News & Events Events Buzz North East CDC Celebrates 1st Anniversary of Family and Fathering Initiative and Launch of Dads Club
Parents’ Enduring Love
12 November 2011 -Heartfelt themes of family values and parents’ enduring love for their children formed the backdrop to the Family and Fathering Initiative @ North East’s (FiNE) first anniversary celebrations on 12 November at Tampines SAFRA.
The Saturday morning’s entertainment came in the form of The Greatest Gift of All, a most heartwarming drama performance that struck a chord with parents in the audience.
Presented by theVoice Productions, starring Elfaeza Ul Haq of Channel 5 fame, one could intimately connect with the characters on stage, conscious of how important a role every parent -father or mother- plays in a child’s development.
The Greatest Gift of All tells the story of a couple who have over-indulged their only daughter, Sarah, giving her material rewards when she attains good grades in school. Though she grows up to be successful, she lacks respect or appreciation for her parents. Unfortunately, Sarah firmly holds the belief that money makes the world go round.
As a result of her values, Sarah sends her sickly father to a nursing home. But, at the same time, she meets a writer who shares about his struggles of caring for his father. She also discovers some documents reflecting the costs her parents had to bear for her. Eventually, Sarah comes to the realisation that their unwavering love is indeed the greatest gift she has ever received.
A dad in the audience, Mr Chan Tuck Pooi (photo at right, with his two sons), shared, “The play was interesting and I could learn more about being a parent. It was very good.”
He said that the performance helped fathers think more about how to go about giving rewards, “Spoiling them [children] might lead to regret.”
“The most important thing is spending time together,” he added.
FiNE Bearing Fruit
Mr David Ang, Chairman of FiNE, attributes the progamme’s success to the support of the district and mayor.
“The project is bearing fruit as parents are now keen to spend time investing in their children,” he added. A strong believer in parental involvement influencing the development of children, Mr Ang highly regards the role of parents on a child’s development. That is, parental involvement goes beyond academia and material provision.
Building on what has been accomplished in one year, FiNE, a programme under the North East Community Development Council (NE CDC), seeks to continue working with the Dads for Life (DFL) movement to reach households through family and fathering initiatives at the grassroots level.
North East Dads Club Launched
The Dads Club is a group where fathers can interact, learn from each other and talk about their experience of fatherhood. In his speech, Mr Baey, a father of three, shared about the numerous sacrifices and challenges which fatherhood entails. Therefore, the inception of the Dads Club brings forth an avenue for fathers to gather and garner strength.
One of programmes under the Dads Club includes the collaboration between FiNE and the Singapore Prison Service in the Reformative Trainees Mentoring Programme which gets fathers to serve as role models to young offenders and aid in their rehabilitation.
A Community's Photography Competition
In the meantime, FiNE has organised a photography competition based on the theme: Family Bonding Moment. Participants are to upload a picture of their best moments on to NE CDC Facebook page. The photographs with the most votes stand to win four free tickets to Universal Studios in Sentosa.
From the smiles and enthusiasm seen in all the fathers and children present, the day’s celebrations is a precursor to an exciting line-up of events organised by FiNE and the North East Dads Club.
About the Author: The Dads for Life Resource Team comprises local content writers and experts, including psychologists, counsellors, educators and social service professionals, dedicated to developing useful resources for dads.
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