MANILA, Oct. 24, 2011—Formulating a vision for the family similar to what people in the corporate world do to pursue a directed approach to success is a sure key to successful parenting, a mother of five said.
It’s not only corporate visioning that drives people to pursue a directed approach to success, according to Carol Anne Tansingco, Overall Coordinator of Youth for the Family (Y-FAM).
Based on Tansingco’s experience, parents are also now benefiting from an approach that used to be applied only in the professional world.
“Successful leaders begin with a goal, with a vision that drives their actions. As one of Steven Covey’s 7 Basic Habits of Highly Effective People states, ‘Begin with the end in mind’,” Tansingco said, adding that what facilitated thinking of this “end in mind” for her and husband Toto was a Family Visioning session within an Educhild course the couple attended years ago.
“Our Vision for our family is to raise our children to be productive citizens of society, and more importantly, to be good children of God and the Church,” the wife explained.
As with all parents who take their Christian faith seriously, this couple consider their children’s eternal destination, too, as they went about formulating (and now using as guide) their Family Vision.
“Our ultimate goal is for them to reach heaven,” Tansingco said. “For me, this is a tough Vision, especially given the intense and often negative pressures that we all now face, such as blatant consumerism and materialism, hedonism, and all the other –isms that threaten the family. But this Vision drives us to be the best parents we can be, without let-up, day in and day out.”
Tansingco recalled the eye-opening introductory talk of the Educhild series in which the speaker dwelt on the months of rigorous training every new employee goes through to be adequately prepared for the needs of the job.
“However, when it comes to getting married and raising a family, which is undoubtedly the most important undertaking for most of us, we receive very little training, if any,” she pointed out. Hence, the steps the couple took to learn as much as they could on how to be good parents and how to apply the learnings to their family and children.
As coordinator of Y-FAM, Tansingco heads a group of young women whose mission is for young women like them to undertake initiatives to foster and defend the sanctity of marriage, promote family solidarity, and protect life at all stages of development.
She reiterated the importance for parents to lead their brood in looking toward the future and coming up with a family vision so as to be strengthened and to find fulfillment as a group. It certainly helped her and her husband become more confident in their role as parents, she said.
“Knowing our Vision for our family drives us to seek as much information and training we can get in order to be Confident Parent Leaders to our family. I highly encourage parents to attend the Educhild series,” she enthused.
“Educhild stands for ‘Education for the Upbringing of Children’ [and this foundation] conducts researches, workshops, seminars, forums, conferences and similar activities where parents, students, educators and other professionals can acquire valid principles, techniques, attitudes and values on family life and child upbringing,” Tansingco added. (CBCP for Life)
