In the autumn of 2021, ICDP facilitators, Valentina Ten and Magdalena Brännström, ran a new ICDP course for teachers in the newly established learning center in the town of Sirdaya. The ICDP programme is currently being applied there on an ongoing basis by the 5 teachers/workers.
In February 2022, Magdalena and Valentina embarked on training to become ICDP trainers through online meetings with their trainer Nicoletta Armstrong.
This is some of the feedback from the kindergarten workers and teachers.
One teacher commented: There was a new girl to the center. She was 3 years old and she was crying and not listening to me. The first time I met her I was the stern teacher when I was interacting with her. The second time I had empathy with her and treated her differently.
Another participant gave the following feedback from the home-tasks: One of the boys didn’t want to listen to me. He went under the table. Then I tried to think how it was for this boy to come and learn. Maybe he didn’t like it. So, I talked with him under the table and made an agreement with him.
In October we started the first ICDP Programme for parents. We had 8 mothers attending the 9-week programme. It was a mix of mothers who had children from one year old up to grown up children. We had a lovely time. They were sharing how they were practicing the guidelines in their lives. And they also gave feedback and some great ideas on how to raise the children.
Here is some feedback from the parents after finishing the course:
Malika: After the second lesson of ICDP course, I came home and I and my husband put our child to bed. We had free time, we began talking and my husband said, I noticed how you have changed, you have become peaceful and no longer react so violently to situations that happen to our child and praised me for it. I was very pleased to hear this.
Nazilya: I’m a happy mother of three wonderful children. All our children are of different ages. It was only during the course that I realized that my children are really very different and that each of them needs a special approach. I am very grateful for the programme and I would like many parents to know about it, because it is such a wonderful tool that helps to find a good approach to your child, helps to get closer to the child. This programme helps not only in the relationship between parents and children, but also in the relationship between parents. After each lesson, I shared with my husband and I saw how we came to the same opinion. And I am so glad that we are united on every situation. In raising children, in unity with my husband ICDP helped me a lot. I saw big changes in myself, I changed the approach to raising my children, I became a more conscious parent.
Shaxlo: Using the principles of this course, I began to understand my children more, we are able to negotiate without being accused or hysterical. We had a problem; my child was very addicted to playing with the cell phone and this programme helped me to correctly set boundaries with my child and correctly explain to him the time of using gadgets.
I really see changes in my child, he began to trust me more, we began to communicate openly about our emotions and feelings, the emotional state of all family members improved.