Parenting Archive

My thoughts on parenthood, and what it's like to be a mom in the Philippines.

10 FUN Things Your Kids Can Do Without Gadgets

Last Sunday was officially (and strictly, may I add) NO GADGETS DAY.. meaning, the kids cannot use any gadget, no Ipad, no Ipod, no computer and as much as possible, no TV (we’re still working on it).

The kids busied themselves with books, playing around and telling stories. And knowing how much these kids love gadgets and playing games on the P gadgets, I asked them how they are planning to spend the coming No gadgets Day. I asked them to give me 10 things that is FUN for them without the use of a gadget.

So here’s 10 FUN Things Your Kids Can Do Without Gadgets (from REAL boys perspective):

Play Hide and Seek

One of my fondest memory as a child is playing hide and seek, when my kids included this activity, I was delighted. But wait! This is not your ordinary hide and seek. I just remembered that hide and seek is no fun when you’re in a small place. It’s better to play it in an open field or a park or a plaza, where running is allowed (without worrying about the things you can break) and shouting is allowed (without your neighbor giving you a puzzled look) and where there’s so many imaginable place you can hide. So, obviously, that kind of hide and seek is not what my kids are talking about, how can hide and seek be fun when all they can do is hide on the playhouse or in the slide (and half of their body’s peeking).. I learned that the kind of hide and seek that they really enjoy is, hide and seek of their belongings like slippers, notebook or their game cards. I think it works the same with the hide and seek we know (eherm calling the kids of my age!)… the only difference is the “it” is the winner, whoever finds his belonging first, wins and will be the one to hide the belongings of the other players.

Wrap A Gift

This is one of their most favorite thing to do, they look for something small on their stash and wrap it using ordinary papers. They get very creative when they start decorating the wrapper with drawings and colors. I think they got that love for crafts from me. We love papers and the possibilities with papers is endless. I am sure in no time, my kids would be making their own loot bags out of paper.

Wrapping a gift is a FUN activity not just for them but for me too as I constantly receive small items “wrapped” with love!

Draw A Comic Strip

If the boys love doing crafts, they also love drawing, and of course, they got it from me too. Anything artsy crafts comes from me, anything logical and intellectual comes from the daddy (like playing chess and math). They usually enjoy drawing their favorite TV characters but I think making a comic strip will add more fun to that.

Read a Book

English/ Language has never been my favorite subject, I would always go for Math or Chemistry but never English. I am not confident with my English skills, so I was thinking of enrolling them in an extra class that will teach them better English. It’s not that I want them to be English majors (numbers is in their blood), I just want them to learn. My teacher friend said that I don’t have to enroll them on a special class, I just have to teach them to love reading. Armed with that knowledge, I dusted my mini cabinet and turned it into a mini library. From then on, they showed a lot of interest in reading. The thought that there is one little place for their books seems very effective in introducing the hobby of reading to them. So there, reading a book is a FUN activity for my kids.

Play Sports or Get Physical

Basketball is their favorite sports and allowing them to play on the nearby court is super FUN for them. On weekdays, they go for a 2 hours basketball training, but these kids just love this sports that even dribbling is FUN for them. Getting Physical means running around the house, it’s not fun as it is for me, but sometimes, I let it slide.

Tell Stories

..specially HORROR stories. I guess it is just natural that these kids love horror stories but would end up getting scared. I think even us adults love this activity, right? Aside from horror stories, these boys also love adventure stories and funny stories, well actually any story that they can think of!

LAUGH! LAUGH! LAUGH!

What else is more FUN than laughing! yes they do that to make FUN and consider laughing over something or nothing is a really serious activity. These boys just stare each other and they will erupt laughing.. Hmm, sounds familiar to me! As a child we also do that! We pretend to be really really serious containing our laughter then we’ll face each other, whoever laughs first is the loser, for what I can’t remember, all I know is, I had FUN laughing nonstop.

Picnic Pretend

Eating is a routine, you eat breakfast, eat lunch and then dinner, well not for my kids! As their meryenda can be turned into a picnic pretend. A small table is all you need, armed with cookies, milk and little stories. Of course a picnic is not a picnic if it is done inside, play picnic outside your house! Like on you garage, balcony or on your porch.

Board Games

This is a recent activity they just discovered. Blame me for introducing board games to them this late. And thank the daddy for introducing chess to my boys. So when gadget are banned, they opt for a nice chess game or scrabble game ( which reminds me, I need to buy a dictionary for them).

Clean Up

While we were listing down FUN ten things they can do without a gadget, it was a surprise that they mentioned cleaning up or helping Mommy around the house. It is FUN for them! hurrah!

I suggested sleep, but I only heard protest! hahahaha so it’s not FUN.. I heard someone suggested TV, but it is considered in the ban list. And to end this, let me give you a simple definition of what a gadget is.. it is an invention where its use is bigger than its size 🙂 go figure.

Responsible Parenting: What Is Right And Wrong On Child Photography?

