Relocation and your kids

There are several reasons why families have to relocate. Some are for work reasons where pboth or ne of the prents is assigned to a certin place and family has to be relocated. Some are for economic reasons where standard of living is more cheaper and affordable while some has acquired their own place or house. For whatever reason the family has to relocated,as parents we should take in consideration of how our kids can cope up with their new surroundings.

Since kids has to left behind some friends and memories that are precious to them, here are some guides of how to avaoid depresions, loneliness and the feeling of isolation among or kids.

New Friend prospect- it would be better if in the new place, your kids have already new firends prospect. Scout  and ask around the new neighborhood for possible new friend for yur kids. You can invite them in the house and let your kids know and meet them.

Kids clubs- if possible let your kids the new place kids club and encourange your kids to socialized with the kids  and join eixting kids club.

School authority-  let school authority to know that your kid is new in the place so that teachers can recommend classmates and friends.

Open house- let the kids in the new place that your home is open for them and your kid is willing to have them as friends. Have a small kids party swhere all neighboorhood or possible friends can attend. It doesn't have to big party ,just few sandwiches and juices for the kids to let them get aquianted.

Relocating to a new place sometimes brings loneliness to kids and if  ignore it, it may leads to even worst situation.Don't let your kid fear being relocated, make them feel it 's part of life and they can cope up becuse you are there to guide them.

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Kasambahy Bill which is now on its third and final reading at Philippine Senate aims to increase he monthly salary of house helps. This is a very commendable  act as house-helps in the Philippines is more than a show off or a status symbol.

It is common for many middle class family to employ house-helps especially when both prents are working. Most of the household chores are delegated to house-help and most of the time includes baby sitting or actually taking care of the kids.

On this case parents should set rules and limitations of delegating the task of taking care of the kids. If possible , house-help must not share a room with your kids for security reasons.Write down what she must do and explain  what she must do in cases of emergencies. Never allow any house help to go out alone with the kids unless you tell her so. Make a lists of the task she can do in taking care of your kids like bathing and feeding. If possible set a bathing session with your kids during your free time to set as your bonding moments. This will ensure that the kids will not heavily depend on house helps. Make sure your kids understand what house-helps roles inside your family. Make it clear to them that house-helps are there to take care of the house and the kids while you are away. make the kids respect them as extended and adopted members of the family. Teach them  to treat them respectfully and accordingly. Remember that house-helps may come and go and to avoid kids suffering the pain of loss, you should try to make it clear to your kids that you are still their mother who loves them and only allow some help in taking care of them while you are outside the house.

House-helps are new a necessity when  both parents have to work. Giving them some importance is a kind deed as they take some of the burden off our shoulder. If we treat them well, they will give back the kind of service we deserve and they can be our best help in rearing good and obedient kids.

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Teaching Kids the Five Finger Prayer

As parents it's our duty to teach our children about God and teaching them how to pray is teaching them the basic of knowing and worshiping Him. Prayers is our means of communicating to God and it must be something that comes from our hearts and mind. Here's the Five Finger Prayer guide on teaching our child on what to tell God. 

Thumb (people who are close to you) These are your close friends and family, often the first you think about when you pray. Give thanks to God and ask his protection on your parents, siblings, friends, and classmates.

Pointer (people who point the way) These are leaders in your life, such as teachers and pastors. Offer God your thanksgiving for them and ask him to help them in their important work.

Tall Finger (people in authority) The big people in the world need prayer too. Ask God to give wisdom to our government, military, and police.

Ring Finger (people who are weak) This is your weakest finger. We should remember others who are sick, live in poverty, or are treated badly. Pray that Jesus would give them new strength.

Little Finger (your own needs) God wants to hear your needs too, especially when you put others first. Pray for your own growth in mind, body, and spirit.

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Ang Trip ni Rizal Arts and Gallery Tour- Only the beautiful, the truth and the good of Philippines' Arts

A contestant in one network talent search program lamented that his own mother prevented him from pursuing his artistic talent for the reasons that most artists in the Philippines starve. But his persistence and love for his arts proved his mother wrong and now he's reaping all kinds of accolade for his art works.

Parents should be the first persons to encourage their children to pursue their chosen field as children find inspiration with them. Rizal has his mother for inspiration and her persistent guidance had great influence on his arts and other pursued interest. Parents' obligations are not only to provide the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter but most of all to nourish their God-given talent or skills. Preventing them to pursue their interest is like cutting off a budding flower from its stem depriving us the existence of beautiful creations.

A Botong Francisco masterpiece

One great way to encourage a child with artistic inclination is to provide him access to his arts. It does not mean only providing him the tools he needs but to have a personal glimpse of works of arts that will inspire him more. Ang Trip Ni Rizal, a local tour group focused on making Rizal province as one of Philippines tourist destinations has a tour package that explains why Rizal is the art capital of the Philippines.

