Searching for the meaning of parenthood: An existential approach to parent education in the Hong Kong-Chinese context

Abstract

This article discusses how an existential approach contributes substantially by rethinking the ideas of parent education and enriching parent and child well-being. The goals and principles of this approach, namely eliciting the full spectrum of the meaning of parenthood, fostering constructive parent–child and family interactions, extending parents’ concerns from their own children to the welfare of future generations and addressing the issue of gender in parenting, are explicated. Parent education strategies, evaluation studies and their relevance to the Hong Kong-Chinese cultural context are also taken into account. Finally, it considers some practical suggestions for promoting this approach in Hong Kong.

Parent Education for Migrant Mothers of Left‐Behind Children in China: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Concerning program design and implementation, it would be worthwhile to design an existential-narrative-informed parent education program in combination with empirically supported behavioral-based parenting interventions or with systemic interventions to explore whether additional effects can be stimulated (Hunger, Bornh€ auser, Link, Schweitzer, & Weinhold, 2014). As argued by To and Chan (2013), practitioners adopting an existential-narrative approach are free to borrow techniques from different approaches. For instance, the constructive use of parentchild communication skills and behavior management is beneficial to providing children with a secure environment in which to learn and grow.…”

Reviving Parents’ Life Momentum: A Qualitative Evaluation of a Parent Education Program Adopting an Existential Approach

“…Parents tend to internalize the dominant ideology of accepting the responsibility to secure all developmental outcomes of their children [16]. As a result, parents' enjoyment and confidence in carrying out the parenting role are seriously sabotaged [4,[17][18][19].…”

“…A review of the development of parent education in Hong Kong reveals that parent education is commonly offered by parent education practitioners who impart parenting knowledge and skills to parents through various parent education programs, which aim to promote positive physical, intellectual, psychological, and social development of children [1,20,21]. Nevertheless, in their assessment of the existing mode of service provision, Chan [5], Lam [1], Lam and Kwong [2], Leung and Lam [3], and To and Chan [4] comment that parent education programs in Hong Kong are rather problem-focused. It is observed that parents are mainly helped to confront the problems of their children and themselves.…”

“…The current social concerns over parenting in Hong Kong have serious implications for rethinking the direction of parent education [1][2][3][4]. Under the present dominant ideology of parent education, people tend to focus on the predicaments surrounding families while neglecting the opportunities embedded in parenthood for enhancing life advancement, strengths and possibilities for parents to seek positive changes [5,6].…”

“…Under the present dominant ideology of parent education, people tend to focus on the predicaments surrounding families while neglecting the opportunities embedded in parenthood for enhancing life advancement, strengths and possibilities for parents to seek positive changes [5,6]. As such, a paradigm shift from a problem-focused parent education to a growth-and meaningoriented one has been prominent [4,[7][8][9][10][11]. Based on the qualitative data of an evaluation study, this paper examines the parent participants' perceived outcomes and experiences of a parent education program adopting an existential approach.…”