COVID-19 situation’s impact on humanity is a challenge for us as positive psychology practitioners on many levels. The closure of schools across the world startled parents, teachers and students, cascading panic and anxiety for continued education. The schooling ecosystem equation consisting of parents, children and heavyweights of teachers, eventually shrunk to parent & child. Parents had graduated overnight into teachers-at-home, with little to no skills. Chaos and uncertainty have escalated the situation into a double disaster – impeding education continuity of child and taking a massive toll on the wellbeing of families. While there is help available from different global and local agencies, however, it is not sufficient to provide necessary teaching skills to parents so that they can effectively deliver the subject while maintaining and enhancing their wellbeing.
My continued pursuit of the flourishing goal has inspired me in designing a Positive Education Framework for parents – CaReSMA. It consists of five sets of positive psychology-based interventions that provide a logical flow to parents and children in their guided evolution journey from being a parent-child to a teacher-student with a heightened state of wellbeing. This report consists of real examples that were used to teach my child this year and highlights of instances celebrating the successful journey. Further, to maintain the efficacy, it is supplemented with control mechanisms to take care of the stressors that actually work as the sensors of this working model. CaReSMA is a global challenge-driven framework, developed from the bottom of a universally shared adversity.
With this timely opportunity at IPPA, I intend to share it with the world, with a hope that it will benefit the parenting, children and educator community and assist in their personal and collective wellbeing, thereby turning this pandemic from adversity into an opportunity.