Kids Archive

What my kids are like, and how to raise your child/children in this day and age.

Progress Pre- School Gold: Breakthrough Advancements in Learning and Development

It maybe too late for my 8 year old son, but I still have some time left for my other kids.. so my mission in life now is to provide them the best memories I can.. what’s with the sudden rush?

I witnessed Progress Pre- School Gold as it unveils Breakthrough Advancements in Learning and Development and one thing I learned from Dr. Maricar Ocampo is Intelligence is not just IQ but also memory. There are different types of memory, sensory, short term and long term memory. It is the first 8 years of life where memories are transformed into long term memory.. so mommies, if you have kids 8 years below, start making happy long term memories with them *wink

“Memory is not just about remembering information but more importantly applying information properly. Your memory affects your ability to easily retrieve and apply stored information, such as in problem solving- and the ability to solve problems is often a factor in defining intelligence,” added Dr. Ocampo.

I also learned from Dr. Sabrina Tan the “triad of success” when it comes to child development: child’s cognitive, social and emotional skills. ” All three skills are independent, interact and factors each other’s success. A child who develops each of these aspects well, has more chances of succeeding in school, in social environments, in different endeavors,” Dr. Tan explained.

That afternoon, I feel like a student learning new things about parenting.. and I was just lucky to be hearing and learning this things from the expert. As parents, we shouldn’t stop learning about parenting and child developments. As Ruffa Gutierrez puts it: ” I have big dreams for my daughters. I want them to achieve more than what I have. I believe that how they learn today will define their future success. That is why I make sure I am always up-to-date in the latest trends in learning and child development, so I can apply to them. The last thing I want is for my kids to lag behind their peers.”

Dr. Maricar de Ocampo and Dr. Sabrina Tan with celebrity mom Ruffa Gutierrez and host Patricia Hizon. Together with guests from media, we watched the 3D unveiling of the all new Progress Pre-school Gold.

Progress Pre-School Gold’s GOLD Biofactors System was formulated based on the latest scientific research, supporting 4 development areas of child: Mental and Visual, Growth, Immunity, and Digestion.

I also had the chance to ask Ruff Gutierrez how she managed her daughters and prevents siblings rivalry, she mentioned about being fair to her daughters and giving them same items to prevent jealousy. We also had the chance to have a photo opps with her (just when I decided not to bring my DSLR argh!)

Shopping Experience at Baby Company Grand Baby Fair

I was invited to take a look at the Grand Baby Fair preview yesterday… which feels like just a while ago.. Baby Company Grand Baby Fair opens today until Sunday, that’s January 27-29, 2012. Yesterday it was open to employees and some costumers who can’t wait for Friday 🙂 Some stores are still setting up but most are already rolling and selling!

That’s the registration area at the entrance with a very festive mood.. beside the registration area is the shopping cart station.

First stop is at Ai-NON, because you know, Ai-NON is a friend of ours 🙂 s please guys check them out on Facebook and like Ai-NON Facebook page 🙂

Ainon Baby is a trusted brand of safe , BPA Free, LEAD Free & durable baby products.. so if you’re expecting or have a newborn, stop by at Ai-NON and see what’s store for you and your baby.

After some chitchat with Agnes (Ai-NON), I walked around and take a look on what Grand Baby Fair has to offer this year. It’s more spacious this year than last year. And there are benches now unlike last year.. the stage area is more lively too.

The play area, courtesy of Gymboree is also bigger..

New exhibitors such as Cast & Frame caught my attention.. if you’re into this.. go give it a try 🙂

My favorite baby products were also there and I bought some from them 🙂

Here’s a scoop from Smart Steps Facebook page (go like!): Get 3pc set Original Baby Looney Tunes Feeding Bottles OR Original Baby Looney Tunes Character Hood Feeding Bottles OR Original Baby Looney Tunes Bottle Keeperfor FREE in every P500 worth of purchase at the Baby Company Grand Baby Fair at Megatrade Hall! Supplies Limited! So hurry!

