The most important thing for children to have

Our last day in Romania was at the Center of Emotional and Behavior Education for Children, a project from Save the Children Romania. The staff look after children with a learning difficulty and also teach parents to understand their children’s problems and how to best deal with them.

We started the morning with our friends from IKEA Hong Kong to share our experiences from the week, and we talked about our impressions and feelings. It was a really nice moment, full of emotions, and I think after this moment we were linked to each other forever.

Later we met colleagues from Save the Children – a psychologist, psychiatrist, language therapist, mediator and a social assistant – for a sharing session to understand what they are doing and how they are working with the children, as well as with the parents. They introduced themselves and answered our questions.

We also had the chance to meet some children from age 2 to 18. They were very open about sharing with us why are they in this center and how they feel now after the collaboration with the specialists. It is a real success for all. They feel better and know how to control themselves in the bad moments. Most importantly for me is the fact that all the parents or grandparents have now learned how to deal with the children in a good way and and they are more involved in their daily education.

The people we met work a lot with schoolteachers to educate them about how to talk and behave with the children during lessons. Teachers in Romania don’t receive educational courses on psychology; they transmit their knowledge, but they don’t know how to manage conflicts or unnatural behaviors.

Just before we leave this beautiful city, Diana from Save the Children wanted to share with us some TV campaigns and posters shown in the country. They talk about violence towards children, children who are living in the sewers, and explain that attention and love from parents are more important than everything else.