2022 Taiwan Girls Day-Symposium on the Next Generation of the Emotional World

In welcoming the 2022 Taiwan Girls Day, the Social and Family Affairs Administration, Ministry of Health and Welfare (hereinafter SFAA) has released the “Past, Present, and Future” three game series of online situational experience, with a focus on the emotional issues which  children and youth pay special attention to. The “Symposium on the Emotional World of the Next Generation” was broadcast on Taiwan Girls Day, October 11, via the SFAA Facebook and YouTube. Political Deputy Minister Lee Li-Feng of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) and clinical psychologist Su Yi-Hsien had dialogue and exchanges with two adolescents to lead the audience through an in-depth discussion of emotional self-perception and interpersonal communication issues reflected behind the games.

 

According to Deputy Minister Lee Li-Feng of Ministry of Health Welfare, In response to the spirit of the International Day of the Girl Child that emphasizes and invests in girls, Taiwan designated October 11 as Taiwan Girls Day in 2013, and celebrates its 10th year. The MOHW has been actively promoting various policies that advocate girls’ rights, calling on all walks of life to break out of a social stereotype and jointly build a girl-friendly social environment on this special day. This year, a special focus is given to “emotional education” under “interpersonal communication”, because some important developmental issues during the adolescence stage include self-awareness, peer acceptance, and change in parent-child relationships, which are under the influence of traditional gender stereotypes. Therefore, we hope to assist girls and boys in Taiwan in learning to understand themselves and develop good interpersonal relationships through the Taiwan Girls Day activities.

 

Clinical psychologist Su Yi-Hsien specially noted that the “Past, Present, and Future” games released by SFAA and undertaken by Clubon included mobile games loved by teenagers at the time as the medium, with “returning to fairy tales” as the core concept. The “communication styles” and “iceberg theory” proposed by psychologist Virginia Satir and “nonviolent communication” created by Marshall Rosenberg, were also incorporated to lead players to return to familiar fairy tales, thereby contemplating untimely plots and enabling players to challenge embark on new possibilities.

 

At the symposium, two adolescents Chen-Jui and Hsiao-Hsuan were specially invited to share on experience-based conflict scenarios encountered in everyday life and  analyze the modes of communication. Psychologist Su Yi-Hsien then introduced the common communication styles and nonviolent communication principles. Additionally, the thoughts and feelings were distinguished through the games. By actually applying the cases, he led everyone towards putting a nonviolent communication model into practical use. Four principles were involved, namely: observation, perception, need, and request. For instance, when a family member misplaced clothes and items, the house was in a mess, a roommate playing games nonstop affected sleep, a group report member not sharing the workload, etc., what communication approach should be employed to cope with these situations?

 

Finally, Deputy Director Lee Li-Feng and the adolescents shared on their experiences of intergenerational communication and gender stereotypes, in the hope that girls and boys in Taiwan can probe into the relevance among interpersonal relationships, emotional expressions, and gender stereotypes through the Taiwan Girls Day activities and game experiences. They will be able to understand the necessity of learning to communicate and expressing emotions regardless of gender. Furthermore, she anticipated that everyone will make joint efforts to someday break out of gender stereotypes in all aspects.

 

According to the MOHW, good communication skills not only help prevent uneasiness about or conflict with another person, but they also facilitate the prompt expression of feelings and needs. Everyone is welcome to engage in learning through videos and games and join raffle draws after watching videos.