We recently kicked off our Mother's Workshops at Al Furqan Manchester! A total of 4 sessions will be held in Manchester, covering a variety of topics such as parenting, mental health, wellbeing, schools etc...
Part 1 of the 1st session took place on the 26th January 2020 at Al Furqan Manchester. Around 25 mothers attended the workshop.
The first half of the session was a deep dive into parenting in the UK as Somali parents and the ways in which mothers have had to adapt compared to how they were parented back in Somalia. We talked in-depth about the struggles mother face here, and how they had to unlearn ways in which their parents dealt with them, such as discipline methods, communication, language etc...
Some of the mothers talked about how their children compared their teachers to their parents in the ways they were treated. We talked about the importance of spending at least an hour a day talking to your child, doing activities with them, and making the most of the little time children are at home. We talked about the strengths of Somali mothers in that they are extremely good at making sure their children are warm, well, fed, clean and in clean clothes all the time. The mothers themselves talked about where they were lacking, such as in communicating with their children and building up their confidence through positive, encouraging words. This is mostly due to the fact that their parents were also lacking in this area.
We also touched on the identity crisis faced by Somali children as they navigate their various identities in different spaces. The mothers spoke of how they struggled with this, given that they are first-generation immigrants; a significant factor that hindered communication around this area appeared to be the language barrier. A lot of the mothers didn't speak good English, and their children could understand but not speak in Somali, meaning a lack of a mutual language between mother and child.
We look forward to part 2 of this session, which will be held on Sunday 23rd February, at 11:30 am, Al Furqan Manchester.
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