28 Mar 2021

Stepping Stones International (SSI) awarded its first group of participants for successfully partaking in the Pinagare Team Parenting programme in Gaborone recently.

The three-month long programme initiated in December 2020 was intended to help cultivate, open, caring and trusting relationships between parents and their teenage children.

Addressing the graduands, SSI Community Development Facilitator, Ms Irene Jeremiah said it was of paramount importance that parents played an active and knowledgeable role in their children’s lives.

She indicated that the healthy and positive relations would in turn assist parents to protect their adolescents against a variety of negative health and social outcomes.

“It is more important now more than ever, for parents to bridge the gap between themselves and their children. 

Open communication, availability and continuous consultation with our children are necessary to enhance positive parenting,” she said.

The programme which runs for 14 weeks tackled training sessions on various topics such budgeting, life skills, leadership and psychosocial support.

Using a holistic approach, Ms Jeremiah said the programme also identified the individual needs of teenagers in order to equip them with skills to be self-sufficient, make informed decisions and to ultimately disrupt cycles of poverty and intergenerational abuse.

“Furthermore, our solution-focused, trauma-informed services, provided through both individual and group sessions, help teach coping and communication skills to enable both parent and youth to heal from past wounds, pursue positive outlets for their feelings, build a sense of self-worth, and reduce high-risk behavior,” she explained. Giving testimony, Mavis Segapi (19) said Pinagare programme had changed her life for the better as she had since managed to mend her estranged relationship with her mother.

“I was a rebel and did not take heed of any of my mother’s warnings and advice. 

But I have since improved and I implore that as children, we have to meet our parents halfway in raising us. Mutual respect and understanding should be a top priority in order to maintain peace at home,” she said.

Her mother, Ms Onneile Segapi also commended SSI for the commendable job that they did in mending her relationship with her daughter.

“One of the most valuable lessons that I have learnt from the programme is to continuously forge  an open relationship with my children, to understand their way of thinking and keep an open heart and mind concerning any issues that they go through,” she said.

Ms Jeremiah said the Pinagare programme which was implemented in the Kgatleng District under USAID funding had reached 45 households so far and plans were underway to roll it out to other districts. ends