Positive discipline

By Sofia Logarta
Cebu Daily News
7:55 am | Sunday, September 18th, 2011 

The UP Cebu Gender Office was happy to get a  second invitation for the series putting an end to corporal punishment.

We sent two parents, Annie Aboga-Manzano and Annabelle Gilla-Maglasang who are also guidance services specialists.  We are hoping that both can share with our colleagues in UP Cebu a very positive perspective for parenting. Both are also members of the UP Cebu High School Parent-Teacher Association. So we are hoping that they can echo the training’s inputs here.

The training provided a list of laws that, although it still has to be completed, covers so many aspects on  child protection.

For children and youth’s health,  these are: the National Code of Marketing Breastmilk Substitutes, Breastmilk Supplements and Other Related Products, The Breastfeeding Act, Compulsory Immunization Against Hepatitis B and the law on Salt Iodization.

In relation to education, we have the following: Free Secondary Education Act and the Day Care Law – Barangay Level Total Development and Protection Act, Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education Act, and An Act Integrating Drug Prevention and Control in the Intermediate and Secondary Curricula as well as in Nonformal, Informal, and Indigenous Learning Systems.

Then there are laws to protect children from abuse and other violations of their rights: Special Protection Against Child Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination; Executive Order 275, Creating a Committee for Special Protection of Children from All Forms of Neglect, Abuse, Cruelty, Exploitation, Discrimination and Other Conditions Prejudicial to Development; E. O. No. 56, Authorizing the Department of Social Welfare and Development to take protective custody of child prostitutes and sexually-exploited children; Child and Youth Welfare Code; Anti Child Pornography Act; Juvenile Justice Welfare Act; and An Act Prohibiting the Employment of Children Below 15 Years of Age in Public and Private Undertakings.

Obviously, we have many laws for children and youth. To  make them actually work for children, there is a need for information dissemination and  legal education not only for the young, their parents and teachers but also for the entire community whose support and vigilance will be required. Alternative lawyering is also a must for advocacy and empowerment of all sectors involved. We are glad the Legal Alternatives for Women Center Inc. is working on this in many ways, two weekly radio programs and one on television.

Annabelle Gilla-Maglasang thanked the office for an enlightening training-workshop on Positive Discipline.  The materials sent to us by Michael Cornelia of Plan International made us understand how happy she was about the training as well as her eagerness to share the insights with both our colleagues and the PTA.

Looking at the material made me realize that it all starts with loving.  If we genuinely love our children, we would be available to them to assist them as they grow having “self-discipline and confidence.” This requires a coherent approach, not separate illogical reactions, for it is a great challenge to “guide children to be in harmony within one’s self as well as with others.”  This involves a whole “culture of respect for human rights” that will give rise among the children “thinking and behavior manifesting respect.”

Instilling Positive Discipline can also be seen as the process of growing up—a problem-solving approach to the challenges of relationships; mature adults need to provide the young with “relationships with warmth and a supportive learning environment.”  We can be more of help if “we understand how children think and feel.”

It was asserted that positive discipline is definitely not “permissive parenting nor the absence of rules, limits, or expectations; nor just an alternative to punishment.”  It “involves building mutually respectful relationships with children, clearly communicating expectations, rules and limits, increasing children’s competence and confidence to handle challenging situations.”

Sidlak Gender Resource Center will celebrate its eighth anniversary with a  forum on the Comprehensive Reproductive Health Bill in the UP Cebu Conference Hall from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 27.

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