Regis Cebu Leadership Leader Dovie Sainz Call To Arms Speech

Regis Cebu Leadership

Leader Dovie M. Sainz

Call To Arms Speech

Today I would like to share with you my passion: teaching people how to raise children of character.  Whenever I ask people what they value most in their lives, many would answer their family and more specifically, their children. When I ask them what they would want their children to become, most would mention successful businessman, good doctor, lawyer, and other professionals.

But what really is the most important thing that we desire for our children? I believe that it is to raise good and responsible future adults who will contribute positively to our society. In short, raising children of character.

Raising children of character is not easy. It demands time and attention. Let's be realistic. Many people are dual wage earners or have expanded work hours. Some are single parents or have a spouse working in another city or country. The pressures brought about by the influence of social media and internet also contribute to the challenges that many parents are facing today.

Parenting is one of the most difficult jobs there is and frankly, there is no training for this type of job. However, parents are the first and most important character educators of their children.  So today, I will share 3 important tips for raising children of character.

Tip #1. Put parenting first. This may be hard to do with so many competing demands in our world. Everyday we bring our kids to school or to their extracurricular activities, prepare or plan their meals and work. But this is not real parenting. Even drivers and helpers can do these things. Real parenting is providing our children with a safe environment that is conducive for a child to grow physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually. As good parents, we need to consciously plan our parenting time. Let us make developing our children's character our top priority.

Tip #2.  Be an example of good character. If we want our children to know how to say sorry, please and thank you, we must first let them hear us say these things. If we want our children to open the doors for others or give up their seats for the elderly and disabled, we must first show them how. Children are constantly observing the adults. But this does not mean we have to be perfect people.

Today, the most important example we can show our children is the stand that we take especially on unpopular choices such as video games, permission to stay out late, drinking in parties and movies that contain sex and violence. Our children need to know where we stand on moral issues such as respect for life, climate change and plight of the marginalized. We show them good examples when we let them know our stands that define our values.

Tip #3.  Learn to listen to your children. It is often easy to tune out the talk of our children when we are busy with something else. But if we want to teach our children good behavior, we must first develop an ear and an eye for what our children are absorbing. Listen to them. When we listen, we are teaching our child to listen. Look at them in the eye when speaking so they will learn to do the same. Children learn from watching, hearing and doing.

We have to get involved with our children's lives. I don't mean prying on their private lives or doing their homework for them. Listening to our children means that we should be aware of what is going on in school.  We should encourage our children to talk about their studies, concerns in school, assignments, projects and school activities. This is important because what they learn in school may be the second greatest influence in our children's character formation.

Parenting is a privilege. Our children are gifts from God. How we raise our children will be our gift to Him. Let us all try to raise children who know the meaning of virtues, empathy, dignity and values. Let us encourage our children to practice and apply these words in their lives. Let us raise children of character.

<adjudged as the 3rd best speech by the judges>