Family Challenge - Workshops & Seminars

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Team Approach to Positive Parenting

In so many aspects of our lives, we learn, play, grow, and labour as part of a team. The concept of a team necessitates that there are two or more participants following established guidelines, under the careful direction of an Instructor, Coach, Captain, Composer, Conductor, Manager, Supervisor, Teacher, Principal, Pastor, or Parent. Such environments range from sporting teams, church congregations, and school classes to orchestras, places of employment, and of course our immediate family. In most teams, there are a set number of positions and each player has a specific role to play.

Even though the specific objectives of team members may be different from other members on their team, they all work towards a common goal. Accordingly, in the family team there are also set roles, and each player has individual strengths and weaknesses. "Strength lies in differences, not in similarities" (Stephen Covey). As family leaders, a parent’s primary objective is to identify these differences and channel individual energy into a collective family consciousness – working in unity to advance the overall success of the team. If the team is successful, the players are successful. One cannot be achieved without the other.

Research studies into cognitive (logical thinking) and problem solving performance have repeatedly shown that working as a team yields superior outcomes to working independently. In accord with the Japanese proverb, "None of us is as smart as all of us", most non-western cultures around the world promote family and community cooperation above the success of any individual.

Both the individual and the family become much more valued when included as part of a community. Self-respect is largely derived from first meeting the social, emotional, and practical needs of both family members and the community in which family members live. Edifying others rather than one’s self leads to a sense of sustainable inner self-worth and esteem. Self-concept as a member of a team (one as a part of many) has been shown to have a number of positive emotional and social benefits. Unfortunately, the benefits of playing as a team are all too often drowned out in the media by the promotion of soloists, star players, and heroes.

Throughout history, the importance of collaborating with extended family in a community environment has been reflected in architecture and town planning. Whether early European Townships, African Villages, or Pacific Islands, in days gone by family homes were built surrounding central community gathering places (e.g., cooking shelters, village markets, and town squares). Daily life was promoted as being a social event. However, in our modern day society there has been a fundamental shift away from the promotion of family and social networks. Our family dwellings are made so comfortable that we are rarely encouraged to leave them. We live in rows of streets side by side instead of circles surrounding central gathering places.

Technological advances allow us to even do our shopping from home using the Internet or by pushing a button on the fridge door. Among children, the bicycle has largely been replaced with the computer game consol, again encouraging children to play inside rather than to socialise with their peer networks in the neighbourhood. To provide a sense of balance, a step-by-step practical team structure for socially achieving family success is outlined in this presentation. In keeping with the philosophy of Henry Ford, "Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success".

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