By Hetty Musfirah | Posted: 07 July 2010 1903 hrs
SINGAPORE: Grassroots leaders want to see more grandparents and newly weds spend quality time with their families and these "Family life Champions" said the challenge is still an uphill task when it comes to men.
So future efforts will now be geared towards tackling these issues.
62-year-old Madam Saleha Abdul Rahim is a mother of three and grandmother of seven and it is activities like this that helps her bond with family members.
She said: "I get to spend time with my children and my grandchildren. If not, I will just sit at home and not know how they are as we live separately."
Such intergenerational bonding is something that Family Life Champions want to encourage, with the help of interest groups.
Joan Pereira, director, Family Life & Active Ageing, People's Association, said: "As we all know, our population is ageing, and we the family life champions do not want to see it as a challenge but really as an opportunity to get them out of their homes and to bond with their families through varied programmes.
"Cooking is one, baking is another one, karaoke, doing physical activities- like yoga which is not too taxing for your grandma or your grandpa.”
PA said it is aiming to increase both grandparenting clubs and activities by 50 per cent from the current 50.
There will also be efforts to get men involved.
MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol, Michael Palmer said: “So you tweak the interest and you get sports activities so that men can do sporting activities with their kids and the mothers can get involved too.
We have soccer clubs, canoeing and I think we are going to try wakeboarding and see how we get on that. So we really want to get the men involved as well."
It will also be offering 20 per cent more family life programmes from the current 490.
In a bid to strengthen marriages and achieve greater community bonding, integrating newlyweds will be another focus.
It's hoped that 54 family life champions who are licensed solemnisers can make a bigger difference.
The FLCS were appointed as Licensed Solemnisers to offer marriage solemnisation services to the residents.
From 2006 to 2009, some 5,704 marriages were solemnised by FLCs. The number of couples solemnised by FLCs quadrupled from 604 in 2006 to reach 2,358 in 2009.
Wilson Lim, Family Life Champion, Punggol East Constituency, said: “My role as a solemniser is to engage them to come back to the community and it’s basically pre-marriage counselling. In a sense, I share with them experiences and then subsequently I will create a bonding with them so that it will become easier to get them to come back and participate in the events."
The People's Association said there's been a greater commitment from the younger generation of Singaporeans to champion family life initiatives at the grassroots level.
It saw a nearly 30 per cent jump in the number of younger grassroots leaders being appointed as Family Life Champions since 2005.
The proportion of FLCs below the age of 39 has jumped from one per cent in 2005 to 10 per cent this year.
Efforts put in so far by the FLCs have been relatively successful and are gaining momentum.
PA said the total number of events organised by the FLCs has also more than doubled since its inception in 2005 to 493 events last year. These events saw the participation of more than 18,000 people.
30 family life champions will be given recognition for their contribution to the cause.
They will receive their gold, silver, bronze or merits award this Saturday.
Among them is Mdm Daisy Koh will be awarded the outstanding FLC award.
She's been a grassroots leader for 17 years and was appointed as an FLC in 2005 for the Yio Chu Kang Constituency.
She has formed eight interest groups like "grandma's recipe"- an interest group that promotes intergenerational bonding through cooking. - CNA/vm
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1068076/1/.html
So future efforts will now be geared towards tackling these issues.
62-year-old Madam Saleha Abdul Rahim is a mother of three and grandmother of seven and it is activities like this that helps her bond with family members.
She said: "I get to spend time with my children and my grandchildren. If not, I will just sit at home and not know how they are as we live separately."
Such intergenerational bonding is something that Family Life Champions want to encourage, with the help of interest groups.
Joan Pereira, director, Family Life & Active Ageing, People's Association, said: "As we all know, our population is ageing, and we the family life champions do not want to see it as a challenge but really as an opportunity to get them out of their homes and to bond with their families through varied programmes.
"Cooking is one, baking is another one, karaoke, doing physical activities- like yoga which is not too taxing for your grandma or your grandpa.”
PA said it is aiming to increase both grandparenting clubs and activities by 50 per cent from the current 50.
There will also be efforts to get men involved.
MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol, Michael Palmer said: “So you tweak the interest and you get sports activities so that men can do sporting activities with their kids and the mothers can get involved too.
We have soccer clubs, canoeing and I think we are going to try wakeboarding and see how we get on that. So we really want to get the men involved as well."
It will also be offering 20 per cent more family life programmes from the current 490.
In a bid to strengthen marriages and achieve greater community bonding, integrating newlyweds will be another focus.
It's hoped that 54 family life champions who are licensed solemnisers can make a bigger difference.
The FLCS were appointed as Licensed Solemnisers to offer marriage solemnisation services to the residents.
From 2006 to 2009, some 5,704 marriages were solemnised by FLCs. The number of couples solemnised by FLCs quadrupled from 604 in 2006 to reach 2,358 in 2009.
Wilson Lim, Family Life Champion, Punggol East Constituency, said: “My role as a solemniser is to engage them to come back to the community and it’s basically pre-marriage counselling. In a sense, I share with them experiences and then subsequently I will create a bonding with them so that it will become easier to get them to come back and participate in the events."
The People's Association said there's been a greater commitment from the younger generation of Singaporeans to champion family life initiatives at the grassroots level.
It saw a nearly 30 per cent jump in the number of younger grassroots leaders being appointed as Family Life Champions since 2005.
The proportion of FLCs below the age of 39 has jumped from one per cent in 2005 to 10 per cent this year.
Efforts put in so far by the FLCs have been relatively successful and are gaining momentum.
PA said the total number of events organised by the FLCs has also more than doubled since its inception in 2005 to 493 events last year. These events saw the participation of more than 18,000 people.
30 family life champions will be given recognition for their contribution to the cause.
They will receive their gold, silver, bronze or merits award this Saturday.
Among them is Mdm Daisy Koh will be awarded the outstanding FLC award.
She's been a grassroots leader for 17 years and was appointed as an FLC in 2005 for the Yio Chu Kang Constituency.
She has formed eight interest groups like "grandma's recipe"- an interest group that promotes intergenerational bonding through cooking. - CNA/vm
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1068076/1/.html
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