Don't bring a toy to school

We have the same smile no? :)

Conversation with my little boy last night:



Mommy: When you go to big school, and then a little boy will get your toy. What will you do?


Little boy: Who’s the little boy Mom? What’s his name?


Mommy: Let’s say his name is Jay.


Little boy: The toy have my name*, it’s mine. But I will share with him.
*right now, he marks all his toys with his name.


Mommy: But what if he says it’s his na. He won’t return it to you. What will do you?


Little boy: Why will he not return it to me?


Mommy: Because he likes to take other kids’ toy.


Little boy: That’s not nice! I will tell teacher.


Mommy: But what if teacher is not there.


Little boy: Why will teacher be not there?


Mommy: Maybe she went home na?


Little boy: But teacher don’t go home before us.


Mommy: Ok, maybe teacher is in the bathroom.


Little boy: I don’t like the little boy.


Mommy: Ok. What will you do?


Little boy: I will not bring a toy to school na lang Mommy.


So there it is :D


Every pre-school Mom’s fear is your child gets bullied in big school. My son’s an only child so every kid he meets, he treats them as playmates. Sometimes he meets a bully or a kid who takes advantage of my son’s friendliness. I hate to see that happen but it does happen, specially when we’re at a new place or at a kids’ party. I try to teach him how to handle bullies or kids who take advantage of him. I rather that I witness it happening so I can then teach how to deal with the situation.


Our little one will be in big school this coming June, I hope I’ve prepared him enough to fight off bullies. From last night’s conversation, it looks like we still have a long way to go. But at least we’ve taken a step towards that direction.

Creep at the park

We went out to a big water park for the family outing last April. It was a fun day but was capped by an unnerving event. Enough for us to go to the police and report it.


It started while I was waiting for my sister to get her henna tattoo finished. I was sitting by near the shower area, then I saw a man with a video camera following two little girls in bathing suits. He looked like the father or the uncle of the girls. So I just dismissed him. After a few minutes, I noticed him again, a little further away still filming, but different little girls in bathing suits. When he noticed that I was staring, coz I was really staring this time, he moved away. He was acting so weird, so suspicious.

When we were about to go home, I told my husband of what I suspect. And we decided to tell the security people of the place, who were actually already investigating the guy. They said that a mother reported him the previous weekend but they didn’t catch him.
Long story short, he was caught. When they looked at what he was filming – he was filming little girls in bathing suits. Little girls who are 10 and below. When asked why he did that, he said he gets aroused watching them. He got excited watching the girls – sick right? I was super grossed out. Get this, that guy looked like a good soul. Like a doctor. Or a teacher. A banker even. He speaks softly. He speaks and acts like an educated person. But he certainly was a pedophile.

Sadly though, there’s no law against Pedophilia in our country. He got detained for a night. But was let go. It’s all so frustrating and alarming. I took a picture of the creep, to remind me of what he looks like and looks indeed are deceiving. I’m itching to post it here, to warn people of what he is and what he’s done, but it’s also a risk.

As a parent, what can you do to protect your children from a world where there are laws against pedophilia? It’s a scary world out there, but do you tell your children how scary it is? I have a little boy, so he wasn’t in the video but I got friends who had daughters in the film. I asked them if they told their girls what happened. One mom said she told her daughters about being filmed without their knowledge. Just so they know they should vigilant about their surroundings. But one mom didn’t inform her girls. She reasoned that they were too innocent for such information.

I personally don’t know if I’d tell my child of what happened. If there’s one thing I learned from that experience, it is to be vigilant about your surroundings. Don’t trust people easily and to be careful of what you wear in public places.

I’m writing this to warn Moms, and Dads too. It’s our responsibility to take care of our kids, that includes keeping an eye for them. There really are creeps out there.

Discipline at our home

My husband and I don’t believe in corporal punishment. When I was still pregnant, we have agreed that we won’t hit or spank our child to displine. I never had experienced spanking from my Dad. I did though from my Mama, as she was the main disciplinarian in our family. But after every bout of spanking, I was more resentful of her and not really sorry of what I have done wrong. So I was resolved not to spank or hit my child when I become a mother.

I’m not a master of discipline nor do I claim to be, so this shouldn’t be