Category: Parenting

Posted on

Surviving Life 101

In any situation in life, there are at least 2 ways to respond: the POSITIVE/CONSTRUCTIVE way and the NEGATIVE/DESTRUCTIVE way.

I have been pondering this as I try to guide my children through what they encounter as challenges in life.

For example, M1 is so unlike his brother M2. When something happens in school that is not pleasant, M1 reacts by becoming moody; M2, on the other hand, comes to me with a broad impish grin and tells me, “Guess what, Mom! I got my first GREEN SLIP!” (notice from school that he had several minor slip-ups) and walks away as though nothing happened.

It tells me that M1 is a more sensitive child. He is actually the more compassionate child in the family and would readily help out where help is needed. He is also the one who never fails to play with our dogs as soon as he comes home. But being more sensitive than others, his peers’ opinion of him means the world to him and he easily feels down when things do not go “right” in his perception.

Teaching our children how to survive the travails of life is not easy. But somehow, we have to try so that when hard times come, they will know how to cope and survive. I have had my share of survivals. Continue reading “Surviving Life 101”

Posted on

…In Sickness and In Health…

As I write this post, I still do not know what will become of Raul, our dear friend in the States, who has been in a coma, brain dead, and fighting for dear life. A month after their family arrived in the States, happy to have Cynthia (Raul’s wife) start her new work assignment there, Raul had a major stroke (his second one — the first being here in the Philippines years ago).

Cynthia has managed to work, take care of their 2 sons, and still have to deal with day-to-day decisions and the up-and-down stressful events with Raul’s situation improving one day and deteriorating the next. But a few days ago, in an online chat, Cynthia told me that Raul’s recovery was nil and that their family had surrendered him to the Lord and had decided not to use artificial means to prolong his life. Continue reading “…In Sickness and In Health…”

Posted on

The Art of Wrapping (without climbing the wall)

There are 2 seasons I dread: school opening and Christmas — and it all has to do with WRAPPING!

Being the “shopper ng bayan” in our immediate family, I do the Christmas shopping AND wrapping. It used to be fun when I was newly married and even more fun when the kids came. Somehow, wrapping a toy or book you knew they’d immensely enjoy added to the fulfillment of wrapping. However, it got to the point where wrapping gifts now already includes the classmates of the kids (I have 4 kids multiplied by an average of 20 friends each), the village guards, the hospital doctors (and their secretaries), the tutors, and the ever growing list of inaanaks….

Then, as classes are about to open next week, here I am again — on the floor — with a 5-meter roll of gauge 3 plastic and a pile of books and notebooks to wrap. It has become an art — measuring the books’ dimensions on the plastic and arranging these in portrait or landscape format — to maximize the number of items one can wrap with the least amount of plastic wastage). Then there is the art of folding the plastic around the covers so that the line mark made when you folded the plastic in half hits the spine of the book dead center. The covers also need to look very firmly wrapped around the front and back. Wavy, loose plastic is a no-no. Continue reading “The Art of Wrapping (without climbing the wall)”

Posted on

Thoughts on Labor Day (and Mother’s Day!)

This was a post I made on a blog site for Moms, Pinoy Moms Network.

***********************************************************************

I got up today to the sound of fireworks. At first I wondered about the occasion, then realized it was Labor Day today (May 1). Then the thought crossed my mind — Mother’s Day also falls on the month of May.

What could Labor Day and Mother’s Day have in common? Lots!!!!! For who else labors more intensely, loves more passionately, has no set work schedule (available 24/7) , gives no thought to being justly compensated, but mommies like us?

So to celebrate Labor Day today and in anticipation of Mother’s Day, here’s cheers to all of us who have or are still undergoing any of the following: Continue reading “Thoughts on Labor Day (and Mother’s Day!)”

Posted on

Traveling Unaccompanied Minors

I just took another baby step towards letting go — our 2 boys (aged 15 and 13) took their very first plane ride bound for the province by themselves (a female cousin was with them but she was also just 15).

For those of you who are still single, you probably cannot empathize with the anxiety that envelops a Mom who has to drop off her “babies” at the airport and pray they get through the check-in, boarding and arrival at their destination without a hitch. But for Mommies like me, it is scary to say the least.

From home to airport, I rattled off a checklist of things and reminders for them:

– Keep your tickets and boarding passes always in your backpacks

– Don’t forget to shut off your cellphones before take-off

– Watch your cellphones and wallets

– Don’t forget to have lunch

– Text me when you enter the departure area, before boarding and upon arrival

– Lastly but most importantly, NO BOMB JOKES!

(see how praning I can be???) Continue reading “Traveling Unaccompanied Minors”