My Son has a letter to Santa

Last Friday night my son and I are in the mall to get some grocery stuffs for the house. Since it’s already time for dinner I decided to just have a Happy Meal at McDonald's. While eating I asked him what he want for Christmas. He immediately replied and said, Mommy I just want a toy car and a robot- that’s his favorite toys actually so I won’t wonder why those were the ones that came first in his mind. I remember I would like to teach him to write a letter to Santa and so I told him someone out there would make your wish come true if you would be good. He replied, Yes Mom I will and who will that be? I replied, later you would know.

After we ate we walk around the mall and He saw a Big Santa with his reindeers, hang in the ceiling of the mall’s atrium. I asked him, do you see that? That’s Santa and He is coming to town this Christmas to give presents to all the children who were been good and if you write a letter to him, he will surely grant your wish. I saw the smile in
his eyes and said, Mommy when we reach home please guide me on how to write a letter to Santa. I said, Yes I will and I loved too.

When we reach home, even yet without dressing down and change his clothes. He pulled out a pencil and a paper inside his bag and started to write a letter. He asked me how to start it off and how to spell the words. I guided him and so he was able to write a simple letter to Santa telling that he wants a toy car with a remote and a robot. After, He went to his room and gets a stocking (His old sock) and put in the letter and hangs the stocking on the Christmas tree.

He was in silence for a minute and I thought He would stop asking me about Santa, I was wrong, he then asked me, Mom what is the date today? I showed him the calendar and told that today is Dec. 5 and 20 more days to go and its Christmas and Santa would bring you your wish of a toy car and a robot. His face immediately turned from happy to sad emotion and said, Mommy it’s too long to wait for 20 more days and started to count his fingers. I laughed and told him to have patience and Santa would not give your gift if you were in a hurry. Oh! I love his innocence but I’m glad my objective to let him write a simple letter was accomplished.

There you go, every morning when he wakes up he would go and see our Christmas tree. He promised to wait until the eve of Christmas. So to my Dadnificent start to wrap our gift to him and be a Santa on Christmas.

A Letter to Santa Claus

Does your child love to write? If yes, this coming Christmas Holidays why don't we sit down and guide your child to write a letter to Santa Claus and put this in a stocking on a Christmas tree.

Why to Santa? Well, Children believe that Santa Claus exists and if they are good they will surely receive a nice present from Him. This is what most parents would say to their children when in time for Christmas. Not that we are telling a lie that Santa Claus do exist but we just want them to know that someone out there appreciates a child who is kind, respectful, helpful and obedient.

I remember when I was a child, My Mom and Dad would see me hanging a stocking on the Christmas tree and they would guide me to write a letter telling Santa the gift I want for Christmas. On Christmas morning, I’m so excited to see my stocking and to my surprised I got my wish. I thanked my Mom and Dad of helping me to write and prayed of my wish to Santa. And as I grow up I’ve known that Santa does not really exist and only my Dad and Mom was the ones who put in the gift inside the stocking.

I planned to do this with my child. The idea and objective is not that I’m teaching of a character that does not really exist in real life but I want my child to learn how to write simple letter and to express himself of what he want for Christmas and that if He is good, wish will be granted.

So to all Moms and Dads, this is a perfect bonding time and perfect present we could give to our children this Christmas. Let’s teach them how to write a letter to Santa Claus.

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!)

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!)

Stay Sexy, Guys

To all the guys out there don't you know that you will stay sexy if you follow these simple tips from "Manners of Moving Up".

Stay Sexy Guys......

1. Jeans are Yes to you especially if shirt is tucked in and if you have a tight butt to show.

2. For neckties, keep one for power lunch and one for dating.

3. Color of the socks- you need only two colors, are black (for your black shoes) and white (for rubber shoes, tennis shoes, golf shoes,etc.)

