Sharing parenting stories and love

Sharing Parenting Stories and Love (SPSL) is a program of resources and activities designed for online discussion groups with parents of preschool aged children who are from diverse cultural and linguistic (CALD) backgrounds.

Parenting brings great joy but there are times when all parents find things a little difficult or challenging, such as when their two-year-old child does not want to eat the healthy food served.

All parents need support, someone to talk to and as parents in the Sharing Parenting Stories and Love said, “when we get together with other mothers, we just talk and talk and talk, we don’t stop”  Parents particularly parents from CALD backgrounds, often feel isolated or alone in a new country. and can encounter additional challenges of navigating parenting, not knowing what services are available and how to access these.  
Parents who are migrants or refugees have many strengths and resources that they bring to parenting. These practices are not always valued and parents may lose confidence and become isolated.
New parent groups and playgroups are a critical community resource and support for parents. here parents build friendships, learn about child development, and have opportunities to build their parenting skills and knowledge. They also get to know what is available in the community.  
Sharing Parenting Stories and Love was initiated as a co-design project that was led by Community Migrant Resource Centre (CMRC), Boronia Multicultural Services and Western Sydney University (WSU). The initiative was embedded in the Huddle project.

The aim of the SPSL project was to optimise the development of children from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds aged 0 to 5 years living in the western Sydney communities of Constitution Hill and Wentworthville by strengthening the parenting capacity of parents.

Project outcomes were focused on child development as well as parent wellbeing.

The project commenced in 2019 with a small group of five mothers from the Wentworthville community, all of South Asian backgrounds, working together with two community workers from CMRC; two community workers from Boronia, one child and family health nurse from the local health service and three researchers who are maternal and child health and education specialists from WSU.

The ongoing COVID-19 meant it was impossible to trial the activities and resources in a face-to-face setting as planned.  
The co-design group agreed with support from Parramatta Council that the program become an online parent discussion group. We did not exclude the potential to offer activities for children during the one hour online discussion but the primary focus was to discuss the topics focused on mothers experiences.

For resources in relation to this project please contact us: admin@teeach.org.au