The tour includes visits to different towns of Rizal that showcase works of known Filipino masters including Carlo “Botong” Francisco, Nemi Miranda and other famous artist sons of Rizal.  A budding interest in art will find nourishment in seeing these masterpieces and notes of how these artists live for their art will inspire an innocent love for the arts. The tour also makes it possible for the budding artist to have a face-to-face encounter with the artists themselves and witness how their innovative arts style made them famous around the world.  The tour includes trips in arts galleries and interaction with a famous wood furniture maker to milestones interest in this field. The trip is not only artistic but in a way cultivates aesthetic sense in our daily living. Parents and children will surely love this amazing  Ang Trip ni Rizal Arts and Gallery tour.

As a popular First lady  had once said, arts is nothing but the beautiful, the truth and the good, let us all embrace this and share with our children  nothing but the beautiful, the truth and the good of Philippines’ Arts.


This article is my official entry to "Ang Trip Ni Rizal-Trip Ko' 'To blog contest.  To avail  the trip visit www.angtripnirizal.com for more details.

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Love through a Mother’s Eyes

This is the picture of my cat Koko who’s still nourishing her two grow-up Toms. It seems odd as her two dear Toms are big enough to fend for themselves but for Koko, there’s nothing unusual to it. Koko is a mother who will never deny her kitten the love and care she unconditionally gives them. No matter how old her kitten is, it will always be her precious little baby. All mothers in the world are familiar and akin to this feeling. This is love through a mother’s eyes.A love that’s unconditional, unending, always nourishing and overflowing.

This is my entry to “Love as I see it". A project of www.islandrose.net flowers Philippines.

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Social Network crimes

You can read them on newspapers, see and watch on TV and radio, social network crimes are now getting the headlines.

Facebooks, myspace 5, twitter and friendster are only few of the many social networks that offer virtual friendship and let their users connect to different people around the world. With technology, distance is not a problem anymore. Anywhere in the world, one can communicate easily and send thoughts, ideas across , personal , business or official with just some clicks at the computer's mouse. This is the reason why more and more people are getting hooked in these social networks and our children are among these.
There's nothing bad with these social networks since it is part of  progress and developments. Progress and developments have no intentions to destroy but failure to cope positively with them can bring about many disastrous things not only on properties but also in people's live, directly and indirectly.

There are a lot of crimes now involving the use of these socail networks such as facebook, twitter, etc and most of the victims are young girls and boys who are naive and disoriented with the proper guidance of the use of these social networks. It is now the role of the parents to take actions to protect their children with these crimes involving the net. Parents should personally take considerate actions to guide and orient their children with the proper use of these social networks. They can do this if they, themselves are computer literate  and are well-oriented with these social networks.

Unfortunately, most parents themselves fall prey to these net crimes and became victims themselves. It is now the government duty to step in and make laws that will protect and give proper guidance with the use of these social networks. With new laws and implementing these laws will not only save people's lives but also make them, become more responsible cyber community member

The government must act now and fast. Progress and development could not wait long.

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Watch Despicable Me Online Free

Searching the internet for free online streaming of movies can be difficult and tiring since a lot of sites require surveys, tasks, sign ups and other tedious things to be able to watch the movie online. After a long time of searching and frustration, finally a good copy of the film Despicable Me is available to watch online without going through sign ups or surveys etc.

So here's the link to the movie. Enjoy watching it with your kids!

When a criminal mastermind uses a trio of orphan girls as pawns for a grand scheme, he finds their love is profoundly changing him for the better. 

Despicable Me HD Part 1

Despicable Me HD Part 2

Despicable Me HD Part 3

Despicable Me HD Part 4

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Tips for Family Communication

Miscommunication often happens in the family and this often results to unhealthy relationship within family members. Here are some helpful tips that can help in bridging the cap between family members.

Listen
 Just learn how to listen. Sometimes advises and criticism are not wanted at all but most of the time someone who would listen is what  really matters. By learning how to listen, even just plain listening is enough to reach out to  you family members.

Don't criticize or judge
   To encourage your family member to talk, check out first your negative reactions. Rather than slamming it shut, put aside any criticism and judgement. Making them feel you are at their sides makes it a big difference and may opens the door for communications

Talk from the heart
 Share your family's happiness from making use of "heart-talk" rather than "head talk". Talking from emotions and not intellectually bridged the gap between family members and the ease of talking with one another can be attained.

Don't assume 
People always have this preconceived notions about family members. Don't make the mistake of assuming of knowing family member's emotions and thoughts. This can easily hampers communications.



