Meet Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan and get a signed copy of her newest book before it even hits the shelves! Come to the soft launch of
Meet My SuperDad on
December 12, Saturday at 10am
OMF Lit Bookshop Mandaluyong
Hurry! December 12 is the last day of OMF Lit Bookshop’s 12 Sale Days for Christmas. Get 20% off all OMF Literature books–including Meet My SuperDad! Meet My SuperDad is adventure-packed and eye-opening, teaching kids the value of family and giving everyone a fresh appreciation for the super qualities of fathers.
Cover: Paperback
Available: Yes
Price: P 65.00 (US$ 1.44)
BiblicalParenting.org has once again tackled another controversial topic. They rightly entitled it, “Be Careful with Triangles” and it explains why it is important for the husband and the wife to be a team when it comes to disciplining their child and the dynamics behind the different personalities in one’s family and how to go about them to promote healing, when hurt takes place.
Be Careful with Triangles
Triangles in relationships happen often in family life. Conflict between two people can become an invitation for another person to join in. If parents aren’t careful, and create triangles inappropriately, people get hurt. But if triangles are used properly, they become great opportunities for healing and learning. Here are some examples to watch out for:
• A child who is unhappy with Dad’s discipline may go to Mom and try to get her to overrule a decision.
• A dad may criticize the way Mom is handling a situation.
• A child may go to Dad with a proposal to get around Mom’s instructions.
• A teen may get angry with Mom for the way she’s treating his brother.
• One child may tattle on another.
Each of these situations represents an opportunity. Some advice suggests that triangles are always wrong and warn not to get involved. We don’t believe that’s the answer. Rather we suggest you triangle in as a counselor or coach instead of a critic.
I had the most interesting time with fellow mommies last Saturday, November 21, 2009, during the Johnson & Johnson’s Bedtime Discoveries event in Manila Peninsula. It zeroes in on the importance of sleep in a baby’s routine. Right from the moment my husband and I learned that we were pregnant, we were set on doing things right from the beginning. As a newbie parents-to-be, we investigated on different parenting techniques and were sold out to the routine principles of Babywise. We can totally vouch for it even as this little guy we have who is now 4 years old has been sleeping through the night since he turned two months old and more than just that he has been one happy baby since.
the very pregnant and lively Ms. Christine Bersola-Babao hosted the event
The Bedtime Discoveries event affirmed the way we raised our son, even as Dr. Luis Rivera, Vice President of Philippine Society of Sleep Medicine further explained how essential sleep is in a baby’s daily routine. Although we strongly believe in getting a baby into a routine, we also made sure as well that we do not have a rigid one, this is when it comes to feeding and every other baby’s activity during the day. But when it comes to our baby’s sleep routine, a schedule one was essential. This allowed for him to condition himself and anticipate what’s next, over time. We first wash him up before we get him ready for bed, baby massage and then we will read his baby picture Bible. He’s had it since he was a few months old. This routine worked wonders for him.
Dr. Luis Rivera, Vice-President of the Philippine Society of Sleep Medicine
Toddler sleep regression, is it even the right term for it? My son has been sleeping in his own bed since he turned two. But lately since the storm, we co-sleep more often. His bed was soaked in flood water and had to be thrown away. We all went back to the family bed, which was actually “banig” for sometime, because of our circumstance.
We have since were able to replace his thrown bed with an airbed and his bed box with a double bunk bed. Although he still sleeps in his room at night, he would cry out in the middle of the night and get to our bed. The regression is probably caused by the calamity that befell us but last night he successfully slept through the night in his own bed. Don’t get me wrong, I love him in our bed but aside from those flying kicks and karate chops that I get in my deepest sleep, our queen sized bed just won’t fit the three of us comfortably anymore. He’s growing bigger everyday and his tendency to be like a heat seeking missile since he was a tiny infant is still there. It crams me toward the hubby. I sleep in between them and I actually will not be surprised if dear daddy falls off the bed one of these days.
It’s now or never — at least when it comes to teaching children the value of time and the discipline of time management.
“Parenting experts have said it time and again—childhood is the best time to ingrain the skill of time management,” points out Kelvin Ngo, Operations Manager of Kids Watch Central. “Studies tell us that 80% of a typical workday is wasted on unimportant tasks and wasted time – a statistic that could have been prevented if only these adults had been disciplined early on.”
To help raise awareness on the importance of time management among children, Kids Watch Central will be holding Kids Watch Central Family Fun Summit 2009 a parenting seminar on time management that takes this issue head-on. “It may sound like a cliché, but now’s the right time to do something about it;
Real Mothers, Real Lessons
“What makes Kids Watch Central Family Fun Summit 2009 different is that the lessons from it are not textbook-based. The insights that will be shared are from real-life mothers who actually had to experience teaching their kids first-hand,” notes Ngo.
My son and I went on a playdate with other mommy bloggers and our kids, at Active Fun SM North Annex, late this afternoon. Too bad the other mommies got caught in the terrible Metro traffic that was brought about by the most anticipated long weekend. My son had no less than 3 hours of fun, to say the least. And if I wouldn’t call it a day, he wouldn’t have left the place at all. Putting it simply, it is a child’s wonderland.
my son, Jed, having the time of his life at Active Fun SM North Annex.
