Rural Mothers’ Role in Child Development

Generally, people believe that illiterate/ least educated mothers lack awareness about child development. It is true to some extend.  But when these mothers get an opportunity for leading their children, they stand from their heart to play a part in their children’s lives.

In order to, sustain that curiosity, the facilitators, leading child development initiatives need to do the following;

• Come down to the level of mothers’ understanding and brainstorm their ideas about child development tools and strategies.
• Discuss the possible options and some best practices from the culture.
• Relate those ideas with current literature and research studies to strengthen their ideas and perspectives.
• Include new strategies and tools for child development initiations. It can focus any aspect of their development such as physical, social, moral, emotional and cognitive development etc.     
• Follow up with the mothers next time to see what works for them, what sorts of problems they faced and how it can be prevented.  

In short, these simple tips would help facilitators to engage rural women in meaningful child development initiations.