RESEARCH ABSTRACTS

     Abstract:

The objectives of the study were 1) to develop self-discipline and good relations among family members, 2) to find out the forms of activities and effective measures to promote good relations and to reduce conflicts between the child and the family members so that she/he will grow up in the loving and warm atmosphere, 3) to examine the forms of activities and effective measures to develop self-discipline and proper communication for children, 4) to study the methods to implement the project in communities continuously and effectively, and 5) to create a good relationship between the school and the community.
Method and Procedure. Step 1 : Designing training programs. The Pupil Activity program, the Family Activity program, measures of self-discipline, and measures of communication skill were developed by experts in these fields. The "Pupil Activity" program included activities on self-discipline and proper communication for grade 5 pupils (2 classrooms with the total of 76 pupils). The "Family Activity" program included activities which were arranged for the parents and the children. The parents would have an opportunity to participate in building the children's self-discipline and in communicating with each other. Also they would realize the importance of both issues and would then cooperate with the school in developing their children (The participants consisted of 18 to 27 families, approximate 40 to 55 persons in each meeting). Step 2 : Implementing the activities. The activities for pupils were held in class once a week, for 23 weeks with 50 minutes per sessions. The activities for families were held in the school auditorium, with each session lasting for 3 hours and there were 5 sessions altogether. They were held on Saturday mornings with an interval of 2 to 3 weeks. Training took the forms of participatory learning by creating simulations, role playing, games, and fable reading, etc. The members had a chance to exchange their opinions on children's self-discipline with focus on the development of responsibility, patience and endurance, honesty and self-confidence, including appropriate communication methods. Step 3 : Visiting home. The first visit was made before the start of the training for the preparation of the participants, data collection, acquainting the research team with the participants and creation of good relations with community people. The next visit was made after the completion of the fourth family activity in order to follow up and evaluate the training program. Step 4 : Evaluation. According to the observation of the home visiting group and analyzing the data from the questionnaires, it was found that the objective of the "Family Activity" to build good relations between the children and their family members was not fulfilled. In addition, creating cooperation between parents and the school in child development, and the implementing of the project in the community continuously and effective were also not successful. All these objectives were of main concern of the project. The trainees did not apply the knowledge gained to their daily life. One out of four families could not remember the objective of each activity. Most of the families stated what that they gained from attending the activities was that they had experienced, relaxed, and had an opportunity to meet other parents and their children's friends. Only about 25 percent of the participants could see the value of the activities and the importance of developing proper communication within the family and children's self-discipline. While the activities were being carried out, most families seemed to be interested in the activities and willingly to give good cooperation in expressing their opinions and taking part in the activities together with other group members. However, the result of visiting their homes revealed that most family did not apply what they had learned to solve the children's problems of irresponsibility, use of vulgar language, aggressiveness, and negligence of studying. When asked about their children's behaviors, they said that there was no improvement because the children still made retorts as usual. This showed that the parents did not attempt to change, nor did they try to understand their children. They still used the old communication methods with their children. Most parents thought it was the school's responsibility to take care of the children's behavior, saying that it was the teacher's duty to discipline children because the children usually ignored what was told by the parents and too often went against them. An important problem was that the parents thought that lack of discipline and inappropriate means of communication were common for the children of this age. Next, the parents' inspection of the children's behavior before and after attending the "Family Activity" was analyzed to see if there was any change in the children's level of responsibility, patience and endurance, and honesty. For example, did the children help to do household work without being reminded to do so? Were they punctual? Did they do as they had promised? Could they make a decision by themselves without help from others? Did they read school books and do their homework by themselves? Did they make a retort when their parents or adults talked to them? Were they too temperamental when they did not get what they wanted? Did they finish their assignments on time, or without procrastination? etc. The analysis of the answers revealed that there was no significant change in the children's behavior before and after the training program both in the participatory group and in the non-participatory group. The reasons for this finding were perhaps as follows: 1) The parents did not seriously monitor their children's behavior. 2) The participants did not put what they learned into practice at home. 3) The parents did not realized that some of their children's behaviors needed correction, but thought that was normal among children of this age. 4) It was difficult to see the change in these two issues in a short run.