Within the framework of its cultural program during the holy month of Ramadan, the Qatari Forum for Authors, via the Microsoft Teams app, hosted psychological counseling specialist Yara Sami Al-Sheikh, to talk about her book: Rearing the Child: Steps to the Future, in a “Writer and Book” session moderated by writer and journalist Mr. Saleh Gharib, Coordinator of Affairs Members in the Forum.

At the beginning of her speech, Yara Al-Sheikh highlighted that positivity is the main focus of her experience in writing her two books: Child Rearing and Women’s Happiness.

She defined “Positivity” as the basic center on which our life is based and the first path to success, and it is an energy full of feelings of satisfaction that leads us to happiness, so it is the key to personality.

She also said that her book talks about rearing the child, because it is the main pillar of formation on which most of the psychological pillars and the strength of his mind are built, which results in us a solid and balanced generation, ruled by emotional intelligence associated with psychological rigidity, which enables it to cross crises.

The speaker summarized the most important problems of education in what she called the wrong methods that lead to repetition of mistakes, which makes education a legacy and not a responsibility. Among these wrong methods are: bullying, cruelty, stirring up psychological pain, neglect, excessive protection, and excessive pampering.

The psychologist indicated that these methods result in the child’s inability to think independently, the lack of the ability to express opinion and the constant feeling of default, and obsessive behavior. She also requested parents to believe in the method of teaching through experience.

Yara Al-Sheikh talked about the role of positivity in the conditions that society and humanity are going through in light of the Corona pandemic, indicating that it represents a realistic perception of the event, and that the fear that people feel is innate and natural, but it should not be allowed to control us and that what happened was a shock to the majority, because it came without precedent warning, turning the norms, so you must think positively, because pessimistic negative thinking causes a person to have blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. She summarized our need for positivity in: prevention, home commitment, confrontation and adaptation to increase experience and rigidity, arranging our priorities, extracting positive alternatives, sharpening our will, and thanking God for his blessings.

At the conclusion of her speech, Yara Al-Sheikh provided advice to parents at home in dealing with each other and with their children, to overcome tension and achieve positivity through: finding alternatives for children through stories, discovering hobbies, sharing their duties, and urging them to play with clay, sports, joking, laughter, practicing drawing, making decorations and dolls and sharing playing with them. She also pointed to motivators for positivity in: exercising, healthy eating, reading books, adhering to worship, learning a different language, listening to music, meditation and relaxation.