Observations and Stakeholders' Views Gathered

On parenting and family relationship

Positive parenting is conducive to the happy development of children. Parents should give more compliments to their children for building up their self-confidence and instilling positive attitude.
Parents maintaining good relationship with their spouses, as well as having good emotion and stress management are important for positive parenting.
Parents’ major concern was the academic development of their children, where conflicts with their children mostly originated from. Handling conflicts among siblings also posed challenges for parents.
Parents should have a clear division of work and responsibility on parenting, so that they could better support one another in raising children.
Some parents suggested to encourage elder children to assist in caring the younger siblings to enhance their sense of involvement in the family. Exploration of more family play time is also important to foster stronger relationship.
Some parents expressed difficulties in understanding the needs of their children, especially during the transitional period from primary to secondary school. It was particularly hard for parents from mainland China who did not familiarise with the Hong Kong’s education system, despite support has been given by schools.
Some parents considered that attending talks and workshops on parental skills organised by non-governmental organisations (NGO) could enrich their knowledge of parenting approaches and effectively help them to think more from children’s perspective.
Some parents expressed that taking care of the family made them feel tired, and they would therefore like to take more rest and relaxation if they had spare time. A single parent said that she had never thought of how to improve her own well-being.

On support service to parents

Some parents shared that after-school tuition classes would help release parents’ pressure on parenting and homework coaching, but it took a long time to wait for a spot.
Some NGOs provide a wide range of free extra-curricular activities specifically for children with under-privileged background. It was suggested that the NGOs might consider extending these opportunities to children from families not fulfilling the income requirement by allowing them to enrol the activities at a reasonable cost.

On the arrangement of the event

The event was well-organised and successfully engaged the community and families from different background with the integration of cultural significance. Non-official members of the Commission on Children (CoC) were happy to directly interact with the stakeholders (including parents and their children), and share their insights on positive parenting and family bonding with the participants.
The participants generally enjoyed the event which was a precious experience for their families. The interactive games and outdoor activities provided families with opportunities to connect and collaborate, thereby enhancing family bonding.
Non-official members of CoC appreciated that practical techniques of positive parenting were shared by the clinical psychologist at the parent session, which gave them insight to healthier family dynamics and child development. It was suggested that take-home reference materials summarising the key parenting techniques could be provided in order to assist them in putting the theories into practice in their daily lives.