The Rules of Parenting: Rule 2. No one is perfect

“Parenting” and “Perfection” are completely two unrelative words. I had my fair share of “mommy fails” and after reading this chapter, it is much clearer now, I will continue to raise my children in my own unique way. I sometimes do enjoy being an actual mother with flaws than a mother trying to be perfect for her children-which is certainly frustrating. What I now wanted my children to learn from me is that committing mistakes are normal; and that we have to move on and be a better version of ourselves the next day.

 

“A personal code for bringing up happy, confident children.”

The Rules of Parenting: Rule 1. Relax

I came across a book entitled, “Rules of Parenting” by Richard Templar. I thought for a second, “do I need this?” The truth is… I do.

I agree with the realities the author is telling me. This book puts everything in perspective, you in control, and your children on the path to becoming a successful, independent adults. Allow me to read to you The Rules of Parenting: Rule 1. Relax

 

“A personal code for bringing up happy, confident children.”

What is your “Parenting Goal”?

Here is my New Year’s resolution in spite of being 13 days late. I converted it as my “Parenting Goal”. Isa lang naman ang goal ko para madaling gawin 🙂

Please listen to my musings and maybe, share and comment? Thanks!

Alive Museum Singapore Family Ticket Giveaway

There’s more to see in Alive Museum Singapore!

Recently, we were invited by the Alive Museum here in Singapore, and it was a nice surprise to see that this time around, the world’s best 4D museum has added two new zones, namely, the Young @ Heart and Live.Laugh.Love.  For those of you who have visited the fun and immersive AMS, enjoy it once more as they are offering a 40% discount for a limited time only. Yet another good news for all photo enthusiasts like myself! 😉

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More than just the galleries, my kids also loved and enjoyed the interactive pieces here as well.  Look at Sofie’s video below with one of their digital arts, featuring Marilyn Monroe –

 

And this disco and mirror room sure brings out your hidden moves and grooves.  It definitely makes me want to visit again.

 

Allow us to give you a tour around, but first here’s my favourite picture thus far-

My husband’s killin’ it.

 

This was taken at the Young @ Heart Zone. Isn’t he funny? ^_^

 

Felt like Thumbelina in the most colourful garden, in the museum!

It felt like I’m Thumbelina in the most colourful indoor garden!

 

My kids sitting under the lovely cupid tree at the Live.Laugh.Love. zone

My kids sitting under the lovely cupid tree at the Live.Laugh.Love. zone

 

Notice my hands? hahaha. Now I have a reason to return here! Hun, let’s have a second take please! X-D

 

My kids were thrilled and enjoyed themselves while appreciating everything that the museum has to offer.

 

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“It’s all good dad!”

 

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“It seemed so real!”

 

"Okay let's play one on two dad!"

“Okay let’s play one on two dad! We can beat you now!”

 

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Here’s what’s happening during our photo shoot

 

All right. Who can't resist spiderman kiss?

Well alright…who could resist spiderman’s kiss?

 

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This is going to be a good display in our living room wall, would you agree?

 

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He likes to play hero, this photo suits him the most #wolverine boy

 

one damsel in distress. or not.

Sofie said, “look from afar!”

 

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Though my kids have visited the Alive Museum a few times before, they’ve told me it’s always worth coming back… and indeed it was 🙂

Thank you AMS for this special invite!  Please log in to their website, click here for the latest updates or visit their Alive Museum facebook page.

 

 

 

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For all of you who would like a chance to visit the Alive Museum

We are giving away an Alive Museum family package (for 2 adults and 2 children) worth $90, just simply do the following :

1. Visit and Like our facebook page here

2. Like the Alive Museum Facebook page

3. Answer this: Why would you like to visit the Alive museum, in the “Comments” section below or:

4. Comment on our  Alive Museum facebook post here.  Best answer will win!

Winners will be notified on or before 9 Aug 2016. Goodluck 🙂

 

The death of happiness

image source: http://www.amyfrost.com

It felt like death when I realized I will be going away for 30 years.  I did not say my goodbyes to my children yet; they were all in school and my mind is telling me the next time I will see them is when they have families of their own. I cannot seem to comprehend what was happening to me.  My mind is whirring and I am drowning in an emotional slur. I remembered lying next to my husband on our bed, sleeping peacefully. I woke up, instead of him in my arms; I was holding a tray, already in prison. I panicked. I will not be home for a long time, and my children are still young. They are clueless, I will be gone.  I cannot accept it. The heavy weight has been placed on my chest and I am fighting it. I was sobbing the whole time. I woke up with tears in my eyes.

