Mary Ann Panganiban would have wanted to stay for a few more minutes under the bedcover. It is Saturday anyway, and her alarm clock says it is only three o’clock in the morning. But an important task lies ahead of her. She cannot be late. At 51, the occupational therapist takes the bus from Lipa, Batangas to attend her classes in Pasig City. She studies at the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P). Her program: Family Life Education.
She and 43 other women and men form part of the pioneer batch of participants of the Certificate Program on Family Life Education (FLE) offered by UA&P’s Institute for Marriage and Family Development (IMFD). The nascent institute, which celebrated its first anniversary last December 10, operates under the guidance of the Center for Research and Communication (CRC).
“The FLE pioneers will be professionally equipped as parent leaders,” said Dr. Rina Villegas, FLE Program Head. “The interdisciplinary program will help them understand the complexities inherent in family system and the uniqueness of each family member. We envision that these pioneers will be self-propelled in reaching out to other parents, guiding them along an inclined plane as they practice the skills they learned in coaching and in designing and assessing a long-term social project for families in a community of their choice,” she said.
The inaugural program of IMFD, which runs for 20 Saturdays until June 16 of this year, covers five foundational modules and seven professional-technical modules. Some of the latter tackle family law and public policy, family dynamics, parent education and family counseling, and family livelihood and resource management.
“These things I will share with the parents of the children I treat,” said Mary Ann, who runs two intervention centers for children with disabilities. “I need to support the families also. I will be running a lot of parent trainings and teacher trainings.”
FAMILY WELL-BEING
Mary Ann’s intention is echoed by Guadalupe Gabriel, the president of the Patrons of Anihan, a group of benefactors who look after the overall needs of the 120 all-female scholars of Anihan Technical School in Laguna.
“We’re forming the students,” the 66-year-old former real estate broker narrated, “but how about their families? Their mothers? That’s why I’m in this course. My first plan is to divide the mothers into small groups and prepare a program for them. It’s overwhelming, but I’m excited.”
This is a tangible answer to the concerns raised by several family-oriented groups in a meeting initiated by the IMFD on October 16, 2016. The attendees acknowledged the need to help the parents see their beauty and dignity as persons and the important role they play in the upbringing of their children.
The birth of FLE—wherein the experiences of half a century of research and program development on all the major aspects of family, family life, parenting, and child education are collated—is expected to attract parents, instructional leaders and facilitators, university academics, corporate human development educators, and community catalysts.
One such parent is Deanna Izon, mother to two daughters, ages 25 and 15. She came from a family of 12; thus, seeing many people in the house and welcoming visitors often were but natural to her. The challenges of raising children in a fast-becoming technology-driven world, however, are quite different and are catching up on her.
“Some topics in the course affirm the things that I grew up with,” the reading intervention specialist said. “But there are ‘Aha!’ moments—a lot of them—including the ones that I realized I’ve taken for granted. I try to find a way to fix it as a parent. I suddenly became conscious of the language they speak so that I can communicate with them better.” She hopes to share these learnings with the families of the children she helps.
SYNERGY
The groups present on the said October 16 meeting were also in unison about the need to have one clear voice on what the Filipino family is and to have synergy in the forms of research, conversations, and one-on-ones. This goal is reflected in the mission of IMFD: to seek inter-organizational synergy among entities working toward the same goal, which is family development.
“We need more positive agents of change in society that are focused on the family,” Dr. Maria Riza Bondal, Executive Director of IMFD, expressed that day. “If we work together, we’ll be able to reach more.”
FLE student Chit Hidalgo aims to take this challenge of “reaching more” seriously. A former radio commentator, she yearns to go back to broadcast media, especially now that she is taking up classes on family life. “People have to hear this,” the advocate of natural family planning (NFP) told herself. “A few words spoken over the radio can reach a lot of listeners. Some people may not know how to read, but they can certainly hear. If we can bring the listeners something good, then let’s do it.”
For the time being, however, she continues to wear her many hats, promoting, among many others, the programs of Dualtech Training Center (a private vocational school for boys) as well as those of the Foundation for Professional Training, Inc. (dedicated to women development).
Dr. Rina Villegas knows that making positive changes in society at a time when anti-family practices are promoted by some groups would prove to be an uphill task. However, she assured the FLE participants in the orientation on January 18, 2018 that they would not be alone in this effort.
The weekly attendance of the FLE participants—ranging from 28 to 68 years old— and their eagerness to learn never cease to amaze Dr. Villegas. “I learn so much from their openness to the opinions of their FLE colleagues, from their excitement at sharing their best practices as regards home and family life, and from their willingness to sustain the culture of dialogue during the sessions. Each session is filled with laughter, surprises, and a healthy noise as they proffer their insights. Indeed, they set the homey atmosphere in our university setting.”
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