POSITIVE PARENTING IN ALL SETTINGS

MARIBETH G. MANALANG

A measure promoting positive parenting in all settings has been recently approved by a House of Representatives panel.

The House Committee on Welfare of Children approved the unnumbered substitute bill to House Bills (HBs) 8306 and 1269, promoting positive and non-violent discipline of children at home, in school, in institutions, in alternative care systems, in workplaces, and in all other settings.

The authors of the bill said eliminating corporal punishment of children in all settings is not just a mere governmental obligation but also a key strategy to reduce and prevent all forms of violence against children (VAC) in the country.

They said the measure would fill in the parents and legal guardians with affable and non-violent parenting tools and mechanisms that would help build and develop a child's self-esteem, self-discipline, and essential life skills.

Parents could discipline their children while respecting their human rights and dignity, they added. The bill aims to protect children from any form of physical, humiliating, or degrading acts as a form of punishment committed in all possible settings where there is direct or indirect contact with a child.

It proposes reporting mechanisms for such cases, intervention mechanisms at the local level, granting immunity from suit to qualified intervening persons; as well as penalties against persons causing a child to lie or fabricate about incidents of physical, humiliating, and degrading acts.

Concerned agencies, particularly the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Department of Education, shall be mandated to develop approaches, integrate, adopt, and implement programs to promote positive parenting.

-oOoThe author is a Teacher III at San Rafael Elementary School