Back in reality, there I am working in my kitchen again, thinking. I was terrified, yes, and I am so not looking forward to revisit that dream. Happiness was robbed from me and I cannot let that happen in my sane world.

These past few days, I have forgotten what happiness is like, until this morning. My happiness are my CHILDREN and my HUSBAND. They are here with me. Whatever it is that my dream wanted to put in my head had lead me thinking that when you are happy, you hold on to that happiness because anytime, it can be taken away from you.

 

image source: http://www.amyfrost.com

Thoughts on fostering a child

This is an interesting article about Joy, a working mother of four children. In the article below, she shared some of her thoughts about her family’s fostering journey. I am moved by her willingness to nurture a child in need; and was impressed by her belief that every child should grow up in a loving and supportive home. If her story inspires you, do drop by to Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) Fostering Road Show at NEX Mall Level until 15 May 2016.

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foster parent joy

Let’s take a look at an extraordinary mother who not only fulfils her role of

being the educator and nurturer of her own children, but extends her love and care to other

children in need.

As a working mother of four young children, Joy Shuo has her hands full. But she still

volunteered to become a foster parent with the blessings of her husband, a pastor. A home, with

loving parents and siblings, is the “best stable environment” for a child to grow up in, insists Joy.

With this firm belief, she embarked on her fostering journey in 2011, and has never looked back

since.

Joy wants to care for a foster child for a longer period to be able to contribute more to the child’s

overall well-being instead of taking short-term fostering, ranging from a few weeks to a few

months which she had, at first, been asked to do. Her wish for a longer staying foster child was

fulfilled when she was assigned a two-month- old baby girl to care for.

Joy works as a pastor now and got her domestic helper, Anyes, and her mother to care for the

foster child when she was at work.

Megan, Joy’s youngest daughter, has turned out to be the most excited of their children with the

arrival of their foster ‘baby sister’.

Megan would often run to fetch Anyes or her grandmother whenever she finds the baby awake.

She does the same when the baby needs to have her diapers changed.

“Megan has become like a mother hen, watchfully guarding her foster baby sister’s every single

move and stir,” said Joy.

It is Joy’s belief that every child should grow up in a home and not in an institution, a hospital or

an orphanage. “This is why it is so important for us as a family to take in a foster child. It is the

least we can do to help another child to get a chance to be loved and cared and to have that

stable foundation to grow up to his or her full potential.”

Joy admits that she was not sure at first “how much love to put in”, given the goal of foster care

is to reunite the child with his birth parents. She says, “I’ve heard stories about foster mums

sobbing when they have to return the child. But I have to think of the big picture here. My role is

just to love someone, and hopefully that will change her life forever.”

For those wishing to find out more about the MSF fostering scheme, please call the enquiry line:

6354 8799; or visit the MSF website: www.msf.gov.sg/fostering

A week in a life of a blogging mom

My blogging journey started when a friend of mine encouraged me to write about the things that were happening in my life as a parent.  He is a professional blogger who has made very good income through blogging, and so I thought maybe I could do the same.  But as it turns out; I was headed to a different direction.  Right now, I enjoy blogging because I have 3 avid readers who consistently check my website almost every day.   They see themselves in every page that I write.  I sometimes hear the youngest exclaim, “Mom wrote about me today!” Followed by the others saying, “Can I see, can I see…”.  And sometimes, “I almost forgot that funny thing mom!” they would declare during the moment while exchanging laughter.  Believe it or not, blogging helps me to connect with my kids.  They even involve themselves by actively participating and providing voice-overs for our videos.

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Me and my minion working on our blog 🙂

The thing is, I just blog whenever my schedule permits me to.  Because yes, having three kids is indeed insanely challenging.  I’ll give you a peek on what usually happens within a week in our house.

Let me start with the weekends because these are the days that I like best.  I get to slow down from the weekday mommy phase.  We can do anything in our house, say, play spa where we get to take turns being the masseuse.  I’ll also have a series of massages from my three kids, so who needs a trip to the massage parlor when you can talk them into it, right?

the power of touch

the power of a mother’s touch

Sometimes I play Nerf with my kids too, boy, I can’t stop shooting at ’em, as  this is the only chance to get even with the three! #sorry not sorry.

I also humor them with my talent.

I started making makeshift toys for my kids when they were really small, since I don't have work and kids during those days are easily satisfied. Mack the truck was my master piece. Too bad I don't have a picture back then. But now with they're age, I can no longer compete with some gadgets and XBOX, any takers for my axe?

I started making makeshift toys for my kids when they were really small, since I don’t have work and kids during those days are easily satisfied. Mack the truck was my master piece. Too bad I don’t have a picture back then. But now with their age, I can no longer compete with today’s technology, any takers for my diamond axe?

