Children’s rights organizations and advocates of positive discipline gathered last May 21, 2015 at the Quezon City Sports Club to promote ...
Children’s
rights organizations and advocates of positive discipline gathered last
May 21, 2015 at the Quezon City Sports Club to promote Positive
Discipline as good parenting. The “Go Positive! Celebrity Advocate Media
Launch” unveiled the newest addition to the growing ranks of positive
discipline advocates. Celebrities Cherry Pie Picache,, Reema Chanco and
Lotlot de Leon gave their statements of support and urged the public to
“Go Positive!”
Organized
by the PETA ARTS (Advocate Right to Safety) Zone Project in partnership
with Plan International, Child Rights Network (CRN) and Dakila, supported
by terre des homes-Germany, German Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and the European Union (EU), the
media launch featured the advocacy video, “Go Positive! The Positive
Discipline Approach to Parenting.” Advocates from various sectors
including public school educators, faith-based groups and youth shared
testimonials on how going positive rears children who are able to grow
towards reaching their full potentials and develop holistically as human
beings.
Marichu Belarmino, Director of PETA ARTS Zone Project, said, “For
the Filipino parents, children are considered blessings given by the
Creator and therefore, they are showered with much care and love acting
as their guardians. For Filipino children, his or her parents are most
often placed on a pedestal and the family plays a significant role in
his/her growing-up years. Across
decades and through the years, disciplining children has been equated
with placing punishment on them and most importantly, regarded as a
private matter. As
the global world and the Filipino culture and society evolve, we are
now confronted with the question: Is punishment the way to discipline a
child? Are we indeed creating a nurturing, loving and caring place for
our children once we inflict harm and pain on them?”
The
Child Rights Network has been lobbying for the passage of a law that
will institutionalize positive and non-violent methods of disciplining
children. The House of Representatives already passed HB 4907 or the
Positive and Nonviolent Discipline of Children Act which explicitly
prohibits corporal punishment, and provides a comprehensive program to
promote positive and nonviolent discipline in all settings, especially
at home. The Senate versions of the bills on positive discipline
authored separately by Senators Cynthia Villar (Senate Bill 2182),
Jinggoy Estrada (SBN 363) and Nancy Binay (SBN 227) are still pending.
According to Plan International’s Country Program Advisor for Child-Friendly Governance, Ernesto Almocera Jr., "In
our society, physical and verbal punishment are treated as acceptable
forms of discipline. It is unfortunate that our laws tolerate physical
punishment in the name of disciplining children. Parents and other
adults should recognize that, even for the sake of discipline, causing
pain or discomfort is a violation of children’s rights. We are hoping to
protect the rights of Filipino children against these forms of
punishment by encouraging all those with parental authority to start
disciplining children without harm”.
Positive
discipline is an approach to guiding children’s behavior without using
any form of violence like spanking, pinching, humiliation, and verbal
abuse. It is about instilling values of non-violence, empathy,
self-respect, human rights and respect for others. Advocates champion
positive discipline as a disciplinary method that involves
open communication with a child, making sure that the parent-child
relationship is rooted on mutual love and respect. It ensures that the
child understands the consequences of his actions and allows him to make
his own decisions, making discipline a matter of deep understanding and
going beyond blind obedience.
Celebrity mom Lotlot de Leon shared her experiences as a mother, “For
me, the best way to discipline our children is to explain to them what
their mistakes are. We don’t need to hurt them for them to understand
their mistakes. We should sit down with them, talk to them and make them
understand the context and perspective where we are coming from as
parents and as adults. In the future, when our children become parents,
they will do the same kind of parenting we did to them to our
grandchildren.”
Award winning actress Cherry Pie Picache shared that, “it
is important that a child grows up in a nurturing environment because
this will affect his or her beliefs, values and customs when he or she
becomes an adult. The biggest challenge in inspiring and encouraging
other parents to embrace positive discipline is to enable them to veer
away with the beliefs, customs and values they grew up with, the kind of
discipline that harm, embarrass and instill fear to children”.
PETA
ARTS Zone Project, Plan International, Dakila and the Child Rights
Network have been engaging in activities that encourage “duty-bearers”
to go positive in disciplining children with out resorting to violent
forms. In ending, Marichu Belarmino of PETA ARTS Zone said, “There are
more than enough ways for affirmative child rearing practices and
instilling discipline to children with out resorting to violence and at
the same time upholding their rights and dignity as children. Loving our
children means never hurting them.” ##