Have you heard of the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model? It is an integrative approach to health and learning. When I learned more about it, I thought it was the missing link to resolving the many problems and issues we have among children, teens and families in terms of learning, health, well-being, behavior, and even relationships.
While we build the child for many years in terms of education, other aspects of his development are left behind. While we push schools to be at par with international standards, other factors are left unattended. For instance, how can we help the child when teachers are not at the peak of their well-being? How can we expect the family to support the child’s educational needs when parents often disagree at home and when emotional connections are not nurtured? How can the child thrive when there is no community to uplift his developing talents?
My big WHY in life is helping children and families. My experience as a full-time school guidance counselor and family and parenting resource person immersed me in the realities, strengths, and and issues of children and families, then my work at present doing psycho-education, speaking and training.
At Rex Bookstore’s Annual Educators Congress (AECON), which was held last October 2019 and attended by more than 700 school administrators and principals, I felt gave a surge of excitement at having a platform to challenge the decision makers.
The needs of the family must be addressed. When we take care of families, families are able to care for the child. When we help educate families, they build the communities. If we want a better society through and for the child, educating the family is the key. If we want to address all the concerns happening in schools, we need to bring in the family. After all, the family may be the source of the child’s concerns, and it may also be the biggest intervention tool for and through the whole child. Indeed, a child cannot do away without his family. As American writer Anthony Brandt said, “Other things may change us, but we begin and end with the family.”