Great Fathers in Plunket Parenting Ezine May 2009
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Transcript of Great Fathers in Plunket Parenting Ezine May 2009
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8/14/2019 Great Fathers in Plunket Parenting Ezine May 2009
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Connections e-zine is designed to keep everyone informed about Plunket Group Parenting Programmes. Contributionsare welcome. There is a subscription list for printed hardcopies for those not on email and it is also reproduced on thePlunket Parenting Education Website on The Cradle. Correspondence, contributions and requests to be added to theprinted subscription list should be directed to Claire Rumble, National Parenting Education Advisor, DD: (04) 474-1515,Fax: (04) 474 0190, email [email protected].
If you wish to be taken off the email list please reply to this email and type UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject header. Youremail address is only used for Plunket business and is not passed on to any third parties outside of Plunket without firstseeking your permission. (Ref: The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007)
Profiling NZ Parenting Programmes
Great Fathers uses music to reach dads
rewarding activities theymay ever engage in;
being an active, consciousfather can open up a newside of life to a man;
participating in the birth oftheir baby can be a veryrewarding and importantexperience;
conscious, nurturing father-ing right from even beforethe birth is important to thewellbeing of their child;
the way a babys braindevelops is affected by theemotional environment theyare surrounded by and ba-bies are affected and canbe damaged by emo-tional, verbal and physicalviolence that occurs to themor to people around them;
a baby whose physicaland emotional needs are metand consistently feel loved,are babies who gain theemotional intelligence thathelps them be resilient andcope with lifes challenges.
A pilot group using theGreat Fathers resource iscurrently being evaluated bythe Bishops Action Founda-tion a social justice initia-tive in Taranaki.
Dave Owens describes himselfas a father, writer, editor,
social activist, and carpenter.
He is heavily involved in a
range of community, social
and philanthropic initiatives.
Great Fathers developerand Taranaki father DaveOwens is developing a re-source with music content toprovide information andencouragement for men toengage and bond with theirnew baby.
The resource - a boxed setDVD includes an audio
compilation of five contem-porary songs performed byNZ musicians with themestied to fathering; filmed in-terviews with nationally-known musicians and somenon-celebrity fathers; and a16 page booklet of imagesand slogans that illustratethe Great Fathers messages.
Music can occupy an emo-tional space that connectswith people in a way that
spoken words and writtenideas do not. We want mento visit this emotional spacein regards to their newbaby, Dave says.
He says Great Fathers wantsto help foster healthy rela-tionships between a fatherand his infant (as a signifi-cant preventative solution tochild abuse) and fostertighter bonds within families.
The resource is being devel-
oped to appeal to new andexpecting fathers aged 16 39 years and to be effectivefor all men, including thosewith limited literacy skills. Itwill include links to usefulservices. The plan is for it to
be used in childbirth educa-tion classes. Our intention isto pilot including a male fa-cilitator in childbirth educa-tion classes who will sepa-rate the men from thewomen for part of the ses-sions and provide the expec-tant fathers with informationand encouragement to fullyparticipate and engage with
their new baby right fromthe start.
He wants the resource to bedistributed through midwives,Plunket and the many agen-cies that provide services tofamilies.
The broad intention of GreatFathers is to prevent childabuse; illustrate good roleand behaviour models formen as fathers of infants;
create positive family envi-ronments that foster learningand emotional resilience inchildren; create strong familyunits that are less likely tofall apart at the first signs ofstress; illustrate how impor-tant it is for all family mem-bers to have their needs metto help men recognise thatfathering is an opportunityand a privilege.
Aims
Great Fathers is aiming toestablish a common aware-ness among New Zealandmen and their families that:
fathering is potentially oneof the most enduring and
ConnectionsPage 8
Dads4Dads grows
The Dads4Dads PEPE Plus pro-
gramme is steadily gaining momen-
tum as more Areas hire father facili-
tators and plan courses.
Cees Bevers (from Taranaki) and
Wolfgang Teiniker (Counties Mau-
kau) took part in the March startup
workshop for new facilitators.
Hawkes Bay and Waikato are plan-
ning adding Dads4Dads to their
parenting programme and Welling-
ton Wairarapa just ran its third
course. Counties Manukau is plan-
ning a programme of seven courses
in 2009.
A national meeting of father facilita-
tors will be held midyear to shareideas on developing the programme
and supporting resources..
Resources available for Plunket-
facilitators with a focus on fathers
from National Office include:
Call Me Dad: A Manual for New
Fathers (NZ book)
Hello Dad: Infant Communication
for Fathers (DVD)
Contact Claire Rumble to receive acopy of either of these.
Great Fathers developer Dave Owens
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]
