Welcome to the Chat
As parents we are our child’s primary and most important educator when it comes to how they learn about friendships and relationships, about growing up and puberty, and about being safe. By the time our children are teenagers we want them to make good choices in relationships, we want them to understand topics like consent, and to be safe when they are online and using social media. We can also help them think ahead and learn all they need to know so that when it comes to their sexual health, they are healthy, happy and safe.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has been incorporated into Scots law. The UNCRC tells us that the family is “the fundamental group of society and the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members and particularly children”. In Article 5 of the UNCRC we are reminded that parents’ guide and advise their child, so that as the child grows, they are able to apply their rights properly.
The Chat is here to help you to support your child as they learn about friendships, relationships and growing up. You can look for what you need depending on the age of your child, the topic they are interested in, or the questions they ask.
When we talk about parents, we mean parents and carers. This includes mums, dads and any family member with direct caring responsibility, and includes adoptive parents, foster carers and kinship carers. Before we developed the information and support you will find here, we talked with parents about their experiences of supporting their child’s learning at home. One of the things we found was that parents wanted a one stop shop just like this, to help them support conversations with their child. Another thing parents reported was that the NHS is a trusted source of information and support. This is why a partnership of NHS Boards (NHS Borders, NHS Grampian, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Tayside and NHS Western Isles) have created this parent resource. To read more about the original parent consultation, go here.
So, welcome to the Chat. Of course, loving and nurturing our children is never going to be about just that one chat. We hope what you find here supports many fascinating, surprising and occasionally funny or challenging conversations.
This is what you will find here at the Chat parent resource.
In this section we pose the questions that children and young people can ask. These are questions that parents told us they have been asked. We give some ideas about how to answer them, depending on the age of the child. A question, and your answer, can be just the start of a conversation.
In this section we give you support to talk about topics. You will see that this is organised by the age of your child, and then by topic.
Sometimes it is good to talk with someone who can help you think through the questions you have or the challenges of being a parent. Check here for people and places to go for a chat.
When we did our initial engagement with parents, we learned a lot about parental views on nursery and school education. In this section you can find out more about learning in nursery and school.
theChat.scot 