2018 Tea With Dad
Daughters of the King
Angela Lim and Tan Mok Sang
Tea with Dad was initiated and helmed by the Children’s Ministry and supported by the Family Life Ministry. This half-day event held on Sunday, 3 June 2018, provided a unique experience for fathers to spend an afternoon with their daughters doing activities that help them to bond and to have conversations with one another.
Julie Hiramine (Founder and Executive Director of Generations of Virtue) delivered a devotion based on the theme Love of a Father: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness." Jeremiah 31:3
She shared the importance of establishing strong biblical values in the families. The four essential keys were as follows: Family Connectedness, Clear Expectations, Positive Input and Father’s Involvement. Julie highlighted the role of fathers to protect and nurture their daughters. In addition, she emphasized the impact of fathers’ words of affirmation on their daughters’ self-worth.
Carol Loi (Regional Director of Generations of Virtue) facilitated a sharing by our very own members, Roland Tay and his daughter, Yi-Xin who shared their father-daughter journey, how they intentionally made time to bond with each other through the years. Prayer was a crucial element for this pair of father and daughter. Roland would pray for Yi-Xin before she set off to school or work. They concluded this segment by sharing with the participants their affirmation letters they wrote for each other.
I think that the Tea with Dad session was very meaningful. I had the chance to engage in interesting activities with my father that I did not expect like nail painting. Through the activities, I got to know my father better and had the chance to sit down with him to talk.
I would recommend such an event to others.
Sarah-Ann Tham, 17
I’m glad I attended the Daughters of the King event with my daughter Sarah-Ann. Spending the afternoon together in a fun and relaxing atmosphere, doing activities with and for her helped me understand her much better. We spoke, we laughed, we shared and we learnt. And I especially treasure the letters we exchanged.
Love, nurture, protect, maintain purity – a reminder to be a role model, a precious relationship between father and daughter given by our loving Father were some of the things I took away from the session.
I encourage all fathers to attend, the next time you see it come around.
Alex Tham, father of Sarah-Ann
When I first heard that my dad had signed both of us up for this event, I was not quite looking forward to it. I told him that we are already blessed to be able to spend more time with each other as compared to most other dads and daughters, and that going for such events would be rather redundant. However, the event turned out to be a meaningful and unforgettable one.
With 3 other siblings, it has often been tough for my parents to spend time with each of us individually. Thus, that afternoon with my dad was one that was hard to come by and I really cherished it. Just by having the time to talk to each other then was precious as we got to understand each other even better than we did before.
Amanda Cheng, 17
My younger daughter Amanda is already 17 this year and I had to grab this last chance to bring her for such an event.
Jordan Hall was totally transformed, with a photo booth complete with all the props for the father & daughter fun photo shoot. After we took a few shots, we were pleasantly surprised that they developed a candid shot for us. That was really fun!
Then came the first game where I was to paint Amanda’s nails. I was so nervous as it was my first time painting anyone’s nails. I did it so carefully but still I had to use so many pieces of the special cleaning tissues to correct my mistakes. It was like a reflection of my poor fathering, remembering the many mistakes I had made in these years! But thank God, we can learn to ask for forgiveness and like using the correction tissues He helped me clean off my mistakes and try again.
The most touching moment for me, was when we had to write a letter to each other. When I read Amanda’s letter to me, I was nearly in tears...
For fathers who have not done this with your daughters, I highly recommend it.
Allen Cheng, father of Amanda