Like many things, parenting differs from culture to culture.
For families from migrant backgrounds, different expectations on parenting can be an added weight to the multiple adjustments of moving to a new country, and culture.
Now a migrant settlement group in Melbourne has launched new resources to help build parenting skills and family cohesion in newly arrived refugee and migrant families.
The Spectrum Migrant Resource Centre (MRC) has updated its Parenting in a New Culture program, which has been running since 2004 in eight languages.
The General Manager for Settlement and Family Services at Spectrum MRC, Amy Griffin, says the challenges for migrant parents are layered.
"Once a family arrives in Australia, they often have multiple tasks of settlement to complete, such as finding a house, settling the children into school, learning about life in Australia and finding work,” she says.
“But this journey can also be very stressful as each family member deals with the change in lifestyle that migration brings, as well as changing roles and expectations that life in Australia can have on a family."
"Once a family arrives in Australia, they often have multiple tasks of settlement to complete, such as finding a house, settling the children into school, learning about life in Australia and finding work."
The resources include information on services for children, as well as downloadable information from their website in seven categories including one on Australian laws relating to children, which falls under “Protecting your Child.” “Dealing with Teenagers” is another category.
Updated resources are only available in the two most in-demand language groups at their centre- Farsi and Arabic, as well as English.
Ms Griffin says the information will eventually be translated into all eight of their languages: English, French, Farsi, Swahili, Kirundi, Arabic, Mandarin and Samoan. She says they hope to add additional languages such as Dinka and Burmese in the future.
Mouna Mickel works for Victorian Arabic Social Services (VASS) and says moving with her husband and four children from war-torn Iraq to Australia five years ago has been tough, but worth it.
She says her children have a better life in Australia, but she hasn’t had to sacrifice her culture in raising them under new laws and systems.
"Parenting in Iraq we like, as you know, they all live together until even they get married. And for me, I still do the same. My son is getting married but he still living with me,” she says.
Spectrum will also roll-out a ‘professional user manual’ this year for other community service providers to assist and support migrant families with parenting.
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