Increased youth outreach for National Family Celebrations

SINGAPORE : This year’s National Family Celebrations from May 25 to June 23 will see more youths involved in organising its activities.

The organising committee will see six youths involved this year, compared to two youths last year.

This comes after a series of focus group discussions with youths from junior colleges, polytechnics and ITEs in April 2012 on the state of family issues — organised by the National Family Council — found that youths felt the best way to cultivate interest in family values is through participation in events and programmes.

Other findings include youths finding inspiration in well—known celebrities, business leaders and politicians who share their own experience of a successful family, and youths looking to their parents as examples in cultivating family values.

The celebrations will open with a game show that will see parent—youth pairs being tested on their understanding of each other and family matters.

There will also be a series of contests which involve favourite family moments as well as calls for youths to take active steps to improve family commitments.

The event hopes to reach out to at least 12,000 youths and their family members this year.

Lim Soon Hock, co—chairperson of the National Family Celebrations 2012 Organising Committee, said: "I can assure many families out there that they will stand to reap many invaluable returns and rewards if they start to invest in the family today. And that is the reason why, when we look at promoting the family and championing for the family and hopefully over time, to reverse the total fertility rate, we have to engage our children early."

— CNA/ms