Mommy Matters was there and I was planning to buy a breastfeeding blouse since some of the blouses were 50% off, some were 30% off.. but I forgot to go back on their stall when I got busy taking picture around.. I’ll have to go back again and get the blouses that I want 🙂

Another exhibitor that caught my attention, my time and yeah my wallet too is Sprint Asia.. what caught my attention is their Nail Polish on display.. ORLY! But they got me to stay on their booth and give their cosmetics products a try:

That’s the products that she used on me.. Wet n Wild is exclusively distributed on Watsons.. I bought two Orly Nail Polish and 2 different eyeshadow palettes from Wet n Wild and a bronzer.. I’ll be experimenting a sun kissed make up soon! 🙂

Baby Company Grand Baby Fair is much like shopping haven to expectant moms and to moms with kid 0-3 years old. It’s your one stop shop to all your baby caring needs.. and not just in terms of baby clothing, diapers, vitamins and baby furniture and other baby essentials, exhibitor like Medela offers help in terms of breastfeeding, booth with Parenting magazines and books from Summit is also available. There’s also a booth for those who are considering cord banking as well as a special breastfeeding station. And of course they have a line up of talks about parenting, caring for your baby and other topics moms will be interested. The stage will be used for this activities and celebrity moms will be there too to share their experiences, there would be experts that will surely be of great help to all moms who will attend the fair.

After almost 2 hours of non stop walking and a bit shopping, this concludes my day:

Necessities for the kids.. I also bought two sets of pillows, each set contains 2.. from 900+ I got it for 450+ each set 🙂 My total purchase 2000+ PhP excluding the beauty products that I bought from Sprint Asia.. and so I got my own swag bag!

Take a look on what’s inside.. that’s 2000 worth of items! yay!!!

You can get a free swag bag too! single receipt of 2000 PhP entitles you to one swag bag.. items that was paid inside (such as Sprint Asia products, Ceelin) are not included on the swag bag promo.. aside from the swag bag, Mom Card members gets a free cell phone holder.. wow! that’s a lot of freebies in one day!

Grand Baby Fair officially starts today, err, later today I mean. See you later at Baby Company Grand Baby Fair.

Teaching Responsibility to Your Kids

Responsibility is one of the most important values that parents must instill in their children. It is also one of the hardest to teach. After all, the concept of responsibility is often an elusive one for toddlers and young kids, and our desire to raise them in a nurturing and caring atmosphere often precludes the trait from being adequately taught until the child is grown. How can this be corrected? How can responsible values be appropriately taught, even at a young age?

As a mom with children of my own, I have asked myself these questions numerous times over the past couple years. While I haven’t in this span found a perfect solution to my queries, I’ve still been able to devise methods and approaches that, hopefully, will ultimately serve to make my kids more responsible people in the long-run. Here’s what I’ve been trying to do:

Instill Healthy Eating Habits

We go to the grocery store for a variety of reasons: we need eggs, we want to stock up on organic makeup, or perhaps the bathroom has run out of toilet paper. And, when our kids are still young, we will likely bring them along each and every time. I think this makes for a great opportunity to teach both responsibility and healthy eating habits. I’ve devised a system: I tell my kids they can buy four food items of their choosing. These products need to hit certain nutritional requirements for fiber, calcium, and vegetable content, but otherwise they are free to make their own decisions. While my kids will always select one unhealthy food among the four, the requirement have made them more aware, discerning, and hopefully responsible. They have even found healthy foods that they enjoy.

Give them Jobs

Some parents give their kids chores and expect them to be done without any sort of compensation. Other parents won’t assign chores, but will instead try to teach responsibility by handing out a regular allowance. While you should certainly stick with whatever approach works best for your family, I’ve found that a combination of chores and compensation (i.e. an allowance that is paid after chores are complete) is a great way to teach responsibility. If my kids don’t feel like doing chores, that’s ok – they just won’t get paid. Conversely, if they want to buy a new toy, they might need to do more chores in order to gain the appropriate finances.

Let Them Fail

We certainly never want our kids to fail, and there are areas in which we will work hard to insure that they don’t. But there are other times where a failure has consequences only as a learning experience for a child. Sports and extracurricular activities are a case in point. If your kid doesn’t show up to practice or doesn’t prepare appropriate for the dance recital, there are real (although not harmful) repercussions, and there will often be an outside authority figure who gets angry at them. As a parent, I’ve decided to let my children fail – and, in the process, learn from their mistakes – when such situations are in play.

These are just a few ways that you can endeavor to teach responsibility to your child. None of these approaches are particularly difficult, but since the trait is a particularly challenging one to master – even for adults – its’ always good to make a concerted and consistent effort in following these techniques through.

This article is a guest post.