Show love
Actions speak louder than words. Doing somethings for family members can signal starts of communication and sharing love with actions elicits more appreciation.

As the family communicates more and more, the gap between family members will be slowly sinking away.

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Advises for Parents

We are parents and most of the time has confusions on how to really become a good parent to our kids. I would like to share this great advises I have learned from the old and wiser parents I have encounter during my course of travel. I  am  breaking down these advises into parts and hope many would find insights in these wise advises from ‘real parents”

Love your kid unconditionally. This is the first “commandment I received from an old but wise parent. Loving our children without laying any conditions is the basic principle a parent must have to become a good parent. No conditions, no if‘s just plain love and everything will follow.

Discipline your kid. If you must punish them for instilling discipline, then do it but do not use your hands. Use other thing like a belt, slipper or folder newspapers and a few slaps on the buttock will not hurt them much but sure to instill discipline and to show you mean what you say. Use your hands not for beating but for touching them with caress as you explain why they have to be punished for a wrong done.

Do the punishing in private and don’t let your child suffer in public or with other people around. Respect their privacy and they will respect your for respecting their privacy, too.

Do not let your kids do thing they do not like at all. Many parents make their children do things for their own pleasure even if their kids don’t really want to do them. Kids would do things as they are told but they will have quilt feelings when they do not deliver what is expected from them. This would give them silent trauma and worse may result to emotional or psychological problems.

Do not make comparison. Do not make the mistakes of comparing your kids with other people. Remember they have their own identity and make them feel they are loved for what and who they are.

More in next post.

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Family bonding time- The family that cooks together eats together

If you enjoy cooking and your kids enjoy eating, both of you will have great time at Yummy Eats. This biggest event of the year of Yummy Magazine is to be held on May 21, 2011 at the NBC tent in Bonifacio Global City. You and your kids will have the opportunity to sample free appetizers, entries, and desserts as different concessionaries showcase their tasty delicacies. You and your kids will also have the chance to witness the Hunt’s culinary cook off among different schools and cooking demos by McCornick, Hunt’s and Sarangani Bay. Not only that, lectures about kitchen safety and the latest in food business will be given in talks by representatives from Petron Gasul and Yummy magazines.

Make use of this summer as you’re bonding time with your kids as you share complementing passions, of cooking and eating. You find P150 entrance fee person a real bargain and if you bring a copy of May issue of Yummy magazine, you’ll get a discount price of P100. Freebies and surprises prices will be also given away.

Yummy eats is co presented by Yummy magazine and Hunt’s and Petron Gasul. So mark your calendar now and make Yummy Eats (May 21, 2011) a special bonding time for you and your kids!

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Vacation and Your Kids

  So it has been decided that the long overdue family vacation is pushing through but somehow where to go is still a question. If the family is still debating what vacation is good for all of the members why not check some of these helpful tips before you make that important decision?

Vacation themes

 There are variations of vacations you can choose from. Many of these packages are classified into themes such as Adventure, tropical, entertainment, themed parks or plain sightseeing. If your family is adventurous, each member will surely enjoy taking on an adventure tour. If the family wants to enjoy and relax at the same time, a tropical vacation is more likely a good choice. A themed park theme maybe enjoyable to those with young kids but a growing teenager will feign any themed park vacation for the reasons they have outgrown their likings for themed park characters. Whatever your choice is it should be based on the theme that will answer the needs of your family.

Budget

It is best to consider how much money is going to be spent for the vacation. An enjoyable vacation should not be expensive and could drain the family budget for the future. An affordable and reasonably priced package is as enjoyable as the expensive one as long as you have made the right choice for your family’s needs and preferences.

Duration

How long and how many days spend in a vacation is important since most family members have works and responsibilities left behind. A long and extensive vacation may tire out the family instead of getting relaxed and rejuvenated. Make sure that all itineraries included in your vacation are reached and completed within the time frame. A vacation cut short because of the failure of the handlers is more likely of being shortchanged and surely will spoil the vacation mood.

Where the family will stay

Choose a place where the family can be comfortable. If you are staying in a hotel, make an early arrangement for your room accommodations. If your kids can stay with you in one room, it is better. If they have to stay in a separate room, talk to the management of availability of adjacent rooms where you can monitor your kids every now and then. If you are going to stay in rented residential house or villa, it is best checkout for emergency exits and safety precautions in the areas. Your family’s safety and security is foremost important amenities. Check out for provisions for telephones and other communications means. This is important in case of emergency. It is also recommended to check out for structures and locations of the place. This minute details often left unnoticed can cause interruptions and distractions. A hundred percent family -friendly and safe vacation place is sure to make family vacation memorable and worthwhile.

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