FIEP calls for universal parenting education

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 5, 2013 /CNW/ - Responding to recent horrors - the mass killing of schoolchildren in Newtown CT and the brutal rape and murder of a young woman in Delhi India - the International Federation for Parenting Education (FIEP), based in Paris, has issued a call for universal parenting education. "The questions we ask," say the authors of the call, "is not only, Who raised the young men who perpetrated these atrocious crimes? but, What social supports were missing from their parents' lives that could have led them to seek appropriate help for their clearly troubled sons?"

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According to a TIME/CNN poll January 28, 2013, 37% of respondents put responsibility for gun violence on 'ways parents raise their children', the same percentage as those who blame 'influences of pop culture'. Only 23% of respondents blame 'availability of guns'.

Dr. Catherine Bernard, director of SERFAC (Chennai), Mary Crowley, OBE, president of FIEP (London), and Eve Sullivan, founder of Parents Forum (Cambridge Mass.), with decades of experience in parenting and family support, wrote this call and invite individuals and organizations in all sectors of society - business, government and nonprofit - to support it. [bit.ly/XGkgUf]

Strong and loving parent-child relationships, appropriate engagement of parents in their children's school and social lives and family security all correlate dependably with positive behaviors in young people. "If societies want to improve parenting, they must examine and improve how they educate and support parents," Bernard, Crowley and Sullivan assert.

Call for universal parenting education:

On behalf of parents and parenting educators around the world, the International Federation for Parenting Education calls for a new dedication by individuals, non-for-profit organisations, businesses and governments to positive support for all parents.

We renew our own strong commitment to parents and others in parenting roles on whom the children of the world depend. To counteract commercialisation of our lives, commodification of individuals and deep-rooted, pervasive violence in our communities, we must support parents in rebuilding foundations of positive values, thought and action to uphold family life, in diverse forms and across generations. Only by doing this in both policy and practice can we prepare young people for the healthy, happy and productive lives that we all want them to achieve.

- Eve Sullivan
Founder, Parents Forum
[phone] and cell: 1-617-233-7890
[email protected]
Cambridge, Massachusetts USA
http://www.parentsforum.org

- Mary Crowley, OBE
President, IFPE/FIEP
[email protected]
London, England
http://www.fiep-ifpe.fr

- Dr. Catherine Bernard
Founder Director, SERFAC
[email protected]
Chennai, India
http://www.serfacglobal.org

SOURCE: International Federation for Parenting Education

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