PEKiP - Prager Eltern-Kind Programm - Early family formation

PEKiP®-early family formation

The Project PEKiP
- by Dana Kubani, Germany (1993) Comenius-Congress Prague

The Prague Programme for Parents and Children PEKiP (Prager - Eltern - Kind - Programm) is a special form of parents' education oriented towards the group work with parents and children up to one year of their age. One of its parts consists in exercises and plays for children and parents which were elaborated by Doc.Dr.J.Koch in the Institute of Mother and Child Care in Prague.

As a follow-up to J.Koch's findings and on the basis of the idea of preventive and pedagogical work with parents and their children, Profs. Christa and Hans Ruppelt created in cooperation with a child nurse, social workers, pedagogues and psychologues a programme for group work with children in 1972-1979. In 1978 it received the title PEKiP. Since 1978 one has educated 4000 persons with this method in the Federal Republic of Germany. The trained socialworkers act in those institutions whose task involves the family's support(Familienbildungsstaetten, Volkshochschulen, Geburtsvorbereitungszentren), in the institutions of health care and in health insurance-offices.

Early family formation

Goals of the Programme PEKiP

1/The first goal: the children's early motory stimulation by means of motory exercises and social plays. The exercises and plays for children and their parents, created by J. Koch, are divided into the following groups: development and education of a newly born child, development and education of an infant in the second and third month, fourth to sixth month, seventh to ninth month, tenth to twelfth month. The exercises support both physical, social and emotional development, one the one hand, and the optimal relation between the child and the educator, on the other J. Koch's system of education is described in the book "Education of an infant in the family" (Praha, Avicenum 1969).

2/ The second goal: the support and intensification of interactions between mother (father) and child. In the interaction of the adults and a child J. Koch stresses the necessity of feedback. The adult's behaviour is to be interwoven with a number of adaptation acts each of which has the following main phases: 1. the mother gives a certain educational stimulus; 2. she finds out in what way the child reacts to it; 3. she realizes what this reaction means; 4. she decides in what way she will respond to the child's reaction; 5. she performs her decision. The sequence of steps in the interactions which were described by J.Koch is congruent with Mary D. Ainsworth's procedure characterizing the mother's empathy, her projecting into the child's feelings: 1. the mother perceives the child's signals; 2. she interprets them correctly; 3. she chooses an adequate response; 4. she reacts. Such a behaviour of the mother facilitates the child's optimal development (Grossmann). In the case of M.D. Ainsworth it is the child's activity which is at the beginning: the child shows activity and the mother joins his or her activity. Transferred to the principle of PEKiP it means that the mother must primarily find out what is the child's momentary need and in what way she can support the child's own activity; for instance, J. Koch's exercises reach the highest effectiveness when they proceed from the child's own activity. For the sake of a good relation between the mother and the child it is important that she might support the child's independence, provide it with enough time for playing and respect its needs, individuality and possibilities. It is also important that the educator might show his or her positive and negative feelings, i.e.not only the wish of mutual proximity but also of tiredness; for instance, the mother is tired and the child will continue to play. Then she says:?You would still like to play but I am already tired.? The mother makes it thus possible for the child to learn to know the possibility of choosing one's way of action.

3/ The third goal: The support of parents'communication in the group. Communication facilitates individual decision and shows the way of solution but it does not prescribe anything in a directive way. Any adult decides between several possibilities (for instance, to take the child into one's arms or to lay it down). The group offers the possibility of choice on the basis of its own and other people's experience.

4/ The fourth goal: the support of contacts between the children of the same age. During one year in which the meetings of children and parents take place the children develop and begin to be interested in other children. They show their joy when they meet and enjoy their mutual contacts(H. Ruppelt). Characteristic features of the Programme

The group work with parents begins in the fourth to sixth week after the child's birth and sometimes even after the delivery. Then it continues without interruption to the end of the child's first year. We work with the children individually, which means that we support their individual motory development. At the same time we take into account both the child's momentary state and the parents'and childrens'situation. Our specific form of work makes it possible for the parents to acquire their own experience and to form a knowledge basis for their adequate educational attitudes and educational activity. PEKiP is a form of initial education oriented towards the practice. The parents become sensitized, they mature emotionally and experience psychosocial needs in their activity with the child. They also receive a concrete pedagogical aid with regard to the specific laws of development in the child's first year of life.

Qualifications of the PEKiP group leaders

The activity of parents'group is managed by a leader who participated in a special vocational course. The training lasts 1,5 year and consists of three parts: 1.: 96 hours of theory and practice; 2.: attendance in another PEKiP group; 3.: management of a PEKiP group in the course of one year(40 hours) under the supervision and guidance of a PEKiP trainer.

Progress of the meetings of parents and childrens groups

One group is formed by 6-8 adults with infantsat the age of 4 to 6 weeks; this group remains together the whole year round. The meetings take place once a week and last 90 minutes. The group meets in an agreeably heated room with mattresses on the floor. The children are laid on them. This fact makes it possible for the parents to put themselves in the place of the child and observe it. It is so warm in the room so that the children could be undressed; naked children move more, freely and more intensively, they have more possibilities for physical contact and they are more satisfied. The PEKiP leader prepares toys and other objects for playing with a view to the child's developmental level and the adults' needs.
The meetings proceed in a different way. For instance, in the meetings of parents with children at the age up to six weeks the first 15-20 minutes are spent by undressing the children, talking about their thriving(state, sleep) and their mood. They also confide their own pleasures and sorrows(the mother-in-law's visit). Then the leader shows to the parents such exercises and plays as correspond with the momentary state of the children and their individual developmental needs. The parents orientate themselves simultaneously towards the child's optimal reactions( Ainsworth, Koch, Keller, Grossmann). One does not however forget the adult's psychical state as well and one takes it into account (the non-directive method of verbalizing one's emotional experience, Rogers). At the end of the meeting one speaks in the group not only about the experience from the respective lesson but also about the issues related to the children's development and nutrition as well as the adults'problems: the problems in their marriage, the change in sexuality after the childbirth, return to one's workplace after maternity leave, and the like.
During these meetings the adults can observe not only their own children but also the other ones. They learn to know that every child has another rhythm and behaviour and develops in its individual way. This knowledge helps the parents to see their own child as an independent unique personality and accept it as such.