Famiglie immigrate e educazione dei figli, Rivista Italiana di Educazione Familiare, Firenze University Press (2006)

Every family, be it migrant or not, constitutes a unit in itself, a microcosm held together by ties and stories, marked by roles, resources, affections, and events. Accordingly, it would be misleading to consider migrant families as homogeneous social entities, though they all share the experience of migration. The phenomenon of migration is accompanied by a series of transformations including a profound self-development, as well as human relationships, behaviors, and attitudes. In order to face and cope with the migration experience, the involved need to undertake a self-restructuring process, and to gain awareness of changes taking place at identity level. This is why training activities aimed at supporting migrant families in these processes are extremely important. For migrant families, rearing children is undoubtedly one of the most challenging tasks for several reasons: first of all, it implies offering to their children cultural references and values allowing them to cross multiple cultures, and to belong to more than one nation at the same time, to build an identity capable of reconciling the values of family tradition and those of the country where they were born and/or grew up.

Focus of the publication:

- migrant families;

- migration experience;

- child rearing;

- parenting support