Appreciative Parenting in Promoting Child Participation 16 December 2015, Vatra Dornei Romania Stefan COJOCARU Strengthening Activity-Oriented Interaction and Growth iN the E A rLy Years and TransitionS

Child Participation The concept of participation has its roots in Habermas’ works (1972, 1990, 1993) and other authors (Kemmis, Cole, & Suggett, 1983; Roberts, 1991; Young, 1990) who support the processes of empowering the action of communication where all stakeholders have a word to say. Research indicates that children are still weak involved in school activities. Holdsworth (1996) suggests that teachers need to understand how student participation can be stimulated at school. Children can practice participation through a variety of school contexts, especially involving in the processes of educational institution’s life (Holdsworth, 1988). Child participation is essential for children needs, and educational outcomes can be better achieved involving the parents in school activities (Walker & Hoover-Dempsey, 2008).

The concept of the children voice is fundamental to a deeper participation. If children are accepted as participants and education practitioners (Holdsworth, 1996; Kemmis et al. 1983) it is clear that the ‘voice of the child’ becomes a critical factor in enabling children to participate (Young, 1990)..

Understanding the Importance of Child Participation Involvement in activities is considered a vital part of children’s live (Hendry, 1983; Larson, 2000). Participation is important for children’s welfare. The way children are involved in school, family activities or in community is relevant in their life quality (Felce & Perry, 1992). Lack of children’s involvement opportunities leads to the impossibility of exploring the social, intellectual, emotional world and their development becomes more and more limited.

It is important to understand the factors and processes through which children can participate in activities, because knowing the importance of participation may be used to encourage participation and to remove barriers regarding children involvement (Brown & Gordon, 1987).

Appreciative Parenting Child participation leads to children’s success and it is essential for their emotional and psychological development (Larson, 2000; Forsyth & Jarvis, 2002). One of the strategies to promote child participation is appreciative parenting. Appreciative parenting develops the relations between parents and children by encouraging support behaviors from parents and by altering non-productive or harmful behaviors (Small, 1990). Appreciative parenting in the education of children is actually the main driver behind academic success and attainment (Hara & Burke, 1998). Appreciative parenting helps children to develop cognitive and non-cognitive skills, necessarily in the process of transition (Aljadeff- Abergel, Ayvazo, & Eldar, 2012). Appreciative parenting is one of the key strategies that form the inventory of techniques aimed to support families, together with counseling, crisis intervention, family therapy etc. (Cojocaru, 2009).

Acknowledgements This paper was realized within the project Strengthening Activity-Oriented Interaction and Growth in the Early Years and in Transitions (SIGNALS), financed by European Commission (in Lifelong Learning Programme), implemented by University of Cologne, The Faculty of Human Sciences (Germany), Aarhus University Department of Education, Copenhagen (Denmark), University of Western Macedonia, Department of Early Childhood Education and Department of Primary School Education (Macedonia), National Institute for Family and Social Policy (Hungary), Holt Romania – Iasi Branch (Romania), University of Gothenburg; Department of Education, Communication and Learning (Sweden), University of Iceland, School of Education Reykjavík, (Island).

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