4. Socks must stay high enough above the ankles to cover your legs when you cross them.

5. White handkerchiefs are better than colored ones.

The secret of success is "Hardwork"

One Sunday evening while I am doing my son’s pointers for review on their upcoming Periodical Exam, I am watching a special show in ABS-CBN entitled " Walang Iwanan" (Don't Leave). The show featured the stories ofwell-known business tycoons in the Philippines namely Lola Socorro Ramos of National Bookstore. Henry Sy of SM, BDO,China Bank. Lance Gokongwei of URC, Cebu Pacific, Robinson, Sun Cellular. Lucio Tan of Fortune Tobacco, PAL, Allied Bank.Manny Pangilinan of PLDT and Smart, Dr. Pedro of Lamoyan Industries maker of Happy Toothpaste, Raul Concepcion of RFM and Oscar Lopez of Meralco and ABS-CBN.

From this mentioned business tycoons, the one that inspired me a lot is that of Lola Socorro’s story. She was born out of silver spoon and has finished only High School in a public school and was not able to take up college due to financial hard up of the Family. She worked as a sales lady at her uncle’s bookstore “Goodwill”. While working she finds time to learn the ins and outs of the business until she got married and taught of putting their own bookstore and they named this “National Bookstore” The very first National Bookstore was established in the late 1930’s in Escolta, Manila as a small stall selling school supplies and textbooks.

When the business was starting to be made-well known to the people, the Japanese Government invaded our country. During this time the Japanese Government has many strict rules to be followed and one of these is Filipinos were not allowed to sell and patronize products made or that came from the USA.

Lola Socorro and husband have no choice but to follow rules and have kept all their books and school supplies and displayed only slippers. Though the signage of “National Bookstore” was still there they continue to open the business.

At the end of the Japanese Occupation the whole Escolta area in Manila was burned and the store was destroyed The Cancio-Ramos family, the owners, were able to rebuild National Bookstore at the corner of Avenida (now Rizal Avenue) and Soler. National Bookstore was able to recover due to the post-war boom selling school supplies, mostly books and Stationary. After this the Family faced yet another disaster. Typhoon Gene strucked the Philippines and destroyed the store and all of their merchandise were soaked but the Family didn’t lose hopes and have reconstructed another building that would serve as their base operation and the rest is history.

Today, National Bookstore is the largest bookstore chain in the Philippines with more than 90 branches nationwide. It also continues its corporate social responsibility through its foundation where they build a Library for the children of school aged and thus donating books to some public schools.

When asked of her secret, she says... “Hard Work” is the secret of the success of National Bookstore.

Parents: Best Teacher

We parents are so proud when our toddler of aged two recognizes two or three letters of the alphabet. What if your child recognizes all the letters of the alphabet before he or she turns three? Isn’t that an exciting reward for you as a parent as you have started to teach this at home before school? A child whose parents have guided him or her with the basics in learning will have no trouble-understanding teacher’s lecture when he or she enters school. Parents are the “Best Teacher” to their children. A child learning ability will be more develop if parents are there to guide and support.

Here are some ways to develop your child’s learning ability with or without school yet.

Start with letters recognition and then encourage phonemic “awareness”- the ability to recognize a word’s separate, distinct sounds by reciting nursery rhymes and jingles. Teach letters and sounds with fun songs, stories, games and object lessons.

Teach your child to rhyme words like naming words that rhyme in cat. A child who recognizes sound differences would quickly responses “ bat, “hat”, “rat”, “mat”. Teach them of the blending concepts- putting letters together to sound out words.

Keep magnetic letters on the refrigerator, move them around and have the child sound out the words. Trace the letters on food packages like his or her cereals, sounding each letter as you do. Continue reading with your child even when she can read on her own. Make kids mathematics problems your kitchen helpers. Have them count how many bananas are in a fruit basket, eggs in a tray or the sausages, being cooked. Double recipes, cutting apples in half or into four to teach fractions and multiplication.

Getting ready to write, encourage them to practice using buckles, snaps, hooks and zippers as well as teaching them to tie.

Use the 3rd Generation Technology- The world of computers of language and spelling assume less importance-can give a big boost to the confidence of kids A computer allows a child to change words around as he or she writes; spell-checker points out and correct errors.

Computer History Lesson

One sunny day, a father was trying to explain to her five-year-old daughter how much technology had changed, the father pointed to there brand-new personal computer and told her daughter that when he was in university, a computer with the same power would have been the size of the house.

