Parents from diverse cultural background are rich in cultural traditions, values and knowledgeable in parenting their children. However, intergenerational issues related to parenting in a new culture impact on family functioning and thus modification of lifestyles in their host country is needed to accommodate the cultural and social dimension that shape their lives .

Enhancing Family Life & Parenting Skills for Ethno Cultural Families, offered a series of workshops to Immigrant families who are new to Canada. The program objectives were to improve family communication skills, decrease domestic violence, increase parenting skills and thus enhance family life. It addressed intergenerational issues related to raising children and growing up in a different social and cultural milieu.

We would like to thank Region of Peel for financial support and other organizations who contributed generously to this highly demanded program. Total 30 workshops were delivered for Arab, South Asian, Latin American and Filipino communities. The program has been very successful in helping families with earning necessary skills to nurture their children and to maintain healthy relationships. These cultural specific workshops allowed us to accommodate participants by providing interpretation and presenting the topics according to their cultural values and beliefs. Participants expressed their excitements about the atmosphere where they could meet people of their own cultural background and share their own stories and challenges they face in parenting as well as adjusting to a new country. They felt homely and comfortable to express their opinions and point views about traditional vs. Canadian ways of parenting.

Here are some of the testimonials that we received from the participants:

1. Thank you for delivering such a wonderful workshop. It helped me understand how to communicate with children effectively. I learned some steps to take to communicate with my daughter. –A Hispanic mother of a young daughter.
2. It was interesting to share my personal opinion about parenting with the group. I like the atmosphere. People are more eager to learn about parenting and find some solutions of their difficulties on parenting. –An Arabic mother of two young children.
3. I am new to Canada. I learned a lot of new skills in this program, even though I am a grandmother, it’s good to know our mistakes and increase our knowledge on parenting and implement them with our grandchildren. –A South Asian mother.
4. Topics are interesting, and everything that I expected is covered in this program. I am a grandmother of early teens. I am looking forward to learn more about this developmental stage and how to handle them in the next workshops. –A Filipino grandmother.

EFL & PS Community and Service Providers Forum

MIAG was pleased to host the “Enhancing Family Life & Parenting Skills” community Forum on December 8th, 2011. The forum was held at Tomken Twin Arena and over 150 community members and service providers were in attendance. Enhancing Family Life & Parenting Skills was a MIAG initiative spear headed by the Project Coordinator, Shahnaz Ahmed.

There were a number of speakers ranging from service providers to project participants. The evening included entertainment in the form of songs, skits and a raffle draws. The forum was also a celebration for those who attended the workshops and participants enjoyed a tasty dinner. Many of the project participants were present at the forum and were given certificates for their participation in the workshops. The most exciting part of the evening was the raffle draw. With close to 20 prizes to be won, the raffle draw was clearly the highlight of the night.