FES serves as the umbrella organization under which family-oriented activities are organized. Activities of FES are organized on a project basis. Each activity is self-supporting, financed mainly by membership fees and donations. Project teams are formed to run each activity. Each project team comprises a project manager, an assistant project manager and a treasurer.

FES organizes numerous workshops and conferences to educate parents, educators and the general public in areas relating to family life and children education. At these workshops and conferences, we invite highly qualified and respected experts to share their knowledge with participants. Through these activities, we encourage parents and educators to come together and exchange their experience and views with one another.

Family Counselling and Guidance

Family Counselling and Guidance FES now offers specialized Family Counseling and Guidance services specifically directed towards improving relationships among family members.

Our family counselor, Sonia Kaba Pardo, holds a Master in Marriage and Family from the University of Navarre in Spain. She is a mother of four and has lived in Singapore for almost 14 years and is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Sonia is able to provide guidance and support to individual family members (children, adolescents, wives, husbands), as well as couples and the entire family.

She will be writing a monthly column on parenting, marriage and family related topics and issues. If you wish to contact Sonia for a consultation, please email her at skabapardo@yahoo.com

The H.E.A.R.T. Program

1. What is the H.E.A.R.T. Program?
   
   It is a sexuality educational program based on the formation of character. It is based on the successful Protégé Tu Corazon (PTC) program which was begun in Mexico in 1993 and is currently taught in more than 200 educational institutions and 15 countries world wide. The name, H.E.A.R.T., is an acronym for the fruits of the successful exercise of one’s sexuality: Happiness • Empowerment • Accountability • Respect • True love
   
   
   
2. What is its Mission?
   Its mission statement is: “Strong character enables a life of smart sexuality” The H.E.A.R.T. Program, together with its parent, PTC, has as its mission, to spread the message that the foundation of exercising one’s sexuality well and in a smart way is good character, which in turn is founded on good values, or better said, the virtues.
   
   
   
3. What is its Vision?
   
   Its vision is that adolescents are capable of living real love, which is the basis of solid and happy marriages in the future.
   
   
   
4. What are the foundations of the H.E.A.R.T. Program?
   
   The H.E.A.R.T. Program is based on the sciences like human anthropology, medicine and psychology, to mention just a few.
   
   
   
5. Who is it directed at?
   
   It is directed at adolescents, parents and teachers of educational institutions.
   
   
   
6. What are the elements of the program?
   
   There are 23 sessions for adolescents and 12 workshops for parents which complement the adolescent modules.
   
   
   
7. Why are parents included?
   
   Parents are the first and most important educators of their children and this includes the area of their sexuality. Unfortunately, it has been shown time and again that parents often have little communication with their children with regards to subjects related to sexuality. Since the initiation of PTC in 1993, it became clear that it was crucial to involve parents with the important issues of sexuality that PTC was exploring with their children, and this gave rise to the parent workshops which complement the adolescent sessions.
   
   Through them, parents are informed of the adolescent world, something that can sometimes be very foreign to them, allowing them to comprehend better the needs of their adolescent children.
   
   They receive pedagogical tools to prepare themselves for the formation of their children’s character, learning to open a channel of dialogue, to connect better and consequently, to influence their children with practical sense and with optimism about what young people are truly capable of.
   
   
   
8. How is the content selected?
   
   The topics of each of the 23 modules are related to adolescents and the issues of their daily life.
   
   The modules are adapted to the different stages of adolescence and are intended to be delivered at age appropriate levels of psychological maturity. Simultaneously, parents are invited to workshops which complement the subject matter their children are receiving.
   
   
   
9. How many sessions are given annually?
   
   The Program is intended to be delivered such that each year, the adolescents receive two to three sessions. This is followed the next year, and each subsequent year, by a similar number of modules until the 23 previewed subjects of the program are systematically completed from the age of about 11 until they finish High School. In this way, they receive age appropriate information and skills, which address age appropriate issues during their journey through adolescence.
   
   
   
10. Is this enough?
    
    It is certainly enough! The H.E.A.R.T. Program is complementary and not a substitute for the sexuality and character education provided by parents and schools.
    
    
    
11. What is the duration of a session or a workshop?
    
    The sessions (for adolescents) and the workshops (for parents) are designed to be conducted in an hour and a half. It is preferable that the sessions for adolescents be given within the academic scheduled hours and the workshops for parents at the time of their convenience.
    
    
    
12. Are the sessions for adolescents given throughout the whole academic year?
    
    It is preferable that the sessions are given over a short period of 1-3 weeks as a means of immersing them in the program. Experience has indicated that doing this is more efficient as the continuity and therefore impact of the program are not compromised by stretching the delivery of the modules over too long a period.
    
    
    
13. How is it possible to generate interest in these subjects?
    
    The main participative method of the program, besides the exposition of concepts, tries to capture and maintain the adolescent’s attention through written exercises, videos, auditions, role-playing, etc. Difficult challenging subjects are raised in a suggestive tone, encouraging them to express their opinion or to debate in an environment of freedom and respect.
    
