Scaling up Playful Parenting in Serbia

• In Event: Beliefs & Practices on Play in Serbia & Zambia

Proposal

Parents in Serbia understand and valued the physical development of children better than socio-emotional development. As a result of such misconceptions, parents do not provide adequate age-appropriate play and early learning opportunities - before the skill develops. We see that between 10 and 20% of parents do not practice very often important activities such as reading or learning new skills (they have not done it with the child in the last 7 days). Looking into a dimension of Gender-responsive parenting, we can see that mothers are burdened, often overwhelmed with obligations related to the care and concern of the child, especially since they have to balance different roles. In addition, they have the experience of living in an environment where more traditional attitudes and beliefs towards parenting than their own are still dominant, which can make it difficult to change their behavior. Fathers are less involved in childcare. In most families, the mother has a more pronounced regulatory role, which is reflected in performing most of the work related to the daily care of the child, as well as making decisions related to the care of the child. Mothers also lack information about nutrition, development and upbringing. The information that is available is sometimes contradictory. They use various sources of information, mostly social networks and the Internet. Mothers state the need for more reliable/professional sources of information, availability of experts and educational programs/materials. In addition, parents in Serbia believe that professionals from the health system are the most relevant sources of information and emotional support during early development. In addition, the associated implementation research confirmed that parents seem to consider play as an adult-directed activity rather than as an opportunity to provide responsive care that meets the needs and interest of the child.

Moreover, home-visiting nurses also pay much more attention to physical health, and aspects such as hygiene and nutrition, than to social, speech and emotional development. According to the data from the implementation research, the difference in knowledge between caregivers and home-visiting nurses measured through Caregivers’ Knowledge of Child Development (CKCD) is small-scale (the mean score among caregivers was 23, 4 and the mean score for visiting nurses 26.3, both groups out of a maximum of 40)

In the panel discussion, we will showcase how evidence and data from implementation research are used to shape scaling-up Playful Parenting, aiming to strengthen health, preschool and social welfare services by switching practice from a medical to a family-centered approach, where the focus is on fostering nurturing, playful child-parent interactions.

Authors

• Mila Vukovic Jovanovic, UNICEF

• Ivana Mihić, University of Novi Sad