Tikanga Korowai and positive parenting
Weaving feather cloaks was the perfect opportunity to talk about positive whānau relationships during a Korowai Wānanga held in the Far North town of Taipa.
Participants learnt about traditional methods of making feather cloaks. At the same time, the SKIP-funded project wove a Māori perspective of positive parenting into the wānanga.
Wānanga organiser Whaea Eleanor Cope-Albert says: "We had a safe environment so the whaea me ngā tamariki could korero, cry, laugh and work through issues they were dealing with alone".
"Having busy hands allowed the conversation to flow across topics, like how children cope with their parents' broken relationships, bullying of siblings, dealing with tantrums and young children soaking up all the parents' attention".
Several parents addressed significant concerns and took a new approach with their children during the wānanga with the support of other weavers.
A core group of 10 women attended all of the sessions with a further 20 parents joining in some sessions throughout the week. The wānanga inspired the group to continue learning the tikanga and art of korowai weaving, and to form an ongoing korowai class to give women and their whānau support on the issues they deal with as parents and grandparents.
"It provides an excellent forum for whānau to share their thoughts and personal experiences about being a parent in a caring environment, while learning more about the korowai taonga", says Whaea Eleanor.
The wānanga was one of a series of eight positive parenting activities that Pepi Patch delivered in 2009.
