Observations and Stakeholders’ Views Gathered at Engagement Session on “Mental Health of Children and Positive Parenting”

Film Screening

The film “Sound of Silence” was of high quality, with dialogues and plot details that accurately portrayed children’s thoughts and common concerns or issues of parents, including parent-child relationships, spousal relationships as well as relationships with extended family.
The film provided parents with parenting insights and wisdom to reflect on, e.g. how adverse spousal relationships, interactions, and behaviors could produce long-lasting impacts on children.
Being stimulating and thought-provoking, the film highly facilitated the follow-up discussion in the parent session.

Parallel Breakout Sessions

Children Session on Emotion Card Playing
- In general, the children enjoyed the session with active participation. They generally understood the emotional vocabulary shown on the emotion cards, and were forthcoming in giving illustrations of different emotions and sharing their views on the ways in which their peers handled different feelings. Some of them were unable to differentiate between similar types of emotions or express their feelings through language or body movements/facial expressions.
- Some children were observed to be introverted to share their feelings, especially positive feelings. It was suggested that positive education should be enhanced to boost their self-confidence.
- The negative emotions shared by most of the children were related to academics, particularly heavy homework loads and parents’ expectations/comments. It was suggested that more attention should be paid to the impact of homework load on the physical and mental development of children.
- With respect to emotional management, some children offered positive and constructive ways of coping with negative emotions such as self-adjustment (calming down, deep breathing, cognitive adjustment, etc.) and sharing with friends, teachers and family members. Some, however, tended to release their negative emotions through video More proper advice on how to handle emotions should be given to children.
- Some children indicated that when they shared their feelings with parents or schoolmates, only simple responses were received since the latter two were indulged in the use of electronic devices and playing respectively. It was suggested that the elements of daily life interactions be incorporated into parent education. Also, the concept of peer counselling could be promoted to encourage students to care more about their schoolmates and friends.
- Some children indicated that they felt pressured when their conversation content with peers were somehow made known to the teachers or parents and they became reluctant to share their personal affairs with others again due to mistrust. It was suggested that schools could establish a communication channel that is trustworthy and adheres to the principle of confidentiality to facilitate their sharing.
- Some children shared that their parents were partial to other siblings and did not attend to them sometimes.
- It was difficult to read and observe the emotions of some children through non-verbal expressions since they still wore face masks not on health reasons. Schools may need to encourage children to rebuild their confidence and adjust their habits by suitably removing the masks.
Parents Sharing Session
- In general, parents were highly engaged in the session through active sharing and asking questions. Some shared their personal struggles and difficulties encountered in child rearing, in particular siblings’ rivalries and comparisons.
- The guest speaker was knowledgeable and capable of giving profound insights into children’s needs and psychological states. His explanation of the behaviors and emotions of the film’s characters, with the underlying reasons analysed, enabled parents to better understand the challenges and pressures faced by children during their development and learn how to provide them with better support. He also offered new perspectives and advice to help address the specific difficulties or challenges shared by the parents.

Parent-child Group Sharing Session

The emotion card set let children better understand and manage their emotions by giving them an opportunity to think and learn alternative ways to address such emotions. It was also a useful instrument to facilitate the communication and sharing between parents and their children. Nevertheless, some emotion cards were relatively abstract and adjustments were recommended to be made to suit the age and cognitive ability of children.
In general, children were able to explain to their parents how to play with the emotion cards. Communication and interaction between parents and their children were good. There were heartwarming scenes where children taught their parents how to play with the emotion cards and expressed love to each other. Some fathers also had good chats with their children.
A few children who were energetic and courageous to speak up during the children session behaved in a quiet and not relaxing manner in front of their parents.
Many parents were touched by the sharing of the Secretary for Labour and Welfare on his parenting experiences and bonding with his children.

Parent-child Interactive Activities

The rainbow parachute game demonstrated wonderful parent-child involvement. Most of the participants were excited and joyful to complete the tasks as assigned. Some parents chose to stand at the back to let their children grasp the parachute and fully enjoy the game.

Feedback on the Event Management

The engagement event was well planned with the venue being spacious, comfortable and convenient to all. It successfully showcased the joint efforts of the Government, related professionals and various stakeholders in addressing the mental health issues of school-aged It was also conducive to the promotion of positive parenting, parent-child relationships, mutual communication, and the importance of children’s mental health.
The event provided non-official members of the Commission on Children (CoC) with a valuable opportunity to directly interact and connect with a wide range of important stakeholders who possessed extensive experience working with children. Through discussions with parents and children, a deeper understanding of their concerns and perspectives on positive parenting and emotional management was gained.
Non-official members of CoC expressed gratitude to the WEMP Foundation for their support and appreciated the Secretariat to make the session a meaningful occasion. It was suggested that the event be re-run in different districts and communities with recruitment channels expanded to benefit more target participants and families.