great story, keep up the good work. cant wait to have children take them there.
| Nairobi Clinic trains parents on adequate parenting skills |
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Parents with kids aged 2-12 can now get trained on adequate parenting skills, and also be assured if they are doing the right thing at the Millenium Solutions Medical and Parenting Centre, the first and only parenting clinic in Africa based on scientifically proven work . Millenium Solutions  Medical and Parenting Centre offers the incredible years parent training program; which has scientifically been  proven to reduce child behavior problems and to improve parenting skills. The clinic was opened in August 2008; but planning started way before then, as it took six months to order, ship and pay for the program. Dr.Catherine Munanie Syengo-Mutisya, a psychiatrist and director of the clinic, says she started the clinic because when she became a mother, there was no one to advise her on parenting and had to learn through ‘trial and error.’ Dr.Catherine says she got some informal training through family life ministries; and kept hoping that one day she will be able to help other parents. ‘Some people would said ‘spanking is wrong,’ while others said ‘spare the rod spoil the child,’ so I got confused and started searching for a scientifically proven program,’ she said This was also motivated by the fact that when she went into psychiatry, she treated patients who had become sick partly because of poor parenting in early childhood. The incredible years program was developed in the University of Washington; and has been proved to be effective in reducing children’s aggression and behavior problems and increasing social competence at home and at school; having been tested even among the black people. The incredible years offers a program for both parents and kids, but according to Dr. Catherine, when the parents and caretakers are trained, the program is retained longer than when the kids are trained; but where kids already have a problem; it is best to have sessions for both parents and kids. The Millenium Parenting Centre currently runs the parenting program, but also do get referrals of kids from some neighboring schools, majority of whom, the psychiatrist says, ‘it’s the parents who have a parenting problem’ Some of the effects of the parent training program have included increase in children’s pro-social behavior such as taking turns, emotional regulation, sharing and being kind; reduction on the number of times parents rely on spanking and corporal punishments;decrease in the parents’ use of criticism and commands; and increase in parents’ use of praises for their children and confidence in parenting. The incredible years parenting program uses video vignettes (video modeling); where the parents watch video of actual parents relating with their kids; discussions based on the vignettes; manual guided discussions, activities ,buddy calls where parents in the group session exchange numbers and tell one another what one is working on; and weekly evaluations. In Kenya however, Dr.Catherine says the buddy calls does not work as Kenyans like keeping their affairs to themselves. The program also has a parenting pyramid with parent skills and strategies that parents should employ, and benefits to the child upon using these strategies. The base of the pyramid has those strategies that parents should mostly use such as empathy, attention and involvement, play, talking, listening and problem solving; with the benefits to the child being Self esteem, attachment, problem Solving and Cooperation. The peak of the pyramid has those strategies that the parents should use selectively such as time out and natural and logical consequences. These include such strategies as withdrawing toys from the child, or if the child refuses to eat, keep the food away and within no time, the child will naturally feel hungry and ask for the food. The parenting sessions cover different topics including teaching your child to problem solve; social and emotional coaching, motivating children through incentives, effective ways to motivate and encourage your kids, ignoring misbehaviors, rules, responsibilities and routines, playing with your child, and strengthening your children’s social skills, emotional regulation and school readiness skills through child-directed play among others. After every session, the parents are given hand outs with home activities for the week and guidelines on how to carry out the activities. The program runs from 9-12 weeks but depending on the need, sometimes even one session is enough to give the parent confidence as the first session ‘covers a bit of everything,’. Dr. Catherine recommends all parents with kids aged 2-12 to go for the clinic before the kids get to the adolescent stage; and this is not for parents whose kids have behavior problems but for all parents, as most parents just need to gain ‘confidence’ and assurance that what they are doing is right. The program is not only recommended for parents but for anybody who work with kids, including teachers and baby sitters. ‘We have parents bringing their house helps because they are the ones who spend most of the time with the kids,’ said Dr. Catherine. Foster and adoptive parents, parents with kids with special problems such ADHD and contact disorder, as well as parents at risk of abuse and neglect are also highly recommended to take the incredible years parenting program. Benefits of the incredible years program are typically maintained for at least three years. Dr. Catherine says since it is behavior, one has to’ keep reinforcing’ For parents with kids with no problems, one may never need to take a refresher, requiring one to just revisit their notes or talk with a buddy. The Centre offers individual, couple and group sessions; with the group sessions mostly being held on Saturdays. Charges are Sh1000 per session for group sessions which can take up to 12 persons,Sh1500 for couples and Sh2000 for an individual per session lasting two hours. Besides the parenting program, Millennium Centre also offers a corporate awareness package with services that include identifying major sources of stress and dealing with them, marital therapy, drug abuse and healthy living. The centre also offers general medical and outpatient services, obstetrics and gynecological services, pediatrics and child health services, nutritional counseling and weight loss and health talks. Millenium Solutions Medical And Parenting Centre is located at Three Palms building, Rose Avenue, off Ngong Road. Call 020 2365638, 0738 905182, 0714972228 or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to book an appointment or for more details. |
