PETALING JAYA, JUNE 17, 2008: He may have picked the most bizarre item to represent his wife, but he certainly does love her, and she now knows that for sure.

Last week, Shaiful Bahrin Tusim, 32, presented Shazreen Ramly, 32, with petai and told her that the row of peculiar smelling beans represents her. Touched by his gesture of affection, she burst into happy tears.

"The petai symbolises Shazreen. When I see petai, I remember my wife. She is tough to crack, but there is a world of goodness to be discovered inside," declared Shaiful in front of an audience of over 20 parents and children.

Shaiful, Shazreen and their 3-year-old son Syakir Raimi participated in a workshop on family symbols, part of the Gain Family Discovery Camp at Berjaya Tioman Beach, Spa and Golf Resort between June 6 and June 8.

During the exercise, participants were asked to stroll the resort grounds individually and choose items that they felt best represented their spouses and children.

The workshop part of an on-going Gain Family Discovery Camp organised by Abbott Nutrition's Gain Eye-Q and Shaiful's family were among six lucky families selected from a month long contest to participate in the camp.

The Gain Family Discovery Camp, explained Abbott Nutrition's consumer products group marketing manager, Lee Swee Chin; was organised to encourage experiential learning as a family unit. "We began by organising a series of discovery trips for pre-school children in urban parks last year. Recognizing that parents are children's first teachers, we expanded the programme this year to include the entire family unit. As 80 percent of children's learning comes through vision, parents play a crucial role in guiding their children to expand their knowledge, going beyond the class room into the great outdoors."

Other workshops and activities carried out at the Gain Family Discovery Camp were the child-driven "Family Creations" session, the highly-entertaining "Family Dance" and co-operation testing sand play. Participating families were also given consultation time with renowned consultant psychologist Paul Jambunathan from Monash University and Sunway Medical Centre, who was the camp's chief family experiential learning facilitator.

The Family Symbols exercise said Jambunathan is an effective way to remind each family member how important they are to each other and should be practiced regularly as a family. It is an especially important exercise for parents because they are the twin pillars that carry the weight of a family.

"In order to build a home, the pillars must be strong and each family pillars could only be strong if they are nurtured and loved by each other. Such is a home ideal for children development and if parents do not provide children with such learning experience, no one else would," he said adding that a strong family institution is essential for children to learn to express themselves as healthy individuals.