Colin and May Schooling will be sharing their parenting journey at our upcoming Families for Life: Raising Resilient Children Seminar on 25 May. Before they turn up at the seminar, we manage to squeeze some time out of their busy schedule to talk about their journey in bringing up their son, Joseph Schooling…

Here are 3 valuable tips that they have shared.

#1 0-10 years determine the character of the child
May Schooling pointed out that a confident child is molded from young, so heavy emphasis should be placed on the first decade of a child’s life..

“The [first ten years] is when you instill what is right and wrong, and to teach [your child] how to behave. These are the basic upbringing years. They will learn during that ten years how they will be an adult,” she affirms.

Studies show that the first five years are particularly important in shaping the child’s brain architecture and development. At this phase, the child also learns the world as a safe, secure, and loving place through relationships. They learn how to behave towards other people through observing the behaviour between the people around them.

#2 Taking responsibility for your child’s upbringing
All parents are bound to be both physically and mentally drained at some point and require help. However, it becomes a problem when parents depend on school, enrichment classes and others to raise a resilient, confident child for them. The Schoolings strongly believes that values and morals can only be taught by the parents and not anyone else.

“Your children are human. They need your touch, your feel, they need to see you and know that you are always there for them for the happy and not so happy times. [Parents’] got to be very sincere about it because your children can read through you,” said Colin.

#3 Your child will grow into his/her own person
“Every child has a mind of its own. Regardless of what you think, your child will grow into a different person from you,” May said.

There are times when parents need to be firm and assertive to guide their children, however they should be careful not to cross the line and force their own ideals on their children.

Throughout Joseph’s growing years, Colin and May have guided and support him to balance both ends of the spectrum to ensure that there is a time for study, and a time for swimming or other interest that he had.

Find out more exclusive parenting stories from the Schoolings in person and pick up key strategies to cultivate the mindset of a champion in your child from our experts at the seminar. Register your place today at bit.ly/FFLParentsSeminar!