Positive Parenting

By Dickson Tumuramye Every family faces challenges, and each family is unique in its own way. People have different perspectives and experiences, which means conflicts are sometimes inevitable. It is not easy for individuals to live together without disagreements, misunderstandings, or disputes. However, conflicts can be healthy when properly managed, as they help us recognize our strengths and weaknesses and can lead to personal and relational growth. One common mistake families make is avoiding conflict resolution or delaying addressing issues. Conflicts often arise from poor communication, jealousy, malice, backbiting, parental favoritism, income disparities, changes in status, unequal distribution of family property, sibling rivalry, and interference from in-laws. Strategies for Managing Family Conflicts Recognize the Problem The first step in managing family conflicts is to identify the root cause of the issue and acknowledge its impact. Family members must be willing to...

  By Dickson Tumuramye When the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) results were released, I read a message on social media where a parent sent a message to a friend mistakenly thinking that his son had received Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) results instead of UCE results. This confusion arose because many of us are accustomed to the grading system of the old curriculum, which used letter grades from D1 to F9, with a classification ranging from Grade One to Grade Four, and Grade U for failures. Previously, only UACE results followed a grading system from A to O or F. Under the new lower secondary curriculum, however, UCE grading now follows a scale from A to E, leading to widespread confusion among parents and learners. This misunderstanding is not an isolated case. Many parents and students were taken by surprise upon seeing the results of the lower secondary school curriculum. One parent, upon asking his child how he performed, was told that he was in first gr...

By Dickson Tumuramye It’s common for children to error and annoy parents or teachers. As a result, some parents or teachers use either force or harsh words thinking they are disciplining a child and correcting them, directing them to the right path. They don’t realize that their discipline measures are more or less a punishment and their words affect the child emotionally and lowers their self-esteem. I trust no parent wants to raise a child with low self-esteem, full of fear and self-rejection. Such a child struggles a lot in life and you too struggle parenting this child but you never recognize the source of the problem. The problem could be you, and your disciplinary strategy and discouraging words. As the school term gains momentum, many parents find themselves caught between two extremes; being too strict or too lenient with their children for various reasons. It could be about homework, revision, night preps either at home or school, and chores among others. Striking a bala...