 

I have a lot more crazy ideas I come up with and I truly enjoy these moments with my children. Another example was this:

 

I saw this box downstairs – don’t judge me ok. It was humongous. I tried to put this inside the lift, by the time it’s halfway there, the lift was closing already. The kids were on panic. I was hysterical! Oh, but if there’s a will… there’s a way!

Or this…

My kids were blindfolded while peeling their oranges, laughter everywhere!

My kids were blindfolded while peeling their oranges, laughter everywhere!

But of course, there are French classes, Catechisms, and Sunday afternoon mass to attend to, so time to put my mommy hat once in a while!

Last week was especially busy:

I had to edit their presentation for National Friendship day in school.  Aside from the chores, I was to and fro the computer, and I had to go out to fetch them as well. Very busy but I felt accomplished that day.

If you want to know how our video turned out, please click here.

Tuesday  was the most interesting and exciting day for all of us. We get to climb up the stage to present in front of the school, yes, including me!

All set to present some trivias and a brief history of our country, the Philippines

All set to present!

 

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“Ang Pagmamano o Mano is a sign of giving respect to elders.” A practice almost similar to the Malays.

Right after the presentation, I saw the kids’ faces and they were all beaming with confidence.  I am happy and proud to witness this moment. 🙂

I had dedicated some of my free time for some volunteer work at school.  Since there was an event last week, my PSG Colleagues (Parent Support Group) were teaching the kids how to make friendship bracelets, origami, facilitating trivia questions in the iPAD, and some more activities which highlights Singapore’s neighboring countries.

 

Tuesday to Thursday's duty, really worth it most especially when you made the kids are happy. Back here, they call me Auntie Paula, so funny :-)

Last week’s team, glad to put a smile on these children’s faces, they call me Auntie Paula, so funny lah 🙂 (thanks to Annabelle Teo, our PaPa chairwoman for this photo)

 

During ordinary weekdays, I try my best to teach them at home.  But occasionally, I do encounter challenges like these…

 

"Zacki, what do you want, do revisions and play with me and dad after or just sleep until tomorrow?" Clearly, he chose the latter

“Zacki, what do you intend to do? Finish your revisions, or just sleep until tomorrow?”  Clearly, he chose the latter

But whenever I feel helpless, dad takes over…

This what happens when dad takes over. Enticing the kids so the kids can understand well

Daddy makes interesting examples for ‘Nouns’.

 

Do you feel me?

Do you feel me?

But I do have my highs too… one example is when I see them diligently doing their assigned chores.

I created a checklist for my kids' house chores

I created a checklist for my kids’ house chores and it’s looking good.

 

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My girl folded these clothes. Her dad told me that he did not even ask. She’s just quietly folding while watching a tv show.

 

I love, love taking pictures with my sayang 🙂

As I review this blog, I realized that I am lucky to experience these with my children and my husband; the challenges, the proud moments, the highs and the lows and the things that we do together as a family  -these I will continue to write in mommysaiddaddysaid, until I ran out of words and there’s nothing left to tell.

 

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This post is brought to you by the Singapore Parent Bloggers blog train for April. You may also read the inspiring entries of the rest of the 29 blogging mums or dads here.

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Next stop on our blog train is Estella, Mama to 5 yea12966681_10153605307148182_14474898_nr-old Joy,

Estella runs a mineral make up and brush shop on her online shop at ESOD and is an occasional singer/host. She is passionate about living fully, breastfeeding, as well as home design, care and organization. On ESTELLA.SG, Estella writes about Joy, her passions and the family’s journey towards getting their new home.

 

Tagalog 101: A Brief History of the Philippines

 

Here in Singapore, we have a celebration called the National Friendship week which allows the students from different countries to share some knowledge about their motherland.

Here is a 1 minuter video that the kids prepared for tomorrow’s presentation: the Philippine’s Early Civilization.

Enjoy!

