About this Event
Most of us are trying to do right by our children.
We give them opportunities. We worry about their confidence, education, friendships and future. We step in when they struggle. We push when we think they are capable of more.
Most of it comes from love.
But if we are honest, some of it comes from fear too.
Fear they will fall behind. Fear we have not given them enough. Fear we are getting it wrong.
And in the moment, love and fear can look remarkably similar.
That tension has sat underneath so many of the conversations between Rachel Lim and Hwee Keng Maeder in Raising Conscious Humans, a CLOSER series.
And it keeps leading back to one question:
What are we really preparing our children for?
On 13 November, we are taking that conversation out of the podcast and into a room.
Not for a parenting checklist, but for a more honest conversation about the choices we make for our children, the fears beneath those choices, and the kind of parents we are becoming along the way.
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The Conversation
Hwee Keng and Valentin will share the journey of raising their three sons together, including the parts that were less neat than any parenting philosophy sounds on paper.
- Where did they disagree?
- When did one want to step in while the other wanted to stand back?
- What did each have to unlearn from the way they themselves were raised?
- What did they get wrong?
- What changed as their children grew?
And how did they stay aligned as a couple when their instincts, fears and approaches were not always the same?
We will talk about the marriage behind the parenting too: how to disagree without undermining one another, how to decide what really matters to your family, and how becoming parents changes the relationship between two people.
A Conversation for Dads, Too
At one point in the evening, Valentin will break out with the fathers in the room for a smaller, more candid conversation among dads.
A chance to talk more openly about fatherhood, partnership and the role men play in shaping the emotional life of a family.
- What do fathers carry that they do not always talk about?
- Where do they feel unsure?
How do they stay connected to their children as they grow? - What do they wish they had understood earlier?
The intention is simple: to make room for a conversation that may sound different when fathers are speaking directly to one another.
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If you have ever found yourself wondering…
- Am I doing this because my child needs it, or because I am afraid not to?
- Am I preparing them for life, or simply helping them keep up?
- How much should I protect them, and how much do I need to let them struggle?
- What happens when my partner and I genuinely see things differently?
Then this evening is for you.
You will not leave with a five-step formula.
Hopefully, you leave with better questions, greater clarity about what matters to your family, and the feeling that you are not the only one figuring this out as you go.
Perhaps the question is not only:
Who do I want my child to become?
Perhaps it is also:
Who do I need to become to raise them?
Event venue & nearby stays
Trehaus @ Funan Mall Preschool and Workspace in City Hall and CBD, Trehaus @ Funan, City Hall 109 North Bridge Road, #07-21, Singapore, Singapore
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.