기독교 영유아 부모교육의 방향과 과제

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to suggest the directions and tasks of Christian Parent Education of Infants and Young Children. This study considers two perspectives and proposes directions and tasks based on them. First, in ‘Parent’s Perspective’, the crisis and reality of the parents of infants and toddlers were explored from various angles. Parents of infants and toddlers are concerned about physical problems (physical exhaustion), social-emotional problems (emotional exhaustion), intellectual problems (ignorance of early childhood education), material problems (the period of economic beginner), and religious problems (period of spiritual exhaustion). In a crisis, it eventually leads to ‘loss of parenting efficacy.’ Next, in the perspective of infants and toddlers, the importance of parents in the development of infants and toddlers was examined from various development angles. By examining the biological domain (brain development), cognitive domain (linguistic development), socio-emotional domain (self-esteem), and religious domain (infantile root of religious development), the importance of parental roles in various developmental domains was examined. As a result of considering the above two points of view, ironically, from the perspective of infants and toddlers, it is a period of total crisis, but from the perspective of infants and children, it has been found to be too important for the development of infants. Therefore, this study attempted three-dimensional directions and suggestions for Christian parental education of infants and toddlers. First, it is ‘expanding the target of education’. It is proposed that, beyond the ‘therapeutic level’ parent education for those who have already become parents, it should be expanded to ‘preventive level’ parent education for those who have not yet become parents. Second, it is ‘specialization of educational contents’. The Korean church has gone beyond 'comprehensive parenting education' that encompasses all ages, and has now suggested that specialized parental education for parents of young children is needed. Third, ‘expansion of educational methods’ was proposed to enable specialized parental education. In other words, a ‘informal relational learning community’ was proposed by expanding the existing formal education focused on instructional delivery.