News & Events Events Buzz Inaugural Fathers@Schools Learning and Networking Forum (31 July 2010)
Learning with a Common Purpose
Part of the DadsforLife movement, Fathers@Schools aims to encourage father and child bonding, with fathers playing a active role, contributing to schools and enriching their child's life in the process.
Inspired to Inspire
Different schools shared their thoughts and experiences on the Fathers@Schools program. Jason Teo from St. Hilda’s Primary talked about the top 10 lessons he learnt on how to get fathers involved in schools. One lesson mentioned was finding a pool of like-minded fathers to give each other support and encouragement.
School counselor Michael Lim also shared on how his personal experience with the father support group at St Hilda's Primary inspired him to introduce the Fathers@Schools program to Greendale Primary, where he works.
"I was very touched by the benefits the program gave, after experiencing it for myself with my girls," said Mr Lim, whose two daughters study at St Hilda's.
Calling themselves Fathers@SHPS (St. Hilda's Primary School), they had previously organised events such as badminton matches for father and child, picnics, and even a sleepover at the Underwater World in Sentosa.
“It is crucial - father involvement in families,” emphasised Mr Lim.
He spoke of how couples on the verge of divorce had a change of heart after becoming more involved in their child's school life. After one of the sleepovers, a father even thanked Mr Lim, saying that because of the experience he went through, he had decided not to give up on his son.
Jimmy Yap, a dad to four children adopted from Cambodia, shared how a 2-day/1-night family camp held in NorthLight School, helped to bring him and his daughter closer to each other.
Said Mr Yap, "It was an incredible luxury to be able to spend so much time with my daughter in camp alone."
He joined the camp hoping to help improve his relationship with her after the family went through a difficult time.
Everyone Playing Their Part
Like most things, it takes the combined effort of everyone to make a success story. Partner organisations such as the Centre for Fathering, Singapore Bowling Federation and SAFRA provide resources and programmes that Fathers@Schools can tap on.
Centre for Fathering conducts events such as Father-Child Bonding camps and fathering workshops. An upcoming programme, Back To School with Dad 2011, is also in the works, with dads helping their child prepare for school, and taking them to class, on the first day of the academic year.
In the same vein as Centre for Fathering, SAFRA has interactive activities planned for father and child, offering the various SAFRA branches and their facilities as venues. Among many others, exciting activities such as rock climbing at SAFRA’s Yishun branch are available.
Using Sports to Bond
For those opting for a more leisurely activity, bowling is a good option to consider. Wendy Kuan, General Manager of the Singapore Bowling Federation, feels that bowling is a good platform to encourage fathers to spend more time with their kids.
She said, “We hope to reach out to more fathers who have not come forward by pulling them in through sports. At the same time, we can raise the popularity of bowling, and perhaps even churn out new champions for Singapore.”
The different bowling alleys spread out over Singapore makes it convenient for families.
Added Wendy, "It's not just the bond between father and child. With bowling, fathers can make full use of the sport to bond the whole family together. With sports like soccer, mums might not be so inclined to tag along."
World Cafe Discussions
World Café Sessions were held as part of the networking forum in groups of 8-10 educators and parents, holding discussions on three issues relating to father involvement in schools.
With the father support group from St. Hilda’s Primary helping out as facilitators, and everyone willing to share and learn, ideas and suggestions came fast and furious.
• What difference does a father’s involvement make in schools?
The first question tackled addressed the effect of fathers’ involvement in schools.
There were suggestions that children would be inclined to behave better at school when their fathers were in constant communication with teachers and were well aware of the on-goings in school.
It might even give children a sense of pride to see their father interested and involved in activities, and because of that, encourage them to also live up to that investment.
In addition, teachers are in turn spurred on to step up and help when they see fathers taking the initiative.
In the long run, society stands to benefit as well, with stronger family ties and a decrease in delinquency rates.
• What are the challenges faced in engaging fathers in schools?
There was a concern that fathers from a lower economic background might feel inferior or uncomfortable mixing around with other fathers of a higher social status in society. In addition, there was also the issue of the lack of time. Some financially challenged families require fathers to work long hours. Beyond that, different fathers have different commitments outside of work.
However, that a bigger problem discussed, was the mindset of most fathers. Fathers shared that most of them do not see a need to be involved when it comes to their child's school life.
There is still the conventional mindset that fathers are in charge of bringing in the money while mothers take care of the family. As long as there is no serious problem in their child’s life, fathers did not see a need to get involved.
The fact is, fathers' involvement can play such a crucial part in their child's life. Thus a father’s own awareness of that fact is very important when it comes to involving them in school.
• What are the possible strategies that can help in promoting further engagement in schools?
Some possible strategies raised in helping to promote father's further engagement in schools included:
a) using school open houses to launch father support groups to garner more publicity and members
b) compiling a database of father's contacts for easy access, and
c) creating a special link on school websites for fathers to be updated on happenings in school.
With the rise of popularity in new media, networking websites like Facebook could be used to pass on information to fathers easily. Dads can also bond with their child by learning about how to use the site from their kids.
Solutions were also brought up to address the issue of the need for fathers to have a change in mindset. A national campaign was suggested, with advertisements at bus stops to serve as constant reminders that fathers need to do their part as well.
Humphrey Chin from Commonwealth Secondary School pointed out that continuity was needed. He suggested that roving teams from MCYS be dispatched to educate the father support groups in school.
Said Mr Chin, "Fathers are ill-equipped. We’re all fired up here but when we go back to our parent support groups we don’t know what to do. We need a support team."
And that’s exactly what Fathers@Schools is about. Creating a team of like-minded fathers with the common aim to better their child's life, supporting and spurring each other on.
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