 

 

A brief history of the Philippine’s early civilization until the American Regime

This is for you, Ethan, Sofie and Zack. Know your history 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMAGE CREDITS:

WIKIPEDIA FOR LUZON MAP, VISAYAS MAP, AND MINDANAO MAP
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luzon#/…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visayas…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindana…

http://previews.123rf.com/images/tsho…

3/5572076-Vektorkarte-und-Flagge-der-Philippinen-Lizenzfreie-Bilder.jpg

http://www.mb.com.ph/wp-content/uploa…

map.jpg

MAP WITH COLORFUL LUZON VISAYAS MINDANAO)
https://www.google.com.sg/search?q=th…

+philippines&espv=2&biw=1511&bih=692&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahU

KEwjtgcy9zfTLAhUNGI4KHSWkBekQ_AUIBigB&dpr=0.9#imgdii=f3sK8N7ZqHUCJM%3A

%3Bf3sK8N7ZqHUCJM%3A%3BIJmdxT07VZ3U-M%3A&imgrc=f3sK8N7ZqHUCJM%3A (PHIL
AETAS
https://5a348cf02e-custmedia.vresp.co…

MALAY
http://anythingmindanao.weebly.com/up…

INDONES
https://filipinopride.files.wordpress…

FIRST CIVILIZATION
http://www.filipiknow.net/wp-content/…
Philippine-Civilization.jpg
BARTER
http://www.kamustamagazine.ph/wp-

content/uploads/2015/03/LocalTourists_EanDacay_02.jpg
MALAY CIVILIZATION
http://www.filipiknow.net/wp-content/…
DIORAMA
http://www.freedomwall.net/files/2015…

SPANIARDS
http://i0.wp.com/historicphilippines….

content/uploads/2014/10/legzariv1.jpg

http://www.expatch.org/wp-

content/uploads/2014/04/First_Baptism_inthe_Phils.jpg

MAGELLAN 1
http://ourphilippinehistory.blogspot….

expedition-to.html
http://cx.aos.ask.com/question/aq/140…

american-war_67452b5922ef5a00.jpg

helen taft
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/531/18…
american teacher
http://schoolingtheworld.org/wp-

content/uploads/2012/01/philippines1.jpg

us troops in action
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedsta…

sino-japanese war
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/m…

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mc arthur osmenia
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/U…
leyte l;anding
http://ww2.wwarii.com/var/albums/Even…

Invasion/Leyte%20Landing,%20Fires%20started%20by%20pre-invasion

%20bombardment%20of%20Leyte,%2020%20October%201944.jpg?m=1354899588

phil independence
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi…
kids with flag
http://www.expatch.org/wp-content/upl…

Tagalog 101 : My Kids and Their Philippine Experience

Our family tried immersing our kids into the Filipino culture and so far, they have enjoyed it. They were amused by their lolo and lola’s videoke, introduced them to pan de sal and taho, once again reunited with bahay-kubo, and have experienced talking to local friends, who don’t speak the English language. It was funny to see my kids exchanging laughter with them though I knew they don’t fully understand what the kids were trying to say.

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My boys enjoying their stay in the “Bahay-Kubo” (Nipa Hut)

 

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Sofie singing in the videoke, you can also see her lolo’s rattan chair at the back

 

One time, Sofie approached me and she excitedly told me about her new found friend. “Mommy, I met a new friend and her name is Gave. She said that they have this group and the name of their group is ‘Pabebe Girls’.” I burst into laughter and she followed laughing too, only that, she don’t know why. If you knew the Pabebe Girls’ viral video, you would also laugh the way I did. That was unexpected.

Some other time, Ethan excitedly went to our room and with a jubilant face and shirt folded up, he asked me if I can guess what’s inside his shirt- “no idea anak,” I said.  When he unfolded his shirt, bubble gums rolled over the bed! “Tita Maneth gave us a lot.” I asked him, “did you take one?” “Yes,” he said. “Don’t forget to spit it out. Don’t swallow it okay.” His face grew red. “Mom, I swallowed the gum, do you think I’m gonna die?” I found myself laughing again. He gave me a few moments to forget that I’m unwell at that time and until now, I can picture his reaction after knowing that the gum got lost somewhere in his stomach.

Zack was legendary. Ooh… I have a lot to tell about him. But I will just write one for now.  We were invited for a dinner in a restaurant which turned out to be a very nice reunion dinner with relatives; the music stopped playing, Tita Myrna, the host called out the name of our relative to sing. I think she was shy. So Tita Nins (our dear aunt) asked Zack instead, “Zack, do you think you can sing in front of so many people?” “Yes, sure!” And without hesitation, Zack walked confidently and introduced himself to the crowd. “Hi I’m Zack… and I’m gonna sing ‘Lemon Tree’.” It was an acapella with a little of “tunog-tao” in some parts of the song (sorry but was not able to capture in video) and a milestone for him! If you could watch below, you can see that he entertained a big number of audience. Good job Zack!