    
    
14. In what way are the children and parents connected in the program?
    
    At the end of each session, the adolescents receive a document titled “Talking together” which contains 4 to 5 simple questions related to each topic addressed within the session. They are told to take the document home and to ask their parents these questions. This serves as an opportunity to open the channel of dialogue between parents and child on these subjects and to generate a better sense of trust between them.
    
    
    
15. How are schoolteachers linked to the program?
    
    Schoolteachers may be invited to some workshops so that they can familiarize themselves with the content of the program. It is advantageous to expose them to it so that they assimilate the content and the style of the program and can help reinforce the concepts in their dealings with their students.
    
    
    
16. How is a session carried out?
    
    The pedagogical foundation of this program is unique in that it is based on identifying the vulnerabilities or characteristic deficiencies of the adolescent phase and constructing modules around these. Hence each module:
    • identifies a key issue in adolescence,
    • addresses the key vulnerability or deficiency underlying this issue,
    • proposes skills to overcome the deficiency which, in the process,
    • develops a particular virtue or character strength in the adolescent.
    
    The instructors of the program are oriented to invoke thought and to make suggestions, rather than to highlight bad behaviour or impose a type of conduct. H.E.A.R.T. always talks positively to create an optimistic mentality about the development of character in association with the experience of sexuality.
    
    It is intended that the students, through the modules, come to understand for themselves, the typical deficiencies of the adolescent period. This paves the way for suggestions to be made – in an encouraging fashion – about abilities they can cultivate to overcome these deficiencies. Once suggestions are made, the adolescents are always left with the freedom to decide for themselves to undertake, or not, the effort to master these deficiencies or vulnerabilities.
    
    If the parents (and teachers) are familiar with the style, they will be able to reinforce the program by motivating adolescents to make the effort that is required, which when undertaken, will allow them to acquire the characteristics of good character.
    
    To illustrate this concept, in module 2, “Keys to manage my emotions”, the typical vulnerability of adolescents here is their emotional impulsivity, often allowing their emotions to be the guide to their actions. During the module, through a process of interactive discussions, exercises, role-playing and audio-visual material, the H.E.A.R.T. team takes their youth audience through understanding the issue and the particular deficiency here which is a lack of self-control. It explores with them the practical means of managing them. By acquiring more self-control, the particular virtue this fosters is strength and steadiness of character.
    
    
    
17. How is H.E.A.R.T. adapted to Singapore?
    
    H.E.A.R.T. is the PTC program customized for Singapore. The parent program, PTC, has been given in different social-economic and cultural environments in more than 75 cities of 18 countries. Even when differences exist between countries or even within the same city, contemporary adolescents worldwide think and act in a similar fashion in a social climate where access to information of any kind is easier and is expanding at an exponential rate.
    
    The subjects of PTC are universal but nonetheless, this does not eliminate the fact that there are characteristics of each country and culture which should be taken into account. The adaptation to local characteristics is done throughout the process in which the sessions are given, as the H.E.A.R.T. instructor will use stories or anecdotes relevant to the local context and use local statistics to backup points made during the sessions. The H.E.A.R.T. program takes into account the local context of the universal problems encountered by young people worldwide and focuses on these with its audience, thus bringing a customized version of the PTC program to Singapore.
    
    
    
18. How can H.E.A.R.T. be summarized?
    
    The H.E.A.R.T. Program:
    
    • Is a sexuality education program based on the education of character.
    
    • Is centered on the 5 dimensions of a person and integrates sexuality to these dimensions: physical, social, emotional, rational and transcendental.
    
    • Covers 23 subjects that are related to age and psychological maturity of adolescents
    
    • Is presented in a positive way to generate an optimistic outlook about human sexuality. • Presents demanding ideals and suggests (not imposes) abilities so that adolescents make a voluntary effort to overcome typical deficiencies of their age.
    
    • Represents an opportunity for adolescents to develop their own features of good character if they voluntarily accept to make the corresponding effort: respect, sincerity, responsibility, prudence and self control amongst others.
    
    • Considers parents primary guides of sexuality. Nobody has the affection for or knows their children as they do. The H.E.A.R.T. Program is therefore just a complement to their duty and to the efforts of the school their children are in.
    
    To contact FES for more information or if you would like to have the HEART program brought to you, please email Audrey at audrey@familyes.org.sg or info@familyes.org.sg.

EVENTS IN 2005:

April 23
Time Management   » more
Part 1: "What Your Mother Never Told You"

March - May
You-th! Speak Essay Competition  » more
"Daring Enough to Change the World"

September 3-4
Family First! Conference  » more
Comprising YOU-th Speak! Seminar and Raise Your Child Right III Seminar

November 24-27
Malacca Outreach  » more

November 26
Fashion Q II  » more



PAST EVENTS:

Raise Your Child Right I

Raise Your Child Right II  » more

An Evening With Friends  » more

Parenting Talk on "How to Balance Work and Family"  » more

Parenting Talk on "What Children Need Most From Their Parents"  » more

Part I Talk on "Financial Planning From A Family Perspective"

Part II Talk on "Financial Planning From A Family Perspective"

Talk on "The Importance of Marriage"  » more

"Fashion Quotient" Workshop  » more