Parents’ Gala – Education for the Future

Statistics show that over 50% of children in Romania are overwhelmed by depression and anxiety

Ana-Maria Cononovici, 23.01.2024, 14:00

Statistics show that over 50% of children in Romania are overwhelmed by depression and anxiety, lost for hours in front of screens, eroding their empathy, motivation and academic performance, prisoners of their own uncertainty.

Faced with this reality, the Parents’ Gala – Education for the Future materialized not only as a charitable event, through which the money collected from ticket sales support children from disadvantaged backgrounds in continuing their educational journey, but also as a catalyst for change.

Răzvan Vasile, the organizer of this event, told us how the gala was:

Absolutely fantastic! I knew it would be like that, but it was like it was beyond what I anticipated. And I can also say why: first of all, there, the parents together with us, with all the partners, we learned what the biggest problem of a child is. What 88% of children think: that they are not good enough, that they don’t automatically deserve it, that they can’t, that it’s hard, that it’s not for me. And all this comes from the fact that we parents, who did not educate ourselves, did not prepare ourselves, not for lack of love, but for lack of resources and time, robbed them of their greatest strength, which it is their uniqueness. The uniqueness of children is their greatest strength, because, in life, if you are the best, or if you try to be the best, there will always be someone who will be better than you. Whereas if you are unique, you remain unique on your path, you have no competitor!

How do we prepare our children for a fulfilling future, how do we encourage them to discover their true inner potential, to look ahead with confidence? Răzvan Vasile told us: The parents referred to the future. I said that 85% of the jobs of the year 2030 do not exist today, I said that it is in vain to steal their power that we were talking about and compare them, criticize them for some school grades, when the jobs of the future are totally different. And then, I also brought a robot on stage, with artificial intelligence, who shook hands with everyone, welcomed people on stage, (n.r. accompanied them). When they got off the stage and I understood that the future is here, and that we must train children both for the present and for the future. And the children related to their parents exactly as they should: like teachers. Children choose their parents to be their teachers. And what are parents for children? The children’s mirrors!

900 parents, along with renowned personalities, experts and specialists, gathered at the gala, to learn from the stories full of exhortations. A phenomenal role model who joined the gala was Costel, as Răzvan Vasile told us:

Costel was a child abandoned at the orphanage until he was 4 years old, then taken in by his mother, who thought, well, maybe together with you I’ll get an apartment. During that adventure to look for that apartment, Costel slept only in houses that were falling apart, he was injured, and the worst problem was that he fell from a tram, and he got amputated both legs and his right arm. That’s what happened to 12-year-old Costel. Who is Costel now, at 38 years old? A rich man, a man who is a psychologist, a man who conquered Kilimanjaro, Machupichu, Everest, a man who plays the panpipes, easily competing with (Damian) Drăghici. He is a man who built a home himself, and a man who has two exceptional children. If I, said Costel to himself, half a man, without two legs and without a right arm, succeeded, I talked to myself, I talked to God, and I succeeded, you? What problem do you have? All our struggle is only in our own mind! Our mind is the only battlefield. That’s where we have to win!

Răzvan Vasile also sent a message to the children and their parents:

I want to convey to them that the future, success, does not necessarily consist in necessarily learning something new, but in unlearning things you know and you know wrong. I want to convey to them that everyone was a child, including myself, but they, the children, will then be parents one day. We have over 90 thousand thoughts every day, of which 90% negative. Let’s focus on solutions, on the positive, not on the obstacles, not on the negative. Let’s understand that if we want to change something, we have to do something! Let’s act! What did Einstein say? We expect new things to happen, but do we do today what we did yesterday and always? I want to tell the children, now, to have courage! Beware of shame, guilt, fear, pain, they are all inventions of the mind, and always dwell in gratitude, flow with life, do not resist, because every crisis requires a leap of yours, as child, as a parent, a leap in which you become a better person. And if you understand that you were the creator of this little crisis, and this crisis comes with a message, which lifts you up like a ramp, then you have come out of this triangle of drama, an illusory triangle of drama, in which people are victims, there is an abuser and a savior.

The organizer of the Parents’ Gala – Education for the Future, Răzvan Vasile, added I want to say something else which is extremely important: let everyone think about a real truth, all forms of life struggle to reach their potential maximum, without exception. A tree, a cat, a beetle, a flower, less so us, the people. A flower does not say today is hot, today is cold, today I am not doing photosynthesis, but man has the power to choose, he has free will. What I want to emphasize is that we decide if we want success or if we want failure! But who decides? Our free will. We must be very, very sure that our free will is indeed free! And we must know that nothing is free. If we want to be successful we have to pay a price. Nothing is simple, we have to think differently, be different and act differently. Let’s be unique!

With a greater involvement of parents in the education of children and with a greater openness in understanding what education means, embracing the sphere of emotions, the future looks more promising!