Compared to other professions, social workers spend more time interacting with people, and handling more complex situations and scenarios. What special qualities should one possess if he wishes to join this profession?
A person’s work ability can be trained, but it is his attitude that is the most crucial.
While fundamental academic knowledge may help social workers to handle their basic jobs, passion for their work, as well as sensitivity, love and empathy for their service clients are essential.
With the rapid development of technology, modern society has become increasingly fast-paced, and interpersonal communications and teamwork have been imperceptibly affected. For those in the next generation who wish to shine at the workplace, not only do they need to surpass others in terms of their professional knowledge, but their personal characters and abilities to work with their colleagues will be of greater importance.
Many people are of the opinion that social work is a tedious but thankless job…
Society is becoming more and more complex, so are the cases being handled by social workers. If everyone continues to think of social workers as “volunteers”, that is certainly incorrect.
In recent years, the government has re-organised the social-services industry, not only providing more professional training and learning opportunities with various major academic institutes, but also boosting the starting salaries and salary ceilings of the profession, increasing the degree of professionalism, and tackling the issue of remuneration.
As for the long working hours, professional social services cover a broad scope, ranging from social workers, counsellors, and Early Intervention Programme for Infants & Children (EIPIC) therapists and teachers for special needs etc.
Perhaps it is due to manpower shortage that local social workers need to take on more cases, or perhaps it is a result of professional differences of the work that naturally results in variations in working hours.
What is the most likely problem that young newcomers to the profession may encounter?
Often, newcomers are overly zealous when they first join the profession, hoping to put to use these theories they had learnt, and as a result, that zealousness is quickly expended. Hence, we need to prompt them to learn to draw professional boundaries in their work, reminding them that they need to rest where necessary, so that they may “walk the longer road ahead.”
Learning to be detached is also a professional requirement. The success of social-service workers does not lie in how dependent their clients are on them, but rather whether they can help their clients become independent – knowing when to support them, and when to let them walk on their own.
How can parents nurture their children to develop their characters?
It is not difficult for children to learn knowledge, but for them to excel at both studies and virtues would require greater effort from the parents.
So long as the children have firm moral foundations, they will form their own opinions. This way, they are not easily swayed by external influences. At least, when exposed to a mistaken concept, they would think, “No, this is not right; this is not what my mother said.”
Nowadays, children are opinionated, and unwilling to listen to their parents. What can parents do?
Should children listen to their parents? Should parents require their children to listen to them? These are questions with answers that are modulated as the child grows up: When children are young and without any judgement, parents must directly help them make decisions; as they gradually become older and develop their own opinions, “guidance” is critical and parents may create opportunities to encourage their children to develop the correct values and make the correct decisions; the final step will be to let them make independent judgements. But in this final step, parents need to remind children to be responsible for their own decisions.
How do you teach and guide your children?
I have three daughters, aged between 15 to 22, each with different personalities, hobbies, and learning abilities.
My work keeps me very busy, but I insist on taking time to fetch them to and from school daily, utilising the time spent on the journey to communicate with them, hoping to understand their characters and ways of thinking. Only with such understanding am I then able to guide them to make the correct decisions.
Can you provide an example?
When my youngest daughter was in Primary 3, we realised that she was unable to cope with her schoolwork, and we could see that her self-confidence and interest in learning were waning. To boost her confidence, we thought of transferring her to another primary school from Primary 4, which would be less stressful.
I had a discussion with my daughter. Initially, she was reluctant because her good friends were in her current school. But as we broke down the situation and analysed it for her, she changed her mind and agreed to the school transfer. She quickly made new friends in the basketball team and choir of her new school, and gained greater interest in learning.
At this time, you may prompt the child that joint decisions made with his parents are correct, reinforcing the child’s trust in you.
What kind of assistance can parents provide their children, in terms of their future job prospects?
Building upon the foundation of understanding and mutual trust, parents may help their children by guiding them towards choosing a career that is suited for them.
Not wanting their children to fall behind at the starting line, many parents may overly emphasise academic results, hoping that good results will create more opportunities for their children, but the child’s interests may have been neglected as a result. Actually, upon discovering the child’s strong interest in a particular subject, supervision and guidance towards that interest may enable the child to obtain even greater achievements in said field. For instance, if their interests lie in science or art, parents may bring their children to science centres or art museums or to watch performances etc. to foster greater interest. Or perhaps the child likes to interact with others, is able to show concern for the elderly, likes taking care of the young, and may be happy to help others, with a loving heart – such a character is inclined to help others, and may be nurtured and guided to join professional social services.
In addition, parents may also choose to visit less-developed countries for family vacations, or bring their children to those countries to do volunteer work or experience life there, so as to strengthen their children’s resilience. Through personal experience, the child’s moral values may be imperceptibly changed. Perhaps for the next Christmas, that child may no longer think about what presents he wants, but rather what presents he can give to his friends in less-developed nations.
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