Finding the right school for your child

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“No one school is right for every child. When searching for a school for your child, the question is not whether a particular school is good or bad, but whether it’s the right school for your child. You might ask the school, ‘What is your definition of a successful child at this school?’ or ‘What kind of child would find success here?'” David Harris

school-dayIt must have been two years ago that I told my daughter to write a guest post in my blog on bullying. She didn’t hesitate to share her experience to my readers because doing so will raise awareness to parents that their kids should never ever be bullied at school.

One thing I do know is that a lot of the insecurities I have about myself is rooted in the fact that I got bullied a lot during my early elementary school years….they pass it off as play, or maybe an early life lesson: the world can be a terrible place filled with people who will treat you with undeserved cruelty. I do understand that kids have to grow up and learn that hard lesson someday, but I think anyone under the age of ten is too young to deal with that much reality. At that age, it’s important for children to learn to accept or at least respect people for exactly who they are instead of making fun of their differences. What kind of lesson will be passed on to them if their elders shrug off bullying as something totally normal?

Her reflection of her bullying experience just tore me apart. I felt so helpless because during those days, children just had to deal with bullies. I considered moving schools but all the schools in the nineties were just Montessori-imitations or the usual large traditional schools. Parents are fortunate these days because they face a wide range of options aside from traditional Catholic schools that I attended to. Take for example, homeschooling that my friends, Jen and Julie are doing to their young kids. Then there are the non-traditional schools , the alternative to traditional schools.

As a mom blogger, I get a chance to visit non-traditional schools and check out their curriculum and programs. This is an opportunity to share these information to my readers and for them to discern if this is the right school for their child.
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Meralco lights up Christmas for kids from 1 to 92

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Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most.– Ruth Carter Stapleton

Christmas lights always gives me that warm fuzzy feeling that glows inside for the entire season. It brings me so much joy. Childhood memories of twinkling lights and Christmas carols are enough to lift my spirits during the holiday season. Through the years that I lived in Pasig, the lights in the Meralco compound never fails to mesmerize me as the car passes by.

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It never occurred to me that Meralco has been opening its gates to the public for a long time now, giving delight to kids from ages 1 to 92. Yes, not just young kids but kids at heart like me. I didn’t have to think twice being invited together with other bloggers to witness the Christmas lighting tonight.

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CEO Manny Pangilinan together with other very important guests marked the lighting event. For Meralco, lighting up their Ortigas compound symbolizes the light of Jesus Christ whose coming to the world brings joy and hope to the young and old.
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Gratitude is the memory of the heart

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Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~Melody Beattie

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I am right now in Cebu. I am beginning to love this place. There is still something missing about Cebu that makes me sad. Perhaps because I often travel to Cebu just to bury a family member. Just when I made peace with the deaths of family members, another chaos ensued after a class reunion, then a death of a classmate. Making sense out of a chaotic situation is futile especially if the door is shut in front of you.

A conversation from a dear friend tonight jolted me out of chaos when she said that “there are more important relationships that need responding to just like what you have just done; gving comfort to parents who lost a child.”
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Let’s take control of diabetes. Now.

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285 million people have Diabetes. That is 6.6% of the world’s adult population.

I am one of them.

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Let me tell you my story.

I was diagnosed of Diabetes on June 2000 a month after my beloved son died. I desired to have another baby at some point so I got a thorough medical checkup. The diagnosis should not have stopped me from having another baby but I felt I needed to have my diabetes under control. I was given Solosa (2 mg) and metformin (500 mgs after meal). Overweight at 145 pounds then, my blood sugar was pretty high at 180 mg/dl. Perhaps it was because of my deep sadness over my son’s death that I had no desire to take care of myself. I struggled with my overweight body until there came a time that my blood pressure shot up to 160/90 which seemed so scary. My stress test showed distressing results that the doctor thought I needed Angioplasty. An angiogram revealed no major arteries were blocked. Phew what a relief.
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Aging gracefully and laughter definitely mix

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This post has been moved to

20Oct 2010

Lessons learned from Social Network: The Facebook Movie

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““A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion dollars.” Sean Parker, Founding President of Facebook

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I first came to know about Facebook around May 2004. I was browsing through my daughter’s message board looking for the latest web trends. I clearly remember the post from my daughter’s friend …that Facebook was the next best thing after Myspace and Friendster. Of course, I could not join Facebook then because one needed to be a student. Eventually, it became public and my first profile photo shows that I started on May 23, 2007.

I didn’t really think Facebook would grow that big. Friendster seemed unbeatable in its popularity. In 2007, everyone else I knew was in Friendster. Good thing that I had my blogger friends as my first few friends in facebook.

Tonight, I had the chance to see a special preview of “Social Network” (Thanks to Nuffnang Philippines) with my husband and blogger friends. I really enjoyed the movie. I was mesmerized by Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. I didn’t even know Sean Parker of Napster was part of Facebook. Indeed, there are lessons to be learned especially in broken relationships, intellectual property, ethics and lawsuits.

Spoiler alert
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10 things I’m thankful for today: 10-10-10 at 10:10 AM

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A simple enough pleasure, surely, to have breakfast alone with one’s husband, but how seldom married people in the midst of life achieve it. – Anne Morrow Lindbergh

It is a blessed Sunday morning as I take breakfast with my husband. These days, I don’t read newspapers unless I want to collect that issue, Our netbooks are with us as we sip our coffee. This time around, I am taking warm calamansi-lemon drink to soothe my sore throat. It is an old folks home remedy that always works.

calamansi-juiceThe house seems quieter without my other daughter’s booming voice at home. (I will write about this more). Lauren is fast asleep so it is just Butch and me. I am just grateful about today. The quiet moments with my husband at breakfast. Gazing at the two Siamese kitties lounging nearby makes me smile. I think I will be bonding more with my pet cat Missy.

I believe that happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast even if it is just once a week on a Sunday.

Andy Rooney best explains this bit of happiness.

For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don’t enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are you’re not going to be very happy. If someone bases his happiness or unhappiness on major events like a great new job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn’t going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness.

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Committed to a healthy lifestyle

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There is no other choice. Choose a healthy lifestyle. I am diabetic and though my blood sugar is controlled, my cholesterol level is quite high. It is a genetic predisposition that my siblings continue to battle daily. I have removed pork and beef in my diet but still struggle with high cholesterol levels.

My new-found friend, Jean Goulbourn invited me to try her other advocacy for the weekend and to take a walk in the path of natural healing and enter a journey into optimum well being. Her company, Global Vital Source (GVS) had this weekend session in New World Hotel, which was called the called the digestive clean-up or DCU, part of the Clean and Nourish regimen that GVS offers. We were a large group of 34 but eager to know more of

Digestive clean up is akin to an internal spa. It is supposed to be a natural method of cleansing the body. It is a detoxification method of cleansing that causes the discharge of accumulated toxic matter from the digestive tract, liver and gall bladder.

Two days before, I received a text message to refrain from coffee and fatty foods. Vegetarian diet was suggested. At around 8:00 PM the night before my weekend overnight, I had to fast. No food or water. Off I went to the venue, the New World Hotel in Makati, at 7 a.m. on a Saturday. The GVS staff were already there ready to take our weight , blood pressure, waist measurement and materials. A medical technologist took blood samples for blood chemistry.
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