I love the uniqueness of this costume!

After the program

“BEHIND THE SCENES”

I have a confession to make.

When the Top 10 Best in Costume Awardees were being called on stage, I was silently hoping that Greggy would make it — but he didn’t. After the announcement, Greggy innocently asked me “Mommy, why am I not included?”

I didn’t know what to say.

Seriously — at that very moment I could feel my heart breaking. Not because of my wish not coming true, but because of the momentary sadness that I saw in my son’s eyes when he popped that question. I didn’t realize that he was hoping to be recognized too.

I could feel my voice trailing off as I managed to say “No, baby…It’s okay. Maganda rin naman ang costume mo, but they only need to choose 10 kids.” (I think I heard myself choking up a bit back there! Haha!)

Then I hugged him.
And he’s back to being perky again.

He left me in my seat to play with other kids feeling…uhmm…heart-broken.

Ganito pala talaga pag mommy. Hays.
I realized that I was actually saying “It’s okay…” more to myself than to my son. How rotten my heart had been. I had to go to God and repent.

“Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?” – Proverbs 27:4

He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him. — Proverbs 13:24.

Have you ever felt frustrated over disciplining your child? That sometimes it makes you think you’re not doing a good job in the Parenting Department? That if it were some course in college, you’d flunk miserably? Well, you’re not alone. I sometimes feel it too.

They say if you want to be a good parent, you can’t be too strict nor too permissive. You need to learn how to balance discipline and love. But since you can’t practice being a parent unless you become one, how would you know when you’re pulling the rope too tight or too loose? Children, as they grow, tend to do things on their own without knowing the consequences of their actions. And as parents, we try to protect them from going through unnecessary hurts and frustrations. Hence, the spoiling part comes in (ahhh, I’m so guilty!). Between me and my husband, he is the disciplinarian and I (believe) am the spoiler. Although he can be a spoiler too, he seems to know perfectly where to draw the line and is often good at imposing corrective actions on our four-year-old son. (Yeah, I guess he’s the better parent).

There are many ways to discipline a child. One of them is spanking. While I strongly agree that this may be an effective method, I don’t think it works for every child (especially if it’s done the wrong way). If spanking is too much and is done out of anger and frustration of the parent, the child becomes more violent and hard to control.

When we were just a couple, my husband once told me that spanking is okay as long as it is clearly explained to the child the reason for such kind of discipline and as long as it doesn’t go beyond a mere slap on the butt. If you hit your child on the head or strangle his neck, then it becomes wrong. As parents, we need to know the difference between child abuse and discipline.

I always try to discipline my son by patiently (errr – sometimes I’m not even that patient. LOL) explaining to him why he can’t always get what he wants, but more often than not, my begging just falls on deaf ears. It’s just amazing how kids can be controlling sometimes. *sigh* And because we love them, we often lose our parental authority by giving in to their wishes. (Guilty again! LOL)

I don’t believe in violence, but if you’re gonna ask me if spanking is sometimes necessary to discipline our children, then my answer is yes. But if you can make them follow your rules and control their wrongdoings without spanking, then much better. Remember, strict parenting doesn’t always get positive results.

How about you? How do you discipline your child? What do you do to make him listen to you without spanking? Do you believe in the saying Spare the rod and spoil the child?

Share your thoughts, please! Thank you.

With that being said, allow me to share the things I learned that I’d rather not forget for as long as I live. Things that will mold me into becoming the mother that God wants me to be…

1. Love in the family must be kept alive through little acts of kindness and thoughtfulness.
2. Every child has gifts and abilities. Find out where your child excels and encourage him or her without ignoring the fundamentals of education.
3. Give your child your undivided attention.
4. If you want to be the father or mother that God wants you to be, learn to listen to your child.
5. A reward for doing the right thing teaches the wrong thing.
6. There are no second chances with parenting. If you fail, you can’t go back and start over.
7. The wise parent has to balance protecting a child from hard knocks and letting him experience the consequence of his own actions.
8. Parenting is bringing out the best in our children without condemning them for what they cannot do or making them feel inadequate when they fail to meet our expectations.
9. Teach your child to evaluate what he hears and sees and to think of himself.
10. Strive to be the best message you want your child to see and hear.
11. You can’t pass on the baton of faith to your child unless you have it firmly in your grasp.
12. Be there when your child needs your help.
13. Model the value system that you believe is important.
14. Build your child’s character through moral feeding.
15. Teach your child to be his own person.
16. You have to guard the moral and spiritual nature of your child.
17. Knowing the difference between discipline and punishment gives parenting a different perspective.

