Parenting is a perpetual topic that people never stop exploring. As a respected elder having years of extraordinary life encounters, Mr Henry Pan (known by all as Henry), the founding chairperson and the Honorary Executive Director of CASS, shared his stories about parenting and teaching children life values. From this week on, we will post a story of Henry every Friday and hope you will find his stories meaningful, useful, and inspiring.
Although awarded numerous awards, Henry’s life journey has not been easy and smooth but full of hurdles and hardships.
- At the age of 15, Henry lost his father. He went to Australia alone to pursue his studies on his own under the support of his mother, elder sister and elder brother.
- At a young age, Henry was injured and had a fracture in the fourth vertebral disc in his spinal column while serving in the army.
- Later, Henry was attacked while assisting children from a divorced family and permanently lost his eyesight.
- After Henry founded the community organisation, CASS, it had gone through periods of internal conflicts and turmoil.
However, Henry never surrendered himself to the hardships. Instead, he has been determined as ever, faced life with persistence and a positive attitude, and managed to achieve great success. Though he is visually impaired, he learned to use special computer software to manage the affairs of CASS and actively look after the day-to-day running of CASS.
Here, Henry as an elder with rich life experience, used his childhood experience to shed light on how parenting during the early years can influence a child.
- Since Henry was a little kid, his parents have taught him about Chinese culture. He was encouraged to learn Chinese and read Chinese classics, and the traditional Chinese culture has greatly influenced his life values.
- Studied in a Chinese high school, whenever Henry was battling hardships, the school motto ‘Live with Passion, Lead with Compassion’ always enabled him to steer through the battles with perseverance.
Reminiscing the early education of his parents, Henry wanted to share the core parenting concepts with young parents:
- Always be supportive to your child
- Listen and understand your child’s needs
- When children make mistakes, don’t rush to punish them but guide them to be self-discipline.
These tips will enable your child to develop confidence and resilience, and we hope you will find them helpful.
Next week, Henry will share his first story about how his mother handled a child who had made a mistake.
