Gladiators of Change (GoC) is the Anglican Trust for Women and Children’s free parenting workshop. Past events have been hosted by various schools across Auckland. This year’s GoC was a collaboration by three Pakuranga schools: Riverina, Anchorage Park and Pakuranga Intermediate titled the ‘Whanau Show’. After a free sausage sizzle, the popular entertainer Pio Terei kept the audience engaged with bits from his Parenting Show, he talked about the different types of parents and challenged those present to evaluate their own style of parenting, were their styles bringing the best out of their children? The show was presented with humour, yet had important underlying messages and provided valuable information about how we should be communicating with our kids.

Pita and Megan Alatini were welcomed onto the sofas as our guest speakers for the evening. They chatted about their family, the challenges and rewards of parenting. Megan and Pita are both busy, professional people, so through the years they have had to ensure that this doesn’t negatively impact the way they are as parents. The advice they gave was down-to-earth and relatable to many people in the audience.

The evening’s programme was diffused by videos of students from the three schools giving their opinions on parenting. They were asked to relate a school value to their family and explain why it represents them; the children were also offered the chance to give their parents a piece of advice. The audience laughed as Tana, from Anchorage Park School, suggested that parents should only have a maximum of three kids; “it just gets crazy after that!” he exclaimed.

The whole programme was a light hearted conversation, with lots of room for laughter, in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere. All the elements of the show, from the children’s speeches, Pio’s awesome talk, and the Alatini’s experience all sent a clear message of how to communicate with our children … Fair, Firm and Friendly.

Keep an eye on our EVENTS page for ATWC’s next event.