I highly recommend this book to every parent who wants to make a difference in the life of his/her offspring. Dr. Sala is right when he said that there are no second chances with parenting. That if we fail, we can’t go back and start over…Years from now, I’m pretty sure none of us would want to look back and ask ourselves “What have I done wrong?”.

P.S: I’m getting more parenting books at National Bookstore this weekend. Feel free to recommend good ones. Thank you!

To the world, you just might be one person. But to one person, you just might be the world.

I just want to share a very touching video that I came across while I was searching for articles on parenting last week. A short video that brought tears to my eyes. I showed this to my husband as soon as he got home from work. And he, too, cried.

A screenshot from the video

A simple note, yet speaks through my heart. Big time.

I am thankful that through this inspiring video, God was able to remind me of what’s truly important when it comes to raising my children — TIME. Most of us work too hard so we can give our children everything in the world…Anything that money can buy. But unknowingly, we fail to give them the very one thing that truly matters — OURSELVES.

The point is, we need to prioritize what’s truly important before it’s too late. Children grow up very fast. Spend time with your kids and stop worrying too much about the future!

Click here to watch the video.

P.S: Trust me… After watching this video, your views on parenting will never be the same again.

Sometimes I wanna cry. LOL.

One day, I was able to convince him to practise writing using one of the many workbooks I bought for him. Kaya natuwa naman akong pagmasdan sya. Nauto ko rin sa wakas! Haha!

Look at his cute pictures. He enjoyed tracing the letters! And when he’s done, he told me: “Mommy, sakit ng hands ko…tired na po ako…”

Nakunsyensya naman ako. Hehe.

“You know children are growing up when they start asking questions that have answers.” – John Plomp

Quite true, isn’t it? My son is getting more and more inquisitive each day. He would ask questions like:

“What color is this or that, mommy?”
“What’s the English of ____?” (if he hears any unfamiliar tagalog words)
“Mommy, what’s this?” (pointing to an unfamiliar object)
“What did you say?” (if he hears something he can’t understand)
“What are you doing?”
“Are we in Mandaluyong/SM/Mall of Asia/wherever already?”

…And the list goes on. Sometimes he would give funny answers to our questions that really make sense. One time, while he was watching our wedding video, he asked me why he wasn’t there. Bakit daw si lolo, lola, tito, tita, etc. lang daw ang nakikita nya lagi.

His daddy and I looked at each other in disbelief. Then I explained to him, “Baby, you’re still in heaven with Papa Jesus that time that’s why you’re not with us on our wedding day…”

He seemed to have understood what I said and just continued watching the video.

And we knew since then that he’s indeed growing up. Too fast…

Sometimes he would say,

“Papa Jesus, thank you for the cotton candy…
Thank you for the milk…
Thank you for the toys…
Thank you for the food…
Thank you for my mommy and daddy…
Good night. Amen po.”

Then he would turn to me and his daddy to kiss us both and would say “good night”.

My son is only two years and 6 months old. It’s funny how he wants to go to school very badly. I assume he just wants to meet and play with other kids his age. One day, I called him from the office and he abruptly told me, “Mommy, go to school na ako!”. I asked him which school he wants to go to and he replied, “St. Therese! Teacher ko si Mrs. Go…” (his kuya RJ’s school and teacher). I was amazed. My son really speaks well — whether in Tagalog or English. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why some people think he’s four years old already!

Last month, we thought of enrolling Greggy at a day-care center in our community but we realized that he’s way too young for school so we decided to enroll him next year. But now I wish we did…

We’re happy because we didn’t like her anyway. She’s a real Sleeping Beauty (that’s what we call her) and will only move her ass when you ask her to. As soon as my husband and I arrive from work every morning (both of us work in a call center), she will leave our son to us and will lock herself in her bedroom to sleep all day. So even if we want to sleep and rest in the afternoon, we can’t because we had to wait till Greggy’s asleep. My husband wanted to fire her right away because of her insensitivity. But since she was recommended by my mom, I told him to be more patient and just wait for her to leave the house in her own free will. Which she did two weeks later…God must have heard our prayer!

But inspite of what happened, we’re quite sad because Greggy needs to stay at his grandma’s house, which is just a few blocks away from our house, temporarily until we find a better nanny for him. As a matter of fact, his daddy just brought him there an hour ago with his things all packed up. I am so sad…

We’re back to our old set-up for now. After work, we go straight to my in-laws’ house to take care of Greggy. We bathe him, feed him and wait till he takes a nap. Then we go home feeling sad because we don’t have a li’l angel waiting for us there.

All of a sudden, the happy atmosphere of our home is gone…At least for now.