Accompaniment to Families from vulnerable environments in Stage 0 – 3

Today we share with you an interview from HubSocial Fundación La Caixa with Núria Alsina Punsola about Stage 0 – 3

What is taught and how is a child from 0-3 taught?

A child 0-3 years old learns by imitation, and what he needs is an environment that generates security, which will promote his autonomy. If the child has in front of him an adult who looks at him, who sees him, who takes him into account, this space of self-esteem and confidence will be the one that will allow him to incorporate all the learning that will come. And at this stage, according to Maria Montessori, the learning is above all related to everyday life, and to everything related to their emotional world, and it is from here that we focus the project.

What aspects should be taken into account when acting with children from families in vulnerable situations due to poverty? What to reinforce?

When we are accompanying and working with families in vulnerable situations, what must be taken into account is that the level of expectation is appropriate to the reality of each family. It is important to focus with families on what is there, what they do in relation to their children, and not only on what they do not do or do not have. And from here to value and validate the small achievements.
It is important to keep in mind that when we talk about children 0-3 years old, the gaze has to be in the symbiosi of the whole family, we do not look only at the child but we look at the mother/father and the child. It is from here that we focus when it comes to accompanying and intervening.

In the long run, how can having received the support of a program like this make a difference in the development of children?

In the groups and sessions, they work directly with parental and parenting skills, and this undoubtedly improves the bond with their children.

And if the bond improves, it improves the development in all areas of the creatures. We see it for example when a mother comes to the group, with her second or third child, and becomes aware of many things that she did not take into account with her first child, and how what she takes away from the sessions also helps her to strengthen the bond with her other children.

All these changes, the integration of information and the reinforcement of their skills, have a very clear impact on the development of children, in the different areas, language, autonomy, motor, self-esteem and emotional development as well.

How can an educational care project for 0-3 years old help professionals who work with children of this age in vulnerable situations and their families?

This project helps them to have a guide, a tool for their interventions and accompaniment, and in turn to be able to offer tools to the families they accompany.

There are situations of extreme complexity when you accompany families in vulnerable areas, and having the support of this project is a factor of added value to their work.

At the same time, the training that professionals are carrying out allows them to have a space where they can share their concerns, reinforce their knowledge, supervise the most complex cases and continue to update themselves in a safe and quality environment.

This training gives them a change of perspective, incorporating updated concepts and knowledge in relation to motherhood, which are an added value to the interventions they will carry out with families.