Wide-eyed, her daughter asked, “ How big was the mouse? LOL! (The girl is thinking of a big house and a big mouse (rat)…What an innocent imagination? (hehe)......I remember when my son started to learn about the parts of the computer and have asked me once, Mommy, why is it Computer has a mouse? Wondering what is a mouse(rat) doing in the computer (hehe.)..Kids would sometimes be confused of some words with same spelling but with different meanings like bat of a toy and bat of a mammal. Well, we parents are here to explain further of the difference.

Phrases to Avoid in Telephoning

I was connected before in a Paging company and we were taught of proper call handling like what to say and not to say on Professional Telephoning, characteristics of a good speaking voice, etc.. I'm sharing here some phrases recommended to use.

Instead...

1. In the comfort room... "IN A CLOSED DOOR MEETING"
2. Being scolded by the Boss " IN A MEETING"
3. Out of the Building.... " OUT ON AN APPOINTMENT"
4. Asleep.... " IN A CLOSED DOOR MEETING"
5. Was fired..... " IS NO LONGER CONNECTED WITH THE COMPANY"
6. Wait for a while/hold on... " ONE MOMENT PLS."
7. Come Again...... " WOULD YOU MIND SAYING THAT AGAIN, SIR/MA'AM
or "PARDON ME SIR/MA'AM"
8. Who is this? ....... " MAY I ASK WHO IS CALLING PLEASE?"

TRIVIA :
DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO USE "HELLO" AS A GREETING OVER THE PHONE IN THE OFFICE?

" Hello" is only used at home. When answering the phone, always use your standard spiel. When placing a call, start with a greeting (eg. Good Morning/afternoon/evening) and state your name, the person you are calling and your purpose.

Eg. "Good morning. This is Mr. Lim, I wish to speak with Mr. Ranches regarding my orders."

Blog Nation

In only a few short years, Blogging has become a vital part of many people around the world. According to a survey in US I read, here are some of the highlights:

80% of Americans know what a blog is, 50% regularly visit blogs, and 8% publish their own blog. The survey also revealed that more women than men are bloggers, with 20% of American women who have visited blogs having their own versus 14 % of men.

When asked about the types of information they get from blogs, 65% said they get opinions, while 39% get news and 38% get entertainment. About one in three people read gossip on blog websites while only 2% use blogs to cach upon news about family and friends.

Loyalty to specific blogs is also fairly strong with 46% of blog readers saying that they visit the same blogs regularly versus 54% who instead usually surf for new and different ones.

Awareness blogs strongly correlates to age, with younger people being much more active. Nearly 90% of those aged 25 to 34 know what a blog is, compared to just 65% of those aged 65 and over. Similarly, 78% of those aged 18 to 24 who are aware of blogs say they have visited a blog, compared to only 45% of older Americans.

As blogs have gained in popularity, so has the frequency with which they’re read. Though the majority of blog readers (39%) view them less than once a month, another 28% visit them monthly, 15% visit them daily and 5% read them several times a day.

Political and journalistic (or pseudo journalistic) blogs have been in the spotlight recently, but study found that 37% of bloggers cite "My Life and Experiences" as what they blog about, while only 11% cited public issues as typical topics.

Also, 60% of bloggers are white, while remaining are of different races, according to the data

And 55% of bloggers write under a pseudonym, thats a key difference between bloggers and most journalists.

Is Child Education Important for you?

One of the best gifts that a parent can give to her child is education. I believe that being able to provide for a proper education to my children is one way of building a legacy for the next generation. With a spiraling cost of school fees these days, we need to save enough to provide for the education of our children.

While the high cost of going to school poses increasing problems, some parents prepare for it by acquiring educational plans others opt for bank savings to help defray tuition and related educational fees. Whatever our ways are, as long as we Moms are ready and be able to sustain our child's educational needs be it financial, emotional or social-- nothing could go wrong.

Easy way to teach ABC's

The easy and fun way of teaching ABC's to your toddler is to try to post Big Letter "A" on the wall of his room for 2 to 3 days and read this out loud until he or she can recognize the letter A. After 3 days post the next letter that is Letter "B" and so on until the last letter "Z". Do the same in numbers by starting from one to ten.

During the nursery years of my kid I found out that it's so easy of him to recognize all the letters in the alphabet and so with the numbers one to ten.

So, to all moms out there, let's start this very simple but a resourceful way to teach ABC's to our kids.