 

 

video credit: Rolan Nicolas aka dadudz

 

Motivational Monday: 7 Important Life’s Lessons for Your Children

surviving and happy

 

As a mom, we would always want what’s best for our children…

Oh, forget about that cliché. Our world, in my opinion, is becoming more and more alarming.  Truth be told, children ages seven years old and above are now exposed with what’s happening around them, they are beginning to comprehend that our world is not all the time fruit bearing trees, red roses with beautiful butterflies, birds flying in the blue skies… in short, partly wonderful, partly not.  And right at this moment, what we really want for our children is to learn how to survive from all the adversities we are all going through. We should-

  1. Teach them how to fight loneliness. They will be more independent and resilient.
  2. Teach them how to stand up for themselves. But teach them not to ridicule other children.
  3. Teach them how to overcome materialism. And be contented with what they have.  You should not look over to your neighbor’s to see what they have that you don’t.  The only time you should look over someone else’s “bowl” is to see if they have enough.
  4. Teach them how to protect themselves from sexual predators. And not afraid to speak out, about the people that made them feel uncomfortable.
  5. Teach them not to hate people of different race and religion.
  6. Teach them how to identify the good influences from the bad ones.
  7. Teach them how to choose responsibly, because all of their life’s choices will reflect on the kind of person that they would become.

Their generation is thriving along with the technology we are having right now. But despite of all these, our world is uncertain. We might not be able to give them all the best, furthermore, we can not be there with them all the time,  but what we could do is teach them these lessons so that they can turn out to be the best, notwithstanding the reality that they are about to face.

 

image credit: www.deviantart.com

 

Singing Christmas carols with cousins

Finally! The rain stopped yesterday night! Now we can sing Christmas carols to our neighbors until Christmas. We are very interested with this idea because mum said people will give us money if we sing Christmas songs to them. At first we can not really understand how do we do it. I heard my little bro asked mum about it, “is it a singing contest?” My kuya is also wondering and asking, “mum, do we need to dance when we sing?”

Tito Dennis and Tita Maneth made a beautiful instrument from bottle caps. It sounded like tambourine when you shake it. I want to bring it to my school and show it to my friends. Thank you Tito Dennis and Tita Maneth!

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The first song mum taught us was “thank you, thank you, ambabait ninyo thank you” (you are very kind) but I heard other kids singing “thank you, thank you, thank you very much thank you” – I counted 4 thank you words in it!

I had fun singing with my cousins too. Their names are Ate Nikki and Ate Louie. This is the first time we sing together.

We are very lucky because even if we are not really good in singing, our aunts, their names are Tita Linda, Tita Arnie, my grandma and even Tita Maneth gave us money. Later we will practice and really, we will do our best. Salamat po!

Lesson:
Children carol for Christmas and money.
Don’t worry, we will spend the money wisely.

We need to sleep!

Hi guys! Welcome back! Our topic for today is about Sleeping (if that’s how you spell it correctly)
In Singapore, I only feel sleepy when it is 9/10 o’clock pm but in our home town I feel sleepy when it’s 7 o’clock pm. It happens all the time. I think there is sleep powder in our home town. Sleeping is important because our body needs to rest for us to grow. Aside from the food we eat, you can also get energy from sleeping. Yesterday, I heard my youngest brother say, “how come grown ups don’t need sleep?” “I wish I was a grown up!”

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Oh My Caterpi!

Hi, I’m Sofie. Mom asked me to help her write in our blog. She said I am in charge for now. I am not writing with pen and paper but using her phone. I never knew I could do that! This is easier and I thought this is cool too!!!

It’s almost Christmas and a lot of things happened since we arrived in our hometown. Today is the first “simbang gabi” or “misa de gallo.” I think mom assigned my brother to talk more about that.

I will share with you one sad experience I had a few days ago…

10 Dec 2015
On Saturday, Tito Joel gave me a pet caterpillar we named him Caterpi. On the next day, it grew longer and it has shorter legs. On the following day, it started crawling up, as if it is looking for a branch to hang itself. I was very excited because I thought I will witness the transformation of caterpi into a cocoon… but it did not happen 🙁 it died after it hanged itself.

Lesson:
Do not shake a caterpillar

LoL

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The Secret: Law of Attraction

The Secret by Rhonda Byrnes

The Secret by Rhonda Byrnes

Motivational Monday

5th of October 2015

No matter how hard we think our life is, what’s important is how we always try to pick ourselves up, without having to think of surrendering. This is for you my love.

One of my favorite quotes was that by ― Shannon Alder he said that  “When you are joyful, when you say yes to life and have fun and project positivity all around you, you become a sun in the center of every constellation, and people want to be near you.”  And I’m sure, these people are not negative people but people who are also full of positivity.

Let’s start the week with positive vibes.

Here are some lessons from Rhonda Byrne’s book “The Secret”.

 

Thank you for listening, ’til Monday!