Two new books, “Growing up in a democratic family” and “Living in a democratic family”, designed for parents seeking to raise their children to be active citizens have been developed under the joint European Union/Council of Europe “Quality education for all” action, and are now available.

The books guide the reader through models of parenting, depicting the daily life of a family and the different situations where democracy can be used to help children overcome problems. “Growing up in a democratic family” has been developed for parents of children of two age groups, 6-10 year-olds and 11-14 year-olds, while a separate volume, “Living in a democratic family”, has been developed for adolescents from 15 to 19 years-old. Although primarily aimed at parents, the publications can also be used in schools and by education professionals.

Rolf Gollob, one of the books’ authors explained the aim of the books: “We didn’t want to write another book about parenting and upbringing, we wanted to make a tool to help parents bring up kids in a democratic society. A democratic family is about listening each other, even the youngest ones, and that’s what we also covered in the books. Democracy is so much more than an institution, it’s about finding solutions together in our families, schools, and society”, he said.

"We hope that these manuals will help parents in overcoming certain family situations, and you in schools to show parents that they have a tool they can use every day”, added Svetlana Lazić, co-author of the books.

Why is it important to have books like these? The structure of the society we live in, and that of the families we belong to, is evolving; “patchwork” families, for instance, are becoming more and more commonplace. At the same time, raising our children to be more democratic, has never been so important. It is not just about teaching them how to be safe on the internet or how to raise them as “good people”, it is also about teaching them how to fight for their rights and the rights of others, how to accept diversity, how to think critically and make informed decisions based on research data and much more. These are just a small selection of the topics that are covered in these books.

The two volumes are accompanied by additional materials that the authors created to spark creativity, discussion, and family fun time: the “Our democratic family” poster, a “Co-operation-organiser: the family as a team” planner and the “Table game for families: with dice, brains and laughter”.

The action “Quality education for all” is implemented under the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”.