The LagosMums 8th Annual Parenting conference was held on the 9th of October, 2021. It was our second all virtual conference and it was a success thanks to the amazing sponsors, speakers, and attendees! The event was streamed across zoom and YouTube. The event was themed “Building Strong Families”. The attendees included mums, dads, caregivers, sponsors and vendors. The format of the event included very interactive panels and a fireside chat session on various topics.
The event started with a welcome speech by Yetty Williams and the moderator for the day, Oluwanifesi Adefila kicked off the program.
“The theme of this year’s conference is building strong families, and we all know that the past year has been quite a journey. It’s been a tough year for everyone across the world, it affected families in various ways. Financially, mentally, and children’s education have been affected in some shape or form. Some children did very well with online learning, some didn’t.
Across the board, children are having to get used to being back in class again, the home environment too has changed. As the world starts to emerge from the challenges, and the effects of the pandemic, we’re focusing on building strong families across all areas because it’s one thing to talk about the challenges, it’s another thing to talk about how to build strong families despite the challenges that we face. LagosMums continues to want to be there, as a platform, as a community… We don’t say we have all the answers, but together we are able to parent better, we are able to improve, unlearn and relearn. As parents we are able to make sure that we are raising children who will thrive in the future as adults”.
These profound statements are what Yetty Williams officially started the conference with. She talked about how parents have had to deal with uncertainty, fear and anxiety in the past year, and the need to be flexible and dynamic parents to succeed in these unprecedented times.
This was followed by the various panels and discussions. Almost a 1000 parents registered for the conference and several stayed on for the whole duration of the conference which was from 10am to 4pm!
Fireside Chat: What your Children Would Really Like You To Know
The fireside chat was held by Faith Lisa Esifihio; a final year student of Mass Communication, and Eyitayo Adedeji; an MSc student of Computer Games Programming.
Faith and Eyitayo shared their insight on what children think, how they process certain things and wish their parents knew about. They talked about important issues, such as; communication between parents and their children, gender-biased treatment, and mental health problems. It was a great chat that you should definitely take some time out to listen to.
Digital Citizenship for Families: The roles parents play
This panel was held by Elizabeth Milovidov; a lawyer and digital safety consultant, Confidence Staveley; the ED of CyberSafe Foundation and Cybersecurity professional, and Mrs Yetty Williams, the Founder and CEO of LagosMums. The speakers began by answering the question “What is digital citizenship?”. The panelists shared stories from their personal and professional lives to explain the role of parents in raising children to be responsible and contributing members of the online world. Mrs Williams mentioned the launch of a series of Online Safety classes which parents and children can sign up for.
Recovering from Challenging Times and Building Strong Families
In this panel, Dr Timi Oyebode; the founder of ADI counselling school, Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi; a legal practitioner and public policy expert, and Damilola Adedeji; a family counsellor, and mental health therapist talked about the challenges families face as a result of the pandemic. Ranging from mental health illnesses to financial problems and their advise on how families can bounce back stronger than they were before.
Teenagers and the World they Live In
This panel was held by Dinma Nwobi; the founder of Happify Humanity Project, Kingsley Obom-Egbulem; founder of The Talent Hub and author, and Yomi Oladunjoye; team-lead at CardinalMinds and integrative life coach who moderated the panel. The discussion centred around parenting teenagers and adolescents, and the world they are exposed to, and how they view the world. Important topics such as the psychological and emotional development of teenagers were discussed. Furthermore parents came away with the understanding that teenagers brains develop differently during the adolescent years.
Raising Spiritually Sound Children in Today’s World
The speakers in this panel were: Oluwanifesi Adefila; a speaker and counsellor moderated this panel in which Teacher Nneka Ibukun Anyachebelu; founder of Family Word Center and Spiritual Parenting Coach, and Seun Jolayemi; ED Daily Need Group and youth pastor were speakers. The panellists shared from their wealth of knowledge and experiences what it’s like raising spiritually sound children in the world today. They talked about the importance of parents being spiritually sound, and what parents need to do to ensure that they raise children who also are.
Ensuring Quality Education and Financial Stability in the Family
This panel was held by: Dr Alo Ohio-Omonkhomion; the founder of Brains and Butter, and educational consultant, Motunrayo Ade-Fatomi; CEO MoneyStewards, and expert in foreign investments, and Enimien Inegbedion; founder of Arcadia Montessori school who served as the moderator of the panel. In this awesome segment of the conference, very important life lessons were taught. Such as the importance of quality education, and raising financially effective children, and how to do so. The panellists shared concrete advice that parents can apply directly to their lives to ensure financial stability, and get quality education for their families.
You can catch the replay of these amazing, insightful segments of the LagosMums 8th Annual Parenting Conference here on the LagosMums YouTube Channel
Vote of Thanks
Thank you to our sponsors; Maggi and Honeywell; ambassadors and vendors who helped make this event a wonderful one! Also, thank you to our Media Partners – BellaNaija, Lost In Lagos, and Pride Magazine Nigeria.
We thank all our Mums and Dads who were in attendance. Without you, this would not have been a success. See you next year at #LagosMums2022.
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