Practical Study on a New Online-Based Parenting Counseling in a Kindergarten

Abstract

In this study, a new parenting counseling system that combines online-based parenting counseling (“online parenting counseling”) and face-to-face counseling (“face-to-face parenting counseling”) as emergency parenting support against COVID-19 was established and implemented for two years from 2020 to 2021 in two classes in a public kindergarten. The first purpose was to examine whether there were differences in the number of counseling cases and the contents of counseling depending on the difference between face-to-face counseling and online parenting counseling methods. As a result, the number of face-to-face counseling tended to be more than the number of online parenting counseling throughout the two years. Regardless of the method of counseling, most of the counseling cases were related to the children’s personality and emotions throughout the two years. The second purpose was to conduct a questionnaire survey to four users of online parenting counseling in order to collect their evaluations and to identify its functions and problems. The results showed that all users positively evaluated the online parenting counseling. They said that it was easy to use and talk and that they would like to use it again in the next opportunity. The issues of online parenting counseling methods and its ideas for improvement were discussed.