Within the framework of its cultural program during the holy month of Ramadan, the Qatari Authors’ Forum hosted, through the Microsoft Teams application, a psychological counselling expert, Yara Sami Al-Sheikh. She spoke about her book – Raising a Child: Steps towards the Future, in a “A Writer and A Book” session moderated by the writer and media journalist Saleh Gharib, Members Affairs’ Coordinator.
Yara Al-Sheikh highlighted at the beginning of her speech that positivity is the primary centre on which her experience is based in writing her book: Raising a Child and a Woman’s Happiness.
She defined positivity as the basic centre on which our lives are based and the first path to success. It is an energy filled with feelings of contentment that leads us to happiness. Therefore, it is the key to personality.
Al-Sheikh said that her book talks about raising a child, because it is the main pillar of formation on which most of psychological pillars and the strength of the child’s mind are built. It results in a solid and balanced generation for us, which is governed by the emotional intelligence associated with psychological rigidity, which enables it to pass through all crises.
The speaker summarized the most important problems of education which she called “wrong methods” that lead to the repetition of mistakes, which makes education a legacy and not a responsibility. Of these wrong methods: bullying, cruelty, arousing psychological pain, neglect, excessive protection, and excessive pampering.
The psychologist indicated that these methods result in the child’s inability to think independently, a lack of ability to express an opinion, and a permanent feeling of default, and obsessive.
She also demanded that parents need to believe in teaching through experience.
Yara Al-Sheikh talked about the role of positivity in the conditions that society and humanity go through under the Corona pandemic. She indicated that it represents the real perception of the event, and that the fear that people feel is innate and natural. Yet this should not be allowed to control us though what happened was a shock to the majority, since it occurred without precedent warning and tipped the balances. Thus, one must think positively, because negative pessimistic thinking causes a person diseases of pressure, diabetes and heart diseases. Our need for positivity is summarized in: prevention, home commitment, confrontation, and adaptation to increase experience and hardness, prioritization, extract positive alternatives, sharpen the will, and thank Allah for his blessings.
At the end of her speech, Yara Al-Sheikh gave advice to parents at home in dealing with each other and their children, to overcome tension and achieve positivity. This, she explained could be attained through finding alternatives for children through stories and discovering hobbies and sharing their solving of homework, and urging them to play with clay, sports, joking and laughter, practicing of drawing and making decorations and dolls and playing with them.
She further referred to incentives for positivity in: exercising, eating healthy, reading books, adhering to worship, learning a different language, listening to music, meditation and relaxation.