Echo Parenting & Education was excited to send Ruth Beaglehole to Chennai, India for a month long stay. The purpose of the trip was to present to and lead workshops for an organization called Parenting Matters whose mission is to partner with parents to build deeper connection in families.
Started ten years ago by a group of parents who wanted to build awareness around how children are raised, Parenting Matters provides forums for parents and caregivers to meet, share experiences and learn together in order to explore ways for deeper understanding and connection with children. Because this model of raising children is relatively new in India, there is not a lot of support for parent educators. After some research online, Parenting Matters found Echo Parenting & Education’s website and recognized that nonviolent parenting was a natural fit with their vision of raising children and that it supplemented their existing curriculum. They approached Echo Parenting & Education to ask Ruth to train their facilitators. Ruth enthusiastically agreed to go to Chennai and teach them the Echo Parenting & Education curriculum. Along with teaching the parent educators, Ruth also led two workshops for the public, one on Anger and the other on Setting Limits with Empathy. She also did a workshop for early childhood educators and was interviewed on Chennai Live, a popular English radio show.
Ruth viewed this trip as a wonderful opportunity to engage in dialogue with a group of women who are in the beginning stages of their journey in nonviolent parenting. “I was profoundly moved by their commitment to bring the philosophy of nonviolent parenting into their community.”
According to Parenting Matters, the training of this type of approach – nonviolent child raising – is probably the first of its kind in India and the start of a movement that is based on science and the practice of nonviolent child raising for a better world. A large corporation based in Chennai has now brought Parenting Matters into their company to teach parenting classes to their employees.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
