South Auckland mentoring programme targets parents as well as their kids

By Sia Talafou

A youth leadership programme aimed at South Auckland primary schools is seeking to strengthen parents' roles as leaders in their children's lives.

ProjectWy is run out of 22 schools working with hundreds of families to better equip parents to be successful leaders to students who are forerunners within their schools.

Founder and Director, Essendon Tuitupou says the project is an effort to help "raise the leadership aspirations and the educational aspirations of not just the … primary school student but also the parents, so that the parents can understand their role better” in supporting their children's schools.

ProjectWy has a profound impact on both the parents and children. Tuiptupou says parents are saying that the programme is highlighting the importance they have in “shaping their child's leadership and shaping the world around them”.

“Even when you think they’re not watching, they’re watching. Even when you think they’re not listening they’re listening.”

The project runs two six-week training programmes where they train both students and parents, and finally ends with an event.

Tuitupou stresses to parents the significance their actions have during these training sessions in impacting their children’s behaviour.

“We always say, look, when you complain during the trainings, when you quit during the trainings or you push through during the trainings your child is watching and they’re learning…”

ProjectWy's latest events took participants to Rotorua. Participating in a quarter marathon in May and the Tough Guy Mud Run a fortnight ago.

The ProjectWy team, which consists of volunteers from Faith City Church, has no intention of extending the programme to high school students in the future as their focus is to engage the children and their families early, Tuitupou says .

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*Sia Talafou ​ is working for PMN as part of an AUT journalism internship.