, on their websites and to promote it to their local media. They can also offer short parent workshops using the ready-to-use workshops. All the promotional materials can be downloaded and ordered from en.beststart.org/services/campaigns/child-discipline-campaign-campaign-resources.
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