A follow up to Parent Talk 101 last April is Parent Talk 102: Developing Responsible Teens. With Pastor Clem Guillermo. This will be held on October 17, 2008, Saturday, 9 A.M. to 4 P.M. at Cinema 11, SM City North Edsa. Tickets at P200 each.
I feel blessed to have a husband who I am a team with when it comes to parenting. Some have to do child rearing by themselves. Through past mistakes and sometimes no fault of their own, a handful of adults have to parent their child without a spouse’s help. While we see it as a challenge to train up a child, it is even doubly hard for a single parent.
While this is not the picture that God has planned for a child to grown up in, we have to remember that ours is not a perfect world. Wiser single parents will thrive and still teach their children the same godly principles in bringing them up even without a spouse present.
I may never know how it is to parent a child single handedly, but this much I know, honesty and integrity should be a priority. As a child grows, he or she will be driven to ask why the other parent does not live with them. Make sure to emphasize that even as you admit to your child that you committed a mistake in the past, that he is NOT a mistake. If you happen to be divorced or separated, emphasize as well that God’s plan is for husband and wife to remain married to each other for as long as they live. This is an important foundation you will be teaching your child. In the event that you fail to mention this to him, he may grow up thinking that the default of married couples is the same as your situation. Never speak evil of your former spouse. This will prove to be a challenge especially if you think you have enough reason to hold a grudge against him or her. Allow your child to form their own opinions of both his parents as he matures.
Here is another valuable parenting insight that we can use in our homes.
One of the roadblocks to harmony in family life is when siblings act foolishly and end up hurting or offending each other. Foolishness may be demonstrated by teasing and playing around beyond what’s appropriate or wanted. Usually one person wants to stop before the other. Angry words and tears often bring an end to what started out as fun. Incorporating a “Stop Rule” in your family will help children, and parents for that matter, know when to quit.
As a follow up to a more recent article on Understanding Receptive and Expressive Language in Babies, I hope to share the things we have learned to encourage the development of your child’s language skills. It helped that my husband and I were right from the beginning a team with our desire to become pro active parents. We did not want to just stay in the sidelines and watch our child go with the flow. So far, in our four years, I can only say that we’re happy with the choices that we made.
When you are a brand new mother, there are so many things to learn about your child, one of which is the development of language. When I was a young mother myself, I am one of the guilty ones who bombarded themselves with information about the how-tos of taking care of a newborn. I always had a chart of the normal developmental stages of a child handy. We attended not just childbirth preparation classes but newborn care classes as well. To a degree, I even considered myself ready way before our son was born.
Jeff and I were thrilled over each and every progress our son would show. I remember this video that I took when Jed was a couple of months old. At three months, he was already mimicking the sound of the way we say “I love you” with ease and it was just one of the most unforgettable things.
It was like watching the clock when it came to how I anticipated my son to talk real words. We never encouraged baby talking. From all the studies that we have done, which were always careful to evaluate first, baby talking is not the way to go. Although, no one can really help himself when he’s faced with a baby. We always tend to don our softest voices and even sing-song tones when there is a baby around. But that’s entirely different from baby talking.
This entry is the next installment to the article I wrote here.
The indicators of Autocratic Parenting as defined by Pastor Clem Guillermo during the Parent Talk 101 seminar :
*Parent run roughshod over their children
*Parents believe they know what is best for all. Read the rest of this entry »
Hubby and I are attending the 33rd Pedia Talk Live! in the Grand Ballroom of Dusit Thani, Manila this coming Saturday, July 4, 2009. It has been years since we last attended a Mommy Academy’s event and we are thrilled to be a part of this.
It did not exactly occur to me that Parent Talk 101 was to focus particularly on communication with young adults/teenage children. But that did not get me disappointed. I think it is necessary for parents to be ready way ahead of the actual battle. This is what we did before I gave birth to my son. From learning how to be BabyWise to attending to childbirth classes. These helped us a lot to conceptualize the kind of parents we want to be. It is our first and we knew we had to start right.
Got hold of another treasure book via OMF’s Ukay Bookay! We were able to avail of the 30% discount last week. Â :-) I have always known that loving my child isn’t enough. I should love him right. I have pretty much my own idea of how I should nurture and love him, but the question is does the message get across? There have been a few articles written about the Five Love Languages in this blog and it always pertains to how to speak your spouse’s love language. I would love to better speak my son’s love language that is why I got hold of this book.
When you become a parent, it is easy understand and actually grasp what unconditional love is. The Five Love Languages of Children can help you make your child feel secure, loved and more willing and open to interact with you and your family. A review will be posted as soon as I’m done with the book.
Meanwhile, here are a few testimonials from people who have read this book: “This volume will, without question, enhance any parent-child relationship.”
- Church Libraries
“Even if you’ve read tons of parenting books, you will truly learn something new from this one – something to enhance your relationship with your child and adults in your life. You’ll probably even learn something about yourself.”
- Mom, Massachusetts
“This book would be useful reading for any parent, no matter the quality of relationships within the family, as well as anyone else who is dealing with children on a regular basis (teachers, grandparents, babysitters, etc.)”
- Yarden, Texas
“I can’t speak of the emotion that fills my heart when thinking of this book. It is saving my family! My husband and I now know how to satisfy our children in the most basic of ways… Love!! And I will tell you a secret: they do their chores now with no complaints!!”
- Mackena, California
