Child is the Father of Man—True Lessons from the Gaveliers Tampines-Changkat Meeting-19 July 25

The proverb “Child is the father of man” is very true. I experienced this truth today at the Tampines-Changkat Gaveliers Club meeting.

First of all, a big cheer to Founder Priya—Priya started with the raindrop claps. That moment took me back to my childhood days. For a while, I felt like a child again, laughing and clapping along.

In the room, I saw little humans aged 7 to 17. Some of them were accompanied by their parents. There were also young guests and fellow Toastmasters joining in to support and cheer for the Gaveliers.

Learning from Young Minds:

A big applause to President Gavelier: Aditya Karthik, Youth Leader—for his inspiring opening speech. He spoke about his sprint running journey, where he moved from being the second last runner to the second winner through pure commitment. It was a motivating President’s Address. With this mindset, I’m sure he is going to be a great leader someday.

I could also see how quick the Gaveliers are in grasping new things.

For example, when I taught one of the Gaveliers Nirek how to report the Ah Counter role, he picked it up so fast and performed it confidently. That shows how observant and eager they are to learn.

The Prepared Speeches:

We had some amazing prepared speeches:

Nimit (7 years old): “Purpose of life”

Nimit spoke about the purpose of life—to be happy. His vocal variety and gestures were so natural and cute. It made even the adults in the room think, “Yes, this is exactly how life should be!”

Yash: “Holiday That Came to an End” 

Yash’s storytelling was so vivid. He shared about his cruise trip, zipline adventure in Singapore, and ending his holiday by watching Sonic 3. It felt like we all went on the trip with him!

Karthik: “Are We Using the Internet or Is the Internet Using Us?” 

This was really mind-blowing. Karthik started with the question: “Are we using the internet, or is the internet using us?”

At the end, he gave a takeaway not just for kids but for adults too. Before using the phone or internet, ask yourself:

—Is it helping me?

—Am I learning something?

—Or am I just sitting idle?

And his punchline was brilliant: “It’s not about Wi-Fi, it’s about Why-Fi.” That was truly catchy!

Glenn: “How to Inspire Others” 

Glenn spoke about inspiring others by being consistent, passionate, curious, humble, and empathetic.

He ended his speech with a line I loved: “You don’t need to be an excellent speaker. Simple words are enough to inspire others.”

That’s such a meaningful takeaway.

Table Topics:

Dharamveer, the Table Topics Master, did a great job with his topics. Some of them were:

—Is social media connecting us or isolating us?

—Which is more important—money or happiness?

—How does failure lead to success?

—Would you like to swap life with a celebrity?

—Is AI a friend or a threat?

The Gaveliers answered so well, instantly and confidently. Their answers followed the Table Topics criteria properly. I would say these topics and answers are takeaways for adults too!

Hats off to Role Takers!

A special cheer for the Gavelier of the Day, the Language Evaluator, and the General Evaluator. Can you believe this is only their 5th meeting, yet they confidently did all these roles? All this just by observing previous meetings. That’s truly commendable.

Evaluations:

Aditya Karthik, as one of the evaluators, gave clear feedback about body language and vocal variety. He also shared an important point—reading from a script can create a barrier with the audience. Such a good observation from a young leader.

Table Topics Workshop:

Toastmaster Rajesh conducted a Table Topics Workshop that was very helpful for the Gaveliers and Toastmasters too. He taught:

—AAA Method: Observe, Analyze, Answer
—Pendulum Method: Talk about both positive and negative sides
—PREP Method: Point, Reason, Example, Point again

He also shared how important it is to think of the target audience when answering. And he explained how impromptu questions should be open-ended, just like how a child asks:

“Why does the car have four wheels?”

“Why is the bird sitting at the window?”

That’s the beauty of Table Topics—being curious and thoughtful.

Overall:

It was a day well spent at the  Tampines-Changkat Gaveliers Club.

Sometimes, it’s not about adults teaching the younger generation—it’s the younger generation teaching us.