Domashny Ochag Conference: Parents and Children of Our Time

Domashny Ochag held a conference titled Children and Parents of the 21st Century: Meeting Halfway.  At the event – that took place at the Deworkacy venue on October 12 – experts spoke about the new challenges of parenting, raising children, modern schools, bullying, health issues, and much more. More than 500 people attended the conference.

Renowned psychologist and publicist Lyudmilla Petranovskaya headlined the event. She spoke about the challenges that today’s parents face. She explained what parents fear, how they needlessly torture themselves and their children, and which qualities to teach children so that they can adapt to the future.

TV host and nutrition specialist Lika Dlugach explained how to reorganize your family’s eating habits and how to introduce new foods into your children’s diets. Famed pediatrician Fyodor Katasonov explained the principles of the modern approach to children’s health. A particularly heated discussion arose over the question of vaccinations.

Higher School of Economics School of Sociology Associate Professor Olga Savinskaya and Herzen State Pedagogical University School of Psychology Associate Professor Yulia Guseva offered advice on how to raise children without gender stereotypes, provided examples from world practice and explained how to react if a boy wants to wear a dress. Crisis psychologist Maria Zelenova of the Travli NET program delivered a lecture on bullying at school.

“Our children are different. Does that mean schools should be different, too? If so, how?" This was the topic discussed by Ekaterina Timashpolskaya (teacher of Russian Literature and English at Tubelsky School No. 734), Elena Kraevskaya (coordinator of the secondary school program at the European Gymnasium), Yury Podkpaev (deputy director for organizing the educational environment at the New School), Maria Valganova (creator of the Smart School network) and moderator Nina Dobrynchenko-Matusevich — mother of three, producer at the Skolkovo Business School, and founder of the League of Modern Parents.

Anastasia Yakushevskaya, Doctor of Philosophy and head of the Skyeng Kids food laboratory spoke about world trends in education and alternative forms that are becoming increasingly popular. Elena Machinskaya, Change One Life Foundation psychologist and mother of four, shared her experience communicating with adolescents and maintaining warm and friendly relations between parents and children. Clinical psychologist and consultant and cognitive behavioral psychotherapist Grigory Misyutin concluded the conference with a talk about how gadgets influence a child’s psychology and how to preserve positive relations in the family when it seems that your child has an unhealthy relationship to gadgets.

In addition to interesting lectures, conference guests enjoyed an entertaining program that included workshops, games for children, and a photo zone.