Decision Making

Have you ever had wrong decisions in life? Well, you may say Yes and a lot of times but have we ever thought to analyse, evaluate and reflect why we end up making wrong decisions? Here’s a very interesting story I received in my email box. The story gives us an insight into Decision Making.

Group of children were playing near two railway tracks, one still in use while the other disused. Only one child played on the disused track, the rest on the operational track.

The train came, and you were just beside the track interchange. You could make the train change its course to the disused track and saved most of the kids. However, that would also mean the lone child playing by the disused track would be sacrificed. Or would you rather let the train go its way?

Let's take a pause to think what kind of decision we could make.......

First, analyse the situation
Think, evaluate and reflect…….
Assess risks and
Decide your answer!

Now … go ahead….

Most people might choose to divert the course of the train, and sacrifice only one child. To save most of the children at the expense of only one child was rational decision most people would make, morally and emotionally.

But, have you ever thought that the child choosing to play on the disused track had in fact made the right decision to play at a safe place? Nevertheless, he had to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends who chose to play where the danger was.

This kind of dilemma happens around us everyday. In the office, community, in politics and especially in a democratic society, the minority is often sacrificed for the interest of the majority, no matter how foolish or ignorant the majority are, and how farsighted and knowledgeable the minority are

(Just last night in the news here in our country, the majority of the Congressman won over the Minority one in fight for not pursuing the Impeachment case of the President. How about the very controversial envelope during the Impeachment trial of a former President? “To open or not to open” well, as expected “not to open” won the majority of the votes).

To continue the story…

The child who chose not to play with the rest on the operational track was sidelined. And in the case he was sacrificed, no one would shed a tear for him.

To make the proper decision is not try to change the course of the train because the kids playing on the operational track should have known very well that track was still in use, and that they should have run away if they heard the train sirens.

If the train was diverted, that lone child would definitely die because he never thought the train could come over to that track! Moreover, that track was not in use probably because it was not safe.

If the train was diverted to the track, we could put the lives of all passengers on board at stake! And in your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing one child, you might end up sacrificing hundreds of people to save these few kids

While we are all aware that life is full of tough decisions that need to be made, we may not realize that hasty decisions may not always be the right one. "Remember that what's right isn't always popular... and what's popular isn't always right."

Everybody makes mistakes; that's why they put erasers on pencils (lol!)

It's Joke Time again....

To all my blogsphere living in the U.S.A.

What key has legs and can't open doors?A turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

For 10 minutes I was a Teacher!

It's English Week at my child's school, parents were invited to volunteer and participate in the class to “Read Out Loud” and be the storyteller.

It was actually my co-mom Amy, who is also a friend, the one who volunteered to “Read Out Loud” a Story to the kindergartners. She asked me to help her and was tasked to do the Icebreaker. I have chosen to teach children of a song about emotions.

So I start the ball rolling. To the tune of a Nursery song “If you’re Happy and You know it Clap your Hands” I have changed the three last words of the lyrics of the five emotional reaction. Happy, Sad, Angry, Scared and Surprised. The kids love it and enjoy the song and have followed me on the different emotional reactions.

When it was Mommy Amy's turn to read the story, I have observed that children do really love storytelling. They were very silent and attentive -it shows in their eyes the excitement of what will happen next. Amy was able to cover all the important tips on storytelling. With just few trainings, she can be a Teacher. After all she graduated college with a degree of B.S. English.

1. First, she reads the title of the book and explain that the title of the book is the name of the story. The author and illustrator were told so.
2. She had fun reading the speeches of the speaking animals.
3. A word with Big Letters was emphasized.
4. She has asked the children of questions like who is the main character to test if they were able to understand the story.
5. And last, she gave the moral lesson of the story and has explained to the children that a moral lesson teaches something.

It was indeed a great fun teaching experience for both of us. We learned how to interact with a big crowd of kids and now we can relate to what the Teachers are going through. If I would be asked if I want to be a “Teacher” in the true sense of its meaning, I prefer to be a blogger(lol!)

I had a miscarriaged

Having a miscarriage, even at a very early stage in pregnancy, is traumatic. Guilt compound my misery - seems like a miscarriage is my fault that everything I did and ate had caused the miscarriage... My case is missed abortion, the fetus dies and is not spontaneously expelled so I had to undergone dilation and curettage. It was one of the difficult times of our lives, it was a planned pregnancy and we saw it developing through ultrasound until it was 8 weeks old when the doctor told us the bad news.

I allowed myself to grieve, I was never over it until after 4 months after when I learned that I am pregnant again. Although, the fear of miscarriage keeps my joy guarded, I can not deny the fact that getting pregnant again as soon as it is safe is possibly the best therapy I had.

Some expectant women like me refrain from spreading the happy news until the fourth month, when we begin to feel secure that the pregnancy will indeed continue. But I have learned that though its hard for parents to accept it at the time, when a miscarriage does occur it is usually a blessing. Early miscarriage is generally a natural selection process in which a defective fetus is discarded, probably because it is incapable of survival or is overwhelmingly defective. Most women who have had one miscarriage do not become habitual aborters. In fact a miscarriage is an assurance of fertility, and the great majority of women who lose a pregnancy this way go on to complete one.

My doctor suggest waiting three to six months before trying to conceive again. I took advantage of this waiting period - I spend it improving my diet and health habits, hoping that this time around I'll have normal pregnancy and a healthy baby. I am on my third month and counting and crossing fingers and leaving it all to Him...

Annoying Phone Calls

One busy day, as I was attending a big client call and expecting to close a sale, my phone keep on ringing that I have to ask an excuse from my client to answer my phone. To my dismay, it was just from a credit card company offering me to apply and giving other loan options that they have this personal loan salary etc. I told the girl on the line that I am not interested and so I hang up my phone and put it off. Same number called me for several days, same credit card company and same thing I told them that I am not interested and ask them to stop calling me.

