Modern parenthood is full of challenges and majority of adults say that the role of a parent is the most beautiful and the hardest one in their life. Most of the time, parents want the best for their children, but there are moments when they feel frustrated and helpless, due to high expectations and stress lead by everyday life, which also reflects on child raising. Sometimes, not knowing how to find another solution, they tend to physically punish their children. They often feel bad themselves. On the other side, some of them cannot see anything bad in doing it, because they themselves were raised in a society where physical punishment was an accepted and usual raising method. Experts who work with children and youngsters and who have contact with parents each day, are a valuable source of information and support. Therefore, it is important that they themselves are aware of the consequences and myths about corporal punishment and that they introduce to parents raising methods which response to children’s needs and positively affect their development.
Research show that majority of people still support the use of corporal punishment and that some of them are even not aware of it being legally forbidden. For example, in the newest research held by Brave phone (2017) conducted on 500 examinees, 52% of them claimed that corporal punishment should not be used in general, but that it is still reasonable in some situations. 34% of them claimed that physical punshiment of your own children should not be forbidden, and the concerning fact is that 65% of examinees thought that there was an increased lack of parental care for children in the last decade.
Through this lecture, experts will be introduced to definitions and legal frame, and the focus of the lecture will be on the myths about corporal punishment, its consequences and guidelines on how to talk to parents about physical punishment and which raising methods they can use instead of it.
About lecturer:
Sara Milavec graduated from Psychology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social sciences in Zagreb. She is a program coordinator of Brave phone and a national coordinator of the project „ From politics to reality – change of attitudes and practices from corporal punishment to measures for children protection“ which aims at prevention and elimination of corporal punishment through work with educators, experts and parents. She has a longtime experience in group and preventive work with children from 4 to 16 years old. She is included in a direct counselling work with children and parents at NGO Brave Phone. She participates in educations for volunteers, experts and parents about violence on and among children, about group work and creative techniques. At the moment, she is attending an education from a second level of cognitive-behavioral therapy and she also finished some extra educations in the field of counselling and work with parents in the process of a divorce.
Webinar is in Croatian language.
