Exploring the perceptions of parents on playful parenting and preschool children’s socio-emotional well-being

Abstract

Playful parenting has many positive effects on the life of children, specially 3 to 5 years old children. Playful parenting can helpful for preschool children's socio-emotional well-being. A parent is commonly a children’s first playmate. So, the parents’ role and involvement have significant impacts on childrens life. Playful Parenting, developed by psychologist Lawrence J. Cohen, addresses common challenges in parent-child relationships. The approach emphasizes the importance of incorporating playfulness into parenting to foster stronger connections and communication. In this study, Parents’ perceptions about playful parenting, their knowledge, roles and practice in playful parenting with their children from three to five years old were attempted to be explored. Sixteen participants had been chosen to participate in the study. In-depth interviews and Focus group discussion methods were used for data collection. It has been found that all the parents had no idea about the term " Playful Parenting ". Despite the challenges, parents acknowledge the positive impact of spending time with their children on both 'socio- emotional well-being. Most of the parents have mentioned that they cannot understand about the socio-emotional well-being. After brief introduction, they shared that they do not notice the sign of socio-emotional development. It has also found that many of the parents were eager to engage in play with their children. It has been found out that homemaker mothers were found in engaged in different activities with their children but it is not possible for the working parents to always to be physical play though they were found eager to engage with their children in physical play at weekend but they also shared their challenges of having less time to spend with their children and family support has been found as one of the indicators for them to engage more in all activities including play.