Human Values Parenting – Seminars
Rita and Robert have interacted and spoken with many parents around the world for over 2 decades and have well understood the need for education in human values for parents.
Who are the first teachers of children? Who has the primary responsibility to mold the character of children? Children spend 85% of their time in the home and community, who has the biggest responsibility for their development? The answer to these questions is Parents. Parents are a major influence in the development of a child’s character.
“The home and the family is the basic social institution everywhere in the world. When the home improves, the whole world will be better.” Sathya Sai Baba
Seminar: Human Values Parenting
This is an active participation seminar. The participants discover the importance of molding the character of their children, which Sathya Sai Baba says is their primary responsibility. This is a highly motivational, inspirational, educational and experiential seminar.
The participants work in small groups discussing the issues of parenting, finding solutions using many quotes from Sathya Sai Baba’s or other historic role models as examples of character.
The Human Values Parenting Seminar is happening on three levels. First is the level of your relationship with your parents, second is the level of your relationship with your children, and last, the subtlest, is our relationship with our Divine Parent.
Everything that is discussed in this seminar can be related to our personal relationship with God. We are His children. Therefore, this seminar is for ages 18 to 80 plus. It is designed to have a mixture of ages that bring different experiences to expand the discussion. All ages can contribute and add value to discovering solutions for helping our children to develop character.
This is a one day course.
Human Values Parenting Seminar Participants
Seminar: Facilitator Training for Human Values Parenting
A facilitator-training program is available for those who are interested in facilitating this workshop in their country. A requirement for the training of facilitators is to participate in a Human Values Parenting Seminar.
This is a one and a half day course.
Seminar Format
Human Values Parenting is an 8-hour seminar, with a minimum of 40 and a maximum of 100 people. The night before the seminar, organizers select 2 – 4 individuals to form a working committee. They are instructed on the format of the seminar and how they can assist. Their help is extremely valuable. The material that is generated from these workshops is considerable and it provides the basis for ongoing study, discussion and problem solving for several years if desired.
The participants start by defining issues that concern them as parents in general. They then break into small groups and as a group they must decide on 3 to 5 key issues. As they report these issues, a consensus of the group concerns is tallied. During the break, the working committee categorizes the issues and sub-issues. There can be 8 to 10 different categories.
- E.g. Main issue category “Outside Influence”
- E.g. Sub-issues of outside influence are: television, internet, peer pressure, drugs etc.
These categories are charted on large paper and hung on the walls around the room. After spending time alone, they then select the key issue category that they wish to discuss that day. New groups are formed from the specific category they have chosen.
Human Values Parenting Seminar Presentations
Participants are then given an example of a “How Can I?” question. The purpose of this is to keep the issue question simple and practical. Here is where they formulate in their small group a question on a given issue. Then, each group must decide on one “How Can I?” question and find solutions for their final presentation.
Examples of typical questions are: How can we reduce television in the home? How can I discipline with love? How can I control my anger? How can I communicate with my child with love? How can I teach my child that actions have consequences? (This is when they become aware of the enormity of parenting issues to discuss.)
Each group, using large chart paper present their major category, sub-issue, question, using Sathya Sai Baba’s quotes to support their three solutions. They use various techniques to emphasize their problem and solutions such as: role-play, drawings, charts, etc. These small group presentations benefit all participants.
There are also special activities during the seminar that can help to give new skills and solutions on how to correct back talk, structure house rules using a chart, and personal contracts between child and parents. There is also a 10-page handout on Sai Baba’s quotes on parenting that are used in their presentations.