As I am on my way to my prospect client to finally close the sale my phone rang, it was again from that credit card company informing me that they approved a salary loan for me and check was sent to my residence address. She further told me that if I wish to return the check it would just be fine and I will have no obligations with them to pay other charges and just deposit back the check to their account. With this, I got irritated and immediately complain the matter to their customer service and fortunately I happen to search this site where you can report annoying phone calls. I want others to know what to expect from that number.

It won't work out.

About a year ago had passed since a husband and a wife had an amicable divorce. The wife then decided that it is time to start dating again. Unsure how to begin, she thought to scan the personals column of a local newspaper. She came across three men who seemed like they'd be promising candidates.

A couple of days later, She was checking the answering machine and discovered a message from her ex-husband. The husband said, "I was over visiting the kids yesterday. While I was there I happened to notice you had circled some ads in the paper. Don't bother calling the guy in the second column. I can tell you right now it won't work out. That guy is me" (hehe../lol!)... OK fine!

How to feel happier?

Here are some few tips to put on a happy Face and feel happier from the author of Life's Little Instruction, Mr. H.Jackson Brown .

1. Skip stones across a creek.

2. Comb your child's hair.

3. Count your blessings.

4. Tape ten favorite photos to your kitchen cabinets.

5. Make yourself some cinnamon toast.

6. Ask your parents to tell you again how they first met.

7. Whisper to your spouse, "I can't believe how lucky I am to have found you!"

8. Get your car washed.

9. Make an anonymous donation to your favorite charity.

10. Give someone a backrub.

11.Have someone give you a backrub.

There you go.... Be Happy!

I was tagged!

Mom of Four (Liza), who is one of my favorites Blogsphere tagged me and asked to list down 8 Things about myself.

Well, I know I’m special. In entire world, there is nobody like me. Nobody has my smile, my eyes, my nose, my hair, my hands, my voice, my laugh etc.. Now let me see Things about myself? It's actually more than 8 Things.

1. Of course I’m a Mom, that’s why blog’s name is Momnificent, is it obvious ?
with a loving and super supportive Dadnificent and super dooper “kulit” Sonnificent (hehe)

2. I am a Filipina and a native of San Fernando, Pampanga, Phils. We migrated in the Land of Promise, Davao City in 1989. As a “Kapampangan” I love good food. My favorite is “Kare-Kare”.

3. My son and I love to go to Mall every Friday or Saturday and eat fish ball, shrimp ball and the like.

4. I love to check out new stuffs in “Ukay-Ukay” because its cheaper and if you just have a patience to dig, for sure you can buy a nice stuff and with good quality despite it’s a second hand.

5. I love to read books with my son and pretend to be a teacher. Frustrated Teacher huh?

6. I love to Dance rather than to sing. Why? Bad tune hehe.

7. I love watching “ Chef to Go” not just because Chef Rob is cute but I really love cooking and like to learn more new food.

8. I like friendly people like Mom of Four, Blessed Life .

There you go….now I am tagging my other favorites blog roll here:

1. Blessed Life 2. D’ Cooking Mudra 3. Fil-Am Journey 4. Coffee-tea-n-me
5. A Pinay' s Endeavor in America 6. Free Trip to Japan 7. Excess Baggage 8. Kumagcow

And the tag rules to follow are:

1 - Each player starts with eight random fact/habits about themselves.

2 - People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.

3 - At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their name.

4 - Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and to read your blog.

Happy Tagging!

"Sight Words".... made all the difference

I consider myself a hands-on-mom when it comes with my son’s lessons in school. I didn’t hire a tutor for I still believe that mothers can manage to teach lessons in Kindergarten.

Teaching lessons in Kindergarten is very challenging. This is the level in learning where they are being taught to read phrases, sentences, reading comprehensions etc. and so we parents should be there to guide and support them in this process.

I love teaching my son to read and have found out that for a child to develop his reading skills he or she must learn of sight words or the so-called high frequency words. In the Reading subject of my son, they are now being taught of these sight words by level.

One day a friend gave me a copy of a simple story “ The Best Thing in the World” which comprises of 220 Dolch Word List. This is a story of four brothers wherein their father who is an old king told his sons that He will not live long anymore and so He asked them to bring Him the Best Thing in the World and the one who can bring the Best Thing shall be the new King.

The four brothers started off to find the Best thing in the world. At the end of the story the last brother was the one who have brought the king of the Best Thing in the World. Guess what’s the Best Thing in the World? That is to all the mothers out there to find this out. Click the internet and search google and print a copy. Read this with your early reader child and ask simple questions after reading to test if your child was able to understand the story.

Edward William Dolch, PH.D in his book, as searched in the internet published Dolch Word List. He is also the author of “Problems in Reading”. With Dolch word no need for extra practice, as they learn them by reading them repeatedly in context.

Integrating these sight words to your kids reading lesson will really supplements their strong balance reading. It boosts every child’s motivation and confidence in Reading. Sight word integration truly made all the difference. My son can read a story with three long paragraphs now. My continuous goal is to practice Him to read and read more and of course another important thing is to teach of reading comprehension.

What is Two and Two?

One day, a company was busy interviewing applicants. A boss asked four job applicants of the same question: " What is two and two?" The first applicant was a journalist. His answer was "twenty-two". The second , an engineer, calculated the answer to be between 3,999 and 4,001. The third applicant, a lawyer, cited a court case in which two and two was proved to be four. The last applicant was an accountant. When the accountant heard the question, he leaned across the desk and said in a low voice, "How much do you want it to be?" hehe..(lol!)