Parenting is an experiential journey where you are constantly learning to cope with new challenges while you support your children through their growth and development. As children grow through various developmental stages, the support required from you is also constantly evolving. At times, there will be more difficult specific childhood challenges, and parents often feel at a loss of what to.
Some of these challenges may include
- Learning and developmental delays
- Peer and social difficulties
- Addiction behaviours such as computer, gaming
- Emotional issues such as temper tantrums and withdrawal from people
- Behavioural difficulties such as non-compliance, school refusal, lying
As a parent, there are also challenges such as
- Learning to adjust and adapt to the arrival of a new baby, including adjusting to new roles and expectations
- Difficult feelings as such feelings of helplessness when you cannot seem to improve situation
- Experiencing rejection from children
- Coping with the stress of being a single-parent or co-parenting
- Different parenting values from your spouse
- Managing time and financial constraints
Speaking to a counsellor can help you process through some of these common parenting challenges and develop a plan of action to tackle the issues. Additionally, there are resources that could help support you:
1. Parenting Support Providers (PSPs)
PSPs are one-stop service providers set up by MSF. They work closely with schools within their allocated regions, to deliver evidence-based parenting programmes and provide follow-on counselling support to parents who need it. You can find out more information, including the locations, through this link:
https://www.msf.gov.sg/policies/Strong-and-Stable-Families/Supporting-Families/Pages/Parenting.aspx
2. Triple P Online parenting programme
It is an evidence-based online parenting programme that equips parents with positive parenting skills. You can find out more about how to access this free programme through the same link as above.
