Throughout my time in this class, I learned a lot about how family’s function under stress, theories about stressors, and many other elements revolving around stress and families. I also learned about resources for parents going through stress and crisis. One of these resources was the “Parent Tool-Kit” we created during our time in this class. Developing the parent tool-kit was not an easy task in my opinion. There was lots of research that went into this tool-kit to make it accurate, yet appealing for the parents that received it. I believed it was challenging to decide what parents needed, and what needs were more important than others. I liked how we included a resource for mental health, as mental health can be a major factor in the parent and child’s life. I learned that some parents need information on not only taking care of their children, but themselves too.
I also learned that some resources can help reduce stress for these parents. Simple parenting tactics such as understanding why your child is misbehaving can be a great de-stressor for parents. It can help resolve situations like a child misbehaving more efficiently as a parent now knows why their child is misbehaving and how they can deal with it. I also believe that our parent tool-kit can give parents confidence, and resilience to the needs of their child. Our toolbox not only has tips, but reasons as to why their child may be acting out. With that information, parents can understand and better take care of their child, as well as build resilience with prior problem solving.
Throughout the project there were various strengths in some components. One of the strengths was the visual appeal of our finished project. The use of AI imagery provided us unlimited potential for artistic creation. I personally thought that our visuals were enjoyable as well as creative. Another strength our project had was that the finished project was not only easy to read/understand, but it was also informative, with plenty of information to help parents in need.
However, there were some areas throughout the project that could use improvement. One of these areas is the number of ideas that the researchers had, sometimes cluttered up the project’s design and layout. With the cumulative ideas about the design, it was hard for researchers to choose what design worked best for the project. A way to fix this would be to create a limited number of larger groups instead of keeping a multitude of small groups. Another flaw with the project was the small amount of time we had to create the project. I would’ve liked to spend more time on it to obtain more information for troubled parents.
The overall skills I’ve developed from this project was the skills to work collaboratively with other researchers in order to produce an informational “booklet” for parents in need. The ability to work with other researchers on projects, with different ideas on how the project should be managed is definitely a skill one must harbor for later in life. I also gained the skills to efficiently use AI to create images and ideas for future projects. The use of AI is innovative and is efficient for completing projects.
My contributions to this project included information on activities that are fun and free for parents and their children, as well as pioneered the idea of the art cover for the parent tool-kit. I came up with a multitude of activities for parents to do with their child, (one of those was used in the project) and included information on how they benefit the child. For the art cover, I suggested we create an image with children inside, or peeking behind a red tool-box. I thought this image would work best as it can show a multitude of different ethnic children so it would be inclusive to all parents and their children.
Link to collaborative slide presentation:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tjQBO0Li_7oGffeG2vNGueoAcclp5LsD/edit#slide=id.p6