2 of 10 don't consider parents as role models

Only two out of 10 children today look up to their parents as role models, superheroes and all around good guys, unlike twenty years ago, this according to a survey conducted by the Parenting Company.

Such decline on how children look up to their parents can be traced to the latter's lack of time to pay full attention to their children and establish bonding, says Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan, author of " Mommy Talk", and founder of the Parenting Company.

Pangilinan pointed out that many children nowadays find their homes void of parents' presence because most of them are forced to work double time to provide a better and comfortable life for their families. Among these absentee parents are overseas Filipino workers who commonly leave their children during the crucial formative years.

"Children feel a need to connect with their mothers and fathers especially during the ages of 0 to 14 years. The presence of both parents is vital to the child's growth," Pangilinan said.

Because of this, Pangilinan hopes to equip parents with information on such through the 3rd Philippine Parenting Convention, a one-day training event for parents that will run in four major cities of the country - Cebu, Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro and Metro Manila - through four succeeding weekends of September at the SM City Cebu Trade Hall.

The program will highlight three compelling plenary sessions geared towards holistic parenting by equipping and completing them in these three major areas: body, mind and soul.

The goal of the convention is to restore the faith of the Filipino children in their parents and achieve a 10-out-of-10 figure of children who look up to their parents as role models.

Apart from creating disturbance in the hope to restore the faith of the children, the convention is also about equipping parents with tools and attitudes to win the battle on gaining their children's delight in them as parents.- Jasmin R. Uy