# Creating a Sound Environment to Nurture/Protect Children – Family Support Approaches

As the starting point for all education, home education plays an important role in helping children acquire basic lifestyle habits, life skills, good taste, fundamental ethical values such as consideration for others and distinction between right and wrong, self-independence and self-control, and social manners. However, changes to families and their social circumstances resulting from urbanization, family nuclearization, falling birthrate, and the dilution of local ties in recent years have produced a decline in the educational functions of families.

In March 2004 the “the Report for Home Education Support: Facilitation of Cooperation between the Government and Parenting Support Organizations” (a report by the Study Research Committee for Home Education Support on Cooperation between the Government and Parenting Support Organizations) was released. This report identified contemporary issues in supporting home education, pointed out the need for cooperation between the government and parenting support organizations such as parenting circles and parenting networks $ ^{*} $ , and recommended strategies for cooperation. Taking this report under consideration, MEXT has sought to enhance

▲ “Facilitation of Cooperation between the Government and Parenting Support Organizations for Home Education Support”

cooperation between the government and parenting support organizations while working to improve support for home education by providing learning opportunities and information on home education.

## 1 Supporting Learning by Each and Every Parent

To improve their educational abilities of families, parents need to have access to places where they can learn about and gain experience in being a parent. Therefore MEXT has, under its General Program to Promote Home Education Support (hereinafter, “General Program”) launched in FY2004, entrusted several tasks to Community Home Education Promotion Councils staffed by representatives of government and parenting support organizations so as to provide learning opportunities on occasions in which many parents participate for parents.

More specifically, MEXT has been offering Parenting Lectures tailored to different stages of

▲ Lecture to help junior high and high school students understand parenting (Sakura East Prefectural High School, Chiba Prefecture)

child development by utilizing such opportunities as maternity classes and newborn/infant health examinations conducted at health centers as well as health examinations for children starting school, school enrollment briefings, and school meetings with parents/guardians. Furthermore, from FY2004, Parenting Lectures for Comprehension are also being offered to help junior high and high school students who are parents of the future, better understand parenting and gain a greater appreciation for home education at their young ages.

## * Parenting networks

Parent networks are groups that bring together parents currently raising children, experienced parents who have finished raising children, leaders of parenting circles, and experts on parenting for the purpose of providing broad-ranged support to parents raising children; these networks not only link parents raising children with parenting circles but they also offer a wide variety of learning/educational opportunities such as daycare support, parenting counseling, information and exchanges (as described in the "Report for Home Education Support : Facilitation of Cooperation between the Government and Parenting Support Organizations").