FAMILY CONGRESS 2012: Building A Stronger Foundation for the Filipino Family

I attended the "Bloggers, Meet the Family of the Family Congress 2012" event last Monday. It was a family event where invited bloggers met the organizers of Family Congress 2012,  held at The Forum of Fully Booked in Bonifacio High Street. Parenting and relationship expert, Maribel S. Dionisio, gave a short yet interesting and very engaging talk about parenting as well as the upcoming event, Family Congress 2012.



In just a few hours, I've learned a lot about parenting and I'm quite excited to attend the Family Congress this coming August 25, 2012. This is an event that would help uplift the value of Filipino family members and their role in the Philippine Society today.


As for me, my family is the most important thing. I have to agree that when we talk about the family, no issue is small, nor silly, nor irrelevant. I believe that family time is more important than anything else. I wish some people would understand that family time is family time. It's impossible for someone to have time for work, gym, friends, gimmicks, spa and not have enough time for the family. We have a lifetime to work but children are only young once. They can't be kids forever. It's a must to make an extra effort to write it down  and work out our schedule to spend more quality time with our family.

My family is a treasure that I don't have to find because they're always there for me. I don't care if we don't have all the material things in life.. as long as I have my family, I am rich! Filthy rich, and I will always be thankful of everything God has given me.  I believe there are 3 things that I cannot recover in life: the WORD after it's said, the MOMENT after it's missed, & the TIME after it's gone. According to studies, children or teens who remember being hugged, kissed or praised are likely to do a lot better in school than those who are ignored at home.

That's why I always make sure to say the right words to my daughter, to treasure each moment and  spend quality time with my family. To make time for them and to listen.Trust me, it's important and I hope my kiddo will look back & feel the same!

As for my relationship with my husband, this is one of our recent convo:

Me : Do you want dinner? Hubby : Sure, what are the choices? ME : Yes and no! :)

I know, sarcastic eh? But with all the stress going on in our life, sometimes it's hard to keep the sweetness and cheesiness in a relationship. But I learned that having that constant sweetness and a regular date night once a week with your hubby is crucial in a relationship. It's always best to have a relationship where we can talk like bestfriends, play & be silly like kids, argue like cats and dogs, and protect each other like siblings. Sometimes parents who never kiss or hug in front of their kids are giving wrong message. Sadly,  it may be possible that love may be gone. :(

I think a  relationship between a husband and a wife should be like the relationship between the hand and the eye, if the hand gets hurt the eye cries and if the eye cries the hand wipes its tears. The love, friendship, sweetness and affection should never fade.  For me, relationships are worth fighting for, but not if you're the only one fighting so it's important for us to work together. I know I can't promise my husband a perfect relationship, but what I can promise him is that if he's trying, I'm staying. We simply need to work together. Needless to say, a power couple is the ultimate merger! :)

As a mom, and being a parent, I'm more of being the autocratic type and my husband is the democratic type. That makes my daughter a daddy's girl. I'm the one who's always saying NO to her or that Don't do this and Don't do that thing.While her dad spoils her, I tend to become firm and pushy which I learned to be something that I shouldn't be doing.

You know how kids are. They can be really "makulit" and annoying sometimes right? At times, children drain us more than they recharge us or is it like most of the time? lol But being too pushy and autocratic might make our kids go to a place where we don't want them to go..  the place of  isolation. We might say the right words but our tone of voice and the way we deliver it might be wrong and we might unintentionally hurt our kids. Note to self: Being pushy needs to stop and let kids be kids!

 And I really don't want that to happen. Ever. I don't want her to be scared of me. I don't want her to grow up and be one of those teenagers wherein nothing is scarier to them than having 5 missed calls from their moms. I also don't want her to grow up as one of those kids who are completely dependent on their mommies where everything magically appears for them.. when  their mom looks for it and does everything for them all the time. That said, I also learned that we should set some house rules with consequences and to let them experience the consequences of their actions. It's also important to make them feel loved and cared for and be more positive. It's better to catch them doing good and appreciate every little thing they do instead of focusing on the bad things. I'm still trying to learn Parenting 101. I know it's not easy but I believe everyday is a task to nurture our children. It can be done.

