Fredo, a father of 6, seems to be confused with his role as a parent. He spends time with peers over bottles of beer on weekends. He neglects his eldest daughter who has been asking him to buy her a pair of shoes. His younger children who used to have good grades now got hooked on the television causing their grades to decline. His favorite son, Jojo, now wants his way out of the school to join a dance group and become famous. His wife Gloria, ever submissive, has become helpless at the onset of the family problems.

Fredo may just be a character in a case study tackled by the participants of Educhild Parenting Series held February 11, but reality is indeed stranger than fiction. How does a teacher react when confronted with such problems from students of this background? If you were a parent, how do you solve this kind of problem in the family?

These questions were the springboard to the interactive engagement among 25 married and single staff and Educhild facilitators during the group session, the first part of the seminar where the big group was divided into two small groups. Ideas flew thick and fast within the group in order to resolve conflicts in the family. Real-life situations were also considered as the case study mirrors real problems.

After the group sessions, a plenary session followed with Engr. Edgar Watin, a businessman and a devout family man, showed fishbone analysis of the case study and drew out opinions and realization from the audience. Engr. Watin underscored the importance of being the head in the family and his impact to the children. He also shared his own experience as a father and asked the audience to share theirs. In the end, he emphasized good parenting as a key ingredient in the family, thus preventing one from becoming Fredo or stopping a Fredo in everyone before it’s too late.