Archive for the ‘Parenting’ Category

Child rearing is not an easy task. It’s not like changing a led light bulb as part of your home improvement. It’s not just about giving them shelter, food and clothes to wear. It’s about molding character, personality, talents, emotional and physical well-being of the child.

But what happens if you are a working mom who only got few hours left after office to do this? It gets harder to perform well as a parent. Not to forget a husband who lives and works miles away from you and a nanny who also sometimes forgets that her role is not only about changing a toddler’s diaper.

It also gets harder when a sibling rivalry starts. It really confuses me where to start and how to identify the issue. The only thing I could do is talk to the elder one and explain that being older to her sibling, she should learn the words “giving way”. Of course, it does not stop there as it’s not always the elder one who should give way. Most of the time it’s the younger one who takes the toy out from her big sister’s hand, and that makes the scenario worst. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the many struggles that a working mom could face any day of the week is bedtime blues. My bunso tends to get more hyper during the evenings and refuses to go to sleep. This sometimes gets into my head especially when I still have to cook for dinner, assist my eldest in her homework and beat the deadline of my online tasks. I know she tries to get my attention but it does not always work as how she wants it to be.

When this happens, I normally find some ways to divert her attention to something else till I get everything done. During the past months, she has been fond of playing in my iPad but this worries me a lot. As much as possible, I don’t want my kids get glued on gadgets at a very young age. But you see, in every rule there is an exemption. I also give in but I make sure that whatever it is will also benefit them.

This weekend, I have my upgraded my iPad to iOS 5.0 and just learned that there are more added features when you do that. After it was done upgrading and uploading apps, I religiously spent time searching for interactive books for iPad. Elfishki and the Giant Cake caught my attention but before downloading it, as usual I did my homework. I, first watched its short video clip:  Read the rest of this entry »

I was worried that it might take ages before bunso could finally get comfortable with her Dada, whom she only sees once in a year. The moment she saw him at the airport, I had to show my husband’s photo on iPad and explained her that it’s the same person whom she was seeing then in the computer. She looked at him, not moving, then looked at me and said “Mama, takut ti Ishi eh”.

Since this little girl is so fond of my iPad, I told my husband to give it to her and ask her to play with him. She gladly came to him and that was about it. Today, she’s more closer to her Dada than of her Ate Deye. In fact, when I came out of the bedroom this morning, I saw my bunso, seated on her small chair right in front of her Dada and said Mama “e-assage e-Ishi e-Dada”. Right, she’s fond of adding “e” in every word that she says.

I’m glad it didn’t take her a while to know her Dada, and get closer to him.

What I most love about giving gifts to kids is their appreciation. You don’t even need to invest on buying expensive items like getting the most expensive toy or a guitar with carl martin surf trem. A simple smile will return the favor that you made them happy with a little something. But of course, we, parents especially moms would want to give the best for our kids regardless of the cost, and the effect that it may bring to our monthly budget.

Everyday, when I come home, my kids would first check what’s inside my bag. There are times that I don’t get time to buy “pasalubong” so what I do is stop by at the nearest Sari Sari Store, buy 2 packs of their favorite Chuckie, and they’re fine.

Their smiles are my most valued reward. Priceless that no one can buy or trade!