I am not talking about what is right and wrong in terms of photography as arts, I am talking about photography in terms of the right of the child. I am not saying I am an expert on this subject as I have know little about rules in photography. All I know is,

if it is in public place you can take photos of it,
if it is in private place, it is the owner’s discretion if they want to photograph it or not (as in the case of malls etc)
you can take photos of public places though, as long as you’re in public place (or I maybe wrong with this)
that law enforcers has no right to take your camera

When it comes to photographing people, it’s vague for me, all I know is, if it is an event, it’s OK to take photos of anyone present during the said event (please correct me if I am wrong).. when it comes to posting or publishing the photos, I think that’s another case and another set of rules. Asking permission if it is OK to post/publish it is I think the rule of thumb.

When it comes to our kids, what is right and wrong? can we post almost every cute photos our kids have?

I think not. As a responsible parents, we have to choose what we post and what we should NOT post specially on social networking sites. This is my opinion and some of you may agree and some may not (and I do welcome your comments and insight on this topic), but here’s my rule of thumb when posting photos of my kids:

Nudity is a N0-No may it be the boys and specially my little girl. I do post photos of my boys on trunks and other swimwear but never post any photos of them showing their private parts. As for my little princess, I am more careful on posting her photos.. any pose that looks suggestive or any pose that might expose a bit too much of her body is a no-no (the last two piece she had when she was a year old, after that, no more 2 piece for her)
Insinuating and Suggestive pose (as mentioned above) is something that I will not pose.. now how do you define a suggestive pose? well I think it is up to you as a parent to determine that.
10 years from now? what? before I post photos of my kids, I usually ask myself that question.. I know they’re cute and adorable specially on wacky pose but 10 years from now, would they hate me for posting their photos? or would they thank me for not flaunting it?

Somethings are really cute, specially when captured, but we are not just after on cuteness.. as parents, it is the welfare of our kids that is the most important.

How about you? What’s your limitation in taking photos of your kids and posting it?

Practical Parenting Tips On Teaching ABC

You know, as much as possible I make our own ABC.. why? aside from I enjoy doing it, most ABCs that can be bought is not good for me..

Take for example alphabet chart with Ice cream on letter I.. in basic phonics, it’s the short I first, only later that the long I sound is taught.. so how can you explain an Ice cream on your alphabet chart?

Another thing, some words on most Alphabet Chart are too complicatd for the kids.. you know like Xylophone or Monkey or elephant.. there’s just too many letter on it.

I want my ABCD chart to be simple, with images/ things that my kids can easily recognize and a chart that I can use while I teach phonics to them.. and that’s why I make my own ABCD..

Actually a few years back, my only requirement for creating ABCD is that the images/ photos is simple enough or that they can easily recognize it. I made an ABCD where the V was represented by VICKS! that’s the only word/ thing I can think of that my boys would recognize.

Here’s a sample of what I did a few years back (Ondoy‘s not familiar with the alphabet yet so he took this chart hehe).

Now that I will be seriously teaching Chico and Sati.. might as well make an ABCD chart that will also be helpful not only in alphabet recognition but as well as phonics.

And so far, here’s what I got:

Ant for A.. which I still have to figure out how to draw a rally nice ant. I can’t use APPLE, though easier to draw, it will be harder for them to read when we start phonics. Ant is the best word I can think of.. if you know an A word that’s very basic in terms of phonics, let me know.

Bed for B (or bag or bus) these words are very basic.. it would be very easy to use it when we start learning the middle sound, the beginning sound and the end sound.

Car is for C, Dog is for D (duck is easier to draw but that would be harder for me to explain why there is a c and a k there), Egg is for E (I find this one a bit challenging as egg though easy to draw, hard in terms of giving life to it).

Fan for F, Gem for G (it took me an hour or two to find an easy and basic word for G, I’m not yet satisfied with Gem, so if you one, again hit the comment button). Hat for H, Ink for I (another case like A and E), Jar for J, Kit for K (here’s another one, I’m still looking for the best K 3 letter word, know one?). Log for L, Mop for M, Net for N, Oven for O, Pen for P, Quarter for Q, Run for R (I want to avoid action words but I can’t find a word for R). Sun for S, Ten for T, Up for U, Van for V, Watermelon for W (though I want to limit my words with 3-4 letter words, I just can’t find a word for W that will be easy for phonics). Xray for X, Yoyo for Y and Zip for Z.

So there.. it took me a whole day to fill it up, maybe next week I can finish making the alphabet and will show it to you.

Now for our Practical Parenting Tip on Teaching ABC or the Alphabet, here’s what I have learned so far..

Charts do half of the job. If you can place alphabet posters/charts on your house, do so. If you can’t make a personalized alphabet chart, choose a chart where the objects are familiar.
Start it by teaching them the objects, since they are familiar with some, it would not be that hard.
When they are ready to learn the alphabet, they will start questioning you.. and you can teach them slowly by asking the letter of the objects that they are more familiar, like ask them where is letter A (with emphasis on LETTER) and give a hint by saying that it can be found next to Apple (if that’s the object in your chart).
Don’t force your child. A two year old baby who knows the alphabet is cool but a 3 year old or even a 4 year who does not know the alphabet is normal. Don’t worry too much, they will be the one to say that they are ready. Of course early exposure can be helpful (you can start posting charts as early as your child starts to see, like 3 or 4 months…don’t put it up early as it can confuse your baby’s developing eyesight)
Recite the alphabet everyday and let your child recite with you. Music is very helpful too, so if you have educational CD’s let them hear it.