That said, I'd like to share this press release from Family Congress 2012:

Maintaining connections with loved ones need work. And despite the advances in technology in this digital and fast-paced era, the proliferation of electronic gadgets and other high-tech distractions, among other factors, has actually made relationships more challenging to preserve.

 Months ago, parenting and relationship expert Maribel S. Dionisio had the idea of organizing a family congress. She invited Fides Reyes, a PR and events organizer, to join her advocacy after the two met in a mommy learning event that Fides organized. Soon after, Maribel also invited Rowie Matti, CEO of the Galileo Enrichment Learning Program, who had been, in turn, inviting Maribel to give talks for Galileo events.

 The three friends, who are all very passionate on learning how to be the best parents they can be, also have a sincere vision to help educate other families about relationships and love.

 This coming August 25, 2012, join them as they present a variety of topics that parents, teens, and singles would find very useful.

The Family Congress team invites:

1. PARENTS who want to: improve on their methods or styles of bringing up their children; know the value of modern technology and how they can manage it, learn more about bullies – managing and preventing this 2. COUPLES who wish to nurture, maintain, or improve their relationship.
 3. TEENS and YOUNG ADULTS who are confused with their emotions and want to learn more about relationships - Crushes, Sex , Dating and Love “Our vision is to equip every individual with the knowledge and skills they need for their particular relationship stage,” express the organizers. Thus, congress attendees can choose one session in the morning and another session in the afternoon from among 10 varied and very interesting topics:

Morning sessions: 1A - Migrating and Managing the Digital World by Queena Lee-Chua, Ph.D. 2A - Handling the Bully and the Bullied by Honey Carandang, Ph.D. 3A - Built for Forever: Preparing Singles for a Lifetime Relationship by Rissa Singson-Kawpeng 4A - Teen Talk about Love, Sex, and Dating by Dan and Nabelle Caballes 5A- From Wellness to Wholeness (for adults 21 & up) by Harriet Hormillosa, M.A.
Afternoon sessions: 6P - Being Friends Forever in Marriage: Learning the Art of Fighting by Allan Dionisio, M.D. & Maribel Dionisio, M.A. 7P - Teaching Parents to Talk to Kids & Teens about Crushes, Sex & Relationship by Michele Alignay, M.A. & Aiza Tabayoyong 8P - Managing Teen Emotions by Obet Cabrillas 9P - Career, Relationship, and Life Plan for Singles by Pia Nazareno-Acevedo 10P - Beyond the Tears: Griefwork by Cathy Babao-Guballa

Aside from attending two sessions, guests will also get to hear inspirational messages from Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle and motivational speaker Francis Kong.

 The Family Congress’ mission is to provide a venue for learning by gathering the best experts in the field of psychology, parenting, and relationship to share their knowledge to family members, educators, and organizations in the most effective and simplest way.

The Family Congress 2012 will be held on August 25, 2012 from 8AM to 5PM at the Valle Verde Country Club, Pasig City. It is presented by The Love Institute in partnership with Galileo Enrichment Learning Program and F.I.D. Event Services.

 Early bird rates are: P1300 if you register before April 30; P1400 if you register before June 30. Regular rate is P1500 per attendee. Promo rate: 6+1 (pay for 6, get 1 free based on regular rate). Registration fee is inclusive of seminar fee, meals, and lots of freebies. 

For more information, please call 579-0100, 0917-8972903, 0922-2521896, email familycongress@gmail.com, follow them on twitter.com/FamCong2012 and like facebook.com/FamilyCongress.

Thanks heaps to the following sponsors of the event: Fully Booked, Bo's Coffee, Taters, Mommy Mundo and Binalot. :)

So there, I hope to see you at Family Congress 2012. It's a date! :)