A joint collaboration between Homeschool Singapore x Mums for Life, Parenting The Heart is a month long campaign where 96 writers – parents from all backgrounds – write in solidarity of mums this May for the Circuit Breaker cum school holidays.
What This Is About :
The Circuit Breaker extension cum May school holidays is a first in SG. For the first time, parents who are not in essential services will be working from home, caregiving, and raising their children without schooling. How will it look like? This is a series about that, how parents connect with their children at home during this time, and why parenting the heart – of both adult and child – is important work. Featuring 96 anonymous writers sharing poignantly about their parenting journey, PARENTING THE HEART is chicken soup for the haggard mum. Raising children is not a bed of roses. It is a garden of blooms, a different lesson for every season. It is a cultivation of years of sweat and toil, for a reward that money cannot buy. Let’s remember the best things in life this May.
Who We Are :
The writers of the series are your fellow parents. They come from all walks of life and backgrounds. We have asked them to share their lives as authentically as they can. For privacy reasons, we will not be revealing too much about who the writers are. But we promise that their writing will encourage you from wherever they are. Their stories will reflect the gamut of human emotions, from pain, mystery to freedom and contentment. We hope there is a story for a parent out there.
How to Engage :
We will post 3 stories a day, from May 1 to Jun 1 2020. You are welcome to share the stories, or tell others about the Parenting The Heart fb group. The group is public. You don’t have to join to read, unless you want to comment. Feel share your insights or questions. If you need help in any way, just speak up. A member of the Mums For Life group will reach out to you.
Story of the Collaboration :
“I see all SG parents who are taking care of their own at home during the CB extension as homeschooling, in the particular aspect that they have to own the processes of learning alongside their children. This time is an opportunity for us to reflect on our parenting decisions. Homeschooling is not about academics. It is a deep parenting process. I think if parents hear stories from one another, they can be empowered to know they can teach their own. They are enough. It is just common sense parenting at work. You don’t need experts. You just need to listen to your heart.”
Dawn Fung, founder of Homeschool Singapore
“Parents feel we have to be everything for the kids – the teacher, babysitter or homeschooling parent. But the work of nurturing children directly impacts their future. Wouldn’t we want to be a major stakeholder in the outcome? After all, they are ours. We also have our moments. When our kids are not responding, we get frustrated. We want to give up on them, or the family. Let’s reaffirm our roles as the primary caregivers of our children. We are made for this. We know what we want the end to look like.”
Adriana Lim Escano, co-founder of Mums For Life
Stories from PARENTING THE HEART will be found on the FB group only. We will not feature them on this website.