Changing children's lives in the home

Equality is a founding value of the South African constitution and a fundamental right. But what does this mean in practice for our South African children and their parents? Income inequality has continued to rise. According to Stats SA 66.8% of children live in poverty of which 73.6% are black whilst 79.2% of South African adults with little or no education live in poverty. The divide between the rich and the poor gets wider and often there is a sense that the gap cannot be bridged. However – play changes that concept!

So for many families, playing with their children is not high on their agenda – they are fighting crime, living on less than R576 per month and are basically in survival mode. Does this mean they don’t want to play – absolutely not! On 9^th March 2019, over 100 parents from Mfuleni gave up their Saturday morning to join Starting Chance for a play date. When asked if they play games with their children, we had varying responses which gave us some key insights. “I play on my cell phone with my child” was the most common reply.  Milteer and Ginsberg (2012) confirm that children spend less time engaging in play and spend more time engaged in sedentary activities like playing on cell phones, watching TV and playing video games. This is

true in townships too. “We don’t know what games to play,” was another common response.

In this parent engagement workshop, Starting Chance aimed to introduce parents to the concept of purposeful play using games that reinforce and enhance maths skills, language and literacy and life skills. Diverse backgrounds and different experiences provide children with essential opportunities to learn and express themselves through play.

Parents were divided into groups according to the age group of their children. Part of the learning outcome for them was to realise that purposeful play is different for each age group. We had groups of parents from the older children’s age groups playing snakes and ladders and dominoes – games none of them had played before. Before long there was laughter and language flowing out of the classrooms as parents got fiercely competitive and determined to win. They soon learned the value of taking turns, learning to win or lose and some counting skills in the process. One parent remarked, “I never knew games could be such fun – I can’t wait to play with my children.”

By playing the games themselves, parents quickly realised the value they could impart to their children. Whilst many of the more affluent families in Cape Town’s formalised residential areas regularly play these games with their children, this happens less in the more informal townships. However, the enjoyment of games is universal, as was shown on Saturday.

In the younger age groups, parents learned counting songs, matching games and how to use balls in games to enhance gross motor skills whilst learning to count and distinguish different colours.

At the end of the morning, parents took home a pack containing the game they had played, a book to read to their children and some extra fun activities to try with their children. They also took home a key message – play helps to build self-esteem, social skills and a sense of connectedness – which helps to make our children school ready. Together we can start to bridge the gap through engaged play.

We had many requests for more workshops. Help us to make it happen by supporting us to “boost school readiness in a 1000 homes.”

Links:

• Parents get ready for school
• Starting Chance website
• Donate to help us achieve our goal

Every loving parent has an innermost HEART desire to help their child to thrive. It matters not where the family lives - in poverty or in palaces - the desire is the same. Perhaps in poverty the heart is even more passionate. "My child trusts me - I don't want to let them down," a parent from Mfuleni told us.

In their HEADS, many parents in Mfuleni don't believe they can do enough. They don't have much education, many of them lived with abusive parents and they don't know how to help their children to have a better START. They can't envisage a different life and yet they really want it for their child.

But they are willing and passionate. They want to use their HANDS to play, to nurture, to support their child. They want to reach out and change the playing field.

In 2018 Starting Chance decided to train a team of teachers from the 9 schools we support to help with the Parent Project. Each month the team would meet with our field workers and plan the workshops and discuss aims and objectives. They started to envision a new future for themselves and the children. Their hearts were full of compassion and desire to help to empower the parents of the children who attended their schools.This proved to be an amazing opportunity for the teachers to upskill, become adult trainers, earn extra money and above all have the chance to inspire the parents.

In November 2018 we conducted an after action review to capture the learning to help us prepare for 2019. It was encouraging to hear from the teachers team that parents had really enjoyed the workshops we had conducted but more than that they had started to see a change in the children's behaviour and performance at school. Engaged parents meant engaged children! Parents who attended the workshops were spending more time with their children at home and were playing games, doing activities and supporting the teachers at school. The impact the 3 workshops that we ran in 2018 were indeed starting to have a knock on effect at home. For parents in Lonwabo Special Care Centre they had never thought they might play with their child.

The parents with whom we are working come from a different culture and often are reiticent about engaging with school and teachers. They themselves grew up in an environment where this was frowned upon and so changing this mindset is hard for them. In order to help them change and get ready to give their children a great start for a great future, we will be addressing this in 2019.

We have planned a parent engagement education morning in 1Q 2019. We will hire the largest school hall in Mfuleni to accommodate 400 parents. We will spend time in discussion groups with key questions to explore how children can be best supported. Acitivities parent will experience will include story-telling, outdoor games and creative art! It will be an amazing event - the biggest of its kind ever held in Mfuleni. Parents sharing with other parents and the teachers will be a new experience for all!

This introductory event will be followed by workshops on literacy, maths and life skills throughout the year. Each parent will receive packs that will enable them to play purposefully with their child at home, helping them reach the developmental milestones that will set them up for life-long learning.

2019 promises to be a game changing year for parents in Mfuleni and a new adventure for Starting Chance.

Links:

• Parent Programme Starting Chance Website
• Facebook link