We are living in a millennium where most of the parents are over protecting their children, keeping them away from learning and evolving into independent adults. Based on global research, overparenting is the leading cause that will most likely fail in their future lives as individuals or parents, not being able to deal even with everyday obstacles. It's good that parents involve themselves in children's lives. Still, too much protection or control pushes the children back in evolving themselves as unique individuals. Not able to experience essential lessons of life, like losing the fear of failure or act independent, seeing and experiencing for themselves what is wrong or right, and get in touch with responsibilities. Parents are present in children's lives to give them emotional support and guidance, and not to live their children's lives or do their everyday duties. Objectives of your project; The main aim of the project is to improve children's overall well being and physical and mental growth as individuals with less overprotecting behavior from parents. Children certainly need guidance from their parents because they look up to them, and most of the time, children copy their parents' act. So it is crucial parents give them direction in such a way, that although children will rely on their parents, they will be able to make their own decisions and the parents will be there for support and advice instead of making decisions for them. We will equip teachers as well as parents with the tools and knowledge to help in different spectres in parenting, to provide them support in raising independent individuals at the same time decrease stress factors for parents. Target groups We have two main target groups: (1) teachers and (2) parents. Our project has an emphasis on teachers and parents. Except for the theoretical understanding of overparenting, the focus is on practical workshops covering different areas of parenting and child behavior, various methods and techniques, seminars and training. The target group will acquire skills and knowledge: Parents, will: - learn mindfulness skills - mindfulness is currently frequently discussed in the media as a treatment for many things, including severe anxiety and depression, chronic pain, and feelings of being overwhelmed by modern life, stress relief - raise awareness that different techniques allow parents improving their parenting styles - gather ICT skills using advanced technology Teachers will: - Learn and improve advanced ICT skills - digital marketing techniques while helping in the development of the portal Furthermore, the project target groups will use the results of our project to: - raise awareness among parents about the negative impact of overparenting on the physical and mental health of children and parents - how to timely detect good and bad parenting techniques - how to implement modern parenting techniques in everyday family life and school environment - how to implement constructive parenting as part of the teacher training The result will be educating teachers and parents to fully understand children's behavioural patterns, resolving lousy parenting habits and replace them with innovative approaches which will upscale children's wellbeing and independence. Also, parental stress factors will be reduced with mindfulness parenting. Our general activities will be: - a pan- European research of the state of the art trends and methodologies in child-raising - gathering data and creating good practice manual for preventing bad parenting and promoting good parenting for raising independent children - with collected data, we will establish a training program for teachers, equip them with skills and manual with lessons plan how to later train parents in good parenting - with gathered good practices, we develop a training manual for parents improving overall well being of parents and how to raise mentally healthy and independent children FREE KIDS (Empowering parents portal ) e.learning portal with healthy parenting guides, knowledge base for raising independent children With our project results, we will provide: -Good practice manual in the prevention of overparenting and improving children's well being -FREE KIDS training courses for teachers -Manual for teachers with lessons plan -Manual of good practices for parents -Establishing FREE KIDS e-portal in collaboration with e-twinning for quick intervention in parental stress situations -Introducing our innovative FREE KIDS e-learning courses for improving well being in the way of providing Bite-size information(Topics divided into short Blogs for a quick review) We will improve healthy and productive child-raising in the family environment provided by our innovation FREE KIDS e-learning courses, besides, help parents to give their children the possibility to fail and grow by making own decisions and raise general interest for the public in the problematic of overparenting.
We initiated this project with the primary objective of combating the pervasive issue of overparenting, a trend that undermines children's confidence, self-reliance, and problem-solving abilities. Our ambition was to empower both parents and educators with a comprehensive set of tools, knowledge, and techniques. This included: 1. Educating Parents: To raise awareness about overparenting, providing them with techniques to foster independence in their children and instilling mindfulness skills that would not only benefit the parenting approach but also enhance their personal well-being. 2. Empowering Teachers: By offering them a structured curriculum that integrates knowledge about overparenting, fostering a healthier teacher-parent relationship, and enhancing their ICT skills to embrace new eLearning models. 3. Promoting Collaboration: We aimed to strengthen the bond between parents and educators, ensuring a unified approach to child-raising, thus making the educational experience more harmonious and effective. Our ultimate goal was to enhance the holistic development of children, ensuring they grow up to be confident, independent, and resilient adults, equipped to face life's challenges head-on.
We applied for this project due to the pressing need to address the growing phenomenon of overparenting that is curbing children's ability to be independent and resilient. This project was driven by a deep sense of responsibility towards ensuring a balanced upbringing for children. We aimed to provide educators and parents with actionable tools and methods to foster healthier child-raising practices, preventing overprotective tendencies in children's education. Through our project, we aimed to meet these critical needs: 1. Improve parental skills: Parents lack the skills to effectively raise a responsible child and create strong emotional bonds between them 2. Enhance parents' involvement in school education and teacher-parent communication: Parents need to develop a greater appreciation for the vital role they play in their children's education 3. Equip teachers with tools & knowledge: Teachers need knowledge about overparenting and transfer it to the parents through a good teacher-parent relationship FREE KIDS was an opportunity to make a substantial impact on the lives of children, parents, and educators by cultivating awareness about the problem of overparenting and ultimately enhancing children's autonomy and well-being.