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Parents face cultural walls [CA]

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Author: 
Keung, Nicholas
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Article
Publication Date: 
14 Mar 2005
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Yang Bin was surprised by what she saw when she walked her two-year-old granddaughter Sophia Jiang into a family drop-in program at Toronto's Gerrard Resource Centre six months ago.

"Kids just run around and play," said the 65-year-old retired university professor from China's Jilin province. "They are free to do whatever they want. Kids growing up in the West need more discipline. Parenting is about teaching kids to respect their authorities, so they learn the traditional values and know how to behave properly."

Adjusting to a new parenting style in a new country is a challenge faced by many immigrants, says Kenise Murphy Kilbride, an early childhood education professor at Ryerson University.

"For many of our newcomers, there is a huge gap in understanding their roles as parents in a different system. They have all these questions about daycare, schooling and health care, but don't know where to get help," said Kilbride, who, along with colleague Mehrunnisa Ali, this month launched a resource guide for immigrant parents with young children.

"All these questions need to be answered. Needs for this information are the greatest for those who are newest to the country."

Titled Forging New Ties, Planting New Roots, the 32-page guidebook comes in nine languages- Amharic, Arabic, Dari, English, French, Mandarin, Somali, Twi and Urdu - with a 48-minute multilingual video to help immigrant parents understand and gain access to health care, emergency services, child care and child safety, education, as well as some background on traditions and cultural heritage in Canada.

Funded by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, the resource tool is delivered through workshops offered by selected social agencies across the country.

For newcomers with young children, Kilbride said, moving to a new country means social, cultural and spatial separation from their extended families, friends and cultural communities.
"Their ideas of parenting as well as their parenting practices are often challenged by the different values and practices they encounter in the new environment," she explained. "We are not saying that they should forget about their past, but we want to expose them to different styles of parenting here."

Monju Sarker, a mother from Bangladesh, said newcomers have difficulties getting information not only because of the language barrier, but also due to the lack of social support. Her family still doesn't have a doctor and must go to a walk-in clinic for medical help.

The 29-year-old woman found the information in the guide about home safety intriguing because she had never lived in a highrise before moving to Canada five years ago.

"It is so easy for kids to climb up a balcony wall and fall over. All these tips are very helpful. We have never thought about some of these things before," said Sarker, as her four-year-old daughter Ivy looked on. "There's a lot of cultural adjustment to do for us."

The federal government only paid for the first edition of the guide's production; future copies of the booklets and videos are available at Toronto's Chestnut Publishing Group at $24.95 per set.

- reprinted from the Toronto Star

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