NuLife Symposium 2017
Parenting with the Brain in Mind
“To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today”. As we live in a world that is constantly evolving, we find ourselves acclimatising to a culture that has become very much influenced by changes. One such change is the educational landscape in Singapore that over the years has become more competitive and has adopted a culture that places much importance on achieving stellar grades and accreditations. This change has in turn changed the way parents mould their children for school and life today, leaving a significant group of them grappling to preserve their children’s wellbeing at the expense of their achievements.
In line with this looming issue, NuLife Care & Counselling had held its annual Symposium titled “Parenting with the Brain in Mind” that was held on 10th June 2017 at the Serangoon Community Club, that had attracted 98 participants comprising of parents, identified beneficiaries and professionals in the helping field.
The Symposium comprised of a talk that was led by Mr David Foo, an experienced speaker who specialises in the human brain and mind and has given talks to various groups of professionals locally and abroad. He shared on three ways parents can work towards developing their child’s character and developing their child for school and life. To understand how children of today function in their surrounding environment, it was emphasised that parents should take the effort to know themselves and their children in terms of their thinking preferences and establish a sense of consonance that would aid in efficient parent-child communication. To sustain communication between parent and child, empathic listening was highlighted to be an extremely beneficial skillset that parents can cultivate. Aside from effective communication, setting boundaries were also accentuated to be important for a children’s development, as they mature with a sense of stability and security. The Symposium had concluded with Mr David Foo imparting a set of techniques that would aid in the retention of children’s learning and also motivate them to sustain through their education journey.
The Symposium was very much well-received by our participants who termed it an enriching, engaging and gratifying experience on a whole. The participants felt that they had gained a clearer insight on how children’s minds work and felt propelled to start communicating with children more confidently and competently. The success of the Symposium is greatly attributed to our pool of donors who came forth and contributed that had allowed us to execute the Symposium with due adequacy and diligence. We would also like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to all staff, volunteers and committee members who played a significant role in ensuring the Symposium ran smoothly.
The way parents communicate with their children pave the way for how children thrive along the course of their lives. We hope the Symposium has equipped parents on ways they can be of better support to their children who will face a specific set concerns as they meander across the different stages of development.
