IPS Officer Hasmukh Patel Offers Free Counselling On Good Parenting

Hasmukh Patel, the Additional Director General of Police (DGP) and Managing Director Gujarat State Police Housing Corporation have a unique mission in his life—provide free counselling to parents to raise their kids with love. For this purpose, the IPS officer had started the 'Parenting for Peace' programme eight years back in 2014.

The initiative has helped train more than 3,000 volunteers who, in turn, counselled over 40,000 parents across India. 'Parenting for Peace' has become a study course in Gujarat Vidyapith, a deemed university, and it already has nearly 60 students, The New Indian Express reported.

Free Counselling To Parents

The programme provides free counselling to parents who wish to mitigate conflict with their children. The three-month course with a systematic syllabus covers topics like good parenting, the impact of media, and good and bad touch.

Explaining how the programme started, Patel said that he had written a letter to his friends a few years ago about the subject. In response, Bhavnabahen Pathak from Lokbharati Sanstha in Bhavnagar district's Sanosara sent a booklet by the late Manubhai Pancholi aka 'Darshak', titled Vishvashantini Gurukilli.

Before this, Patel was under the impression that his idea of linking child violence and terrorism was original. "But this booklet already mentioned it 50 years ago. I felt it must reach every household, and we translated this book into English, Hindi and Marathi. We will translate it in other languages also," he said to TNIE.

Doctors & Parents Take

Iti Shukla, a clinical psychologist, told TNIE that kids should learn self-awareness and life skills to manage themselves and their feelings at home and school. "Most children do not have proper avenues for their energy and aggression. Getting involved in some sports provides natural channelisation," Shukla said.

Dr Unmesh Upadhyay, a consultant paediatrician, opined that parents have great expectations and scold or beat their children if they can't meet them. He told TNIE, "Internet, media exposure, and parents' busy schedules do not allow monitoring. These factors lead to conflicts, which is where our course comes to the rescue".

Neha Shah, the mother of two children studying in 5th and 8th standard, said punishing a kid complicates matters. "Children have to be presented with positive and negative fallouts of a situation. Parents need to be tactful, and such course will provide them guidance."

Experts say childhood experiences mould a child's personality. If their issues remain unresolved, the traits may amplify and create psychological problems later in their life.

Patel stressed that children learn from what they see and feel around them. He concluded to TNIE that "Violence creeps in if a kid experiences violence in the early stages of life. As parents and teachers, we are unaware of this because we are trained to be pilots from a plumber. Let us all work to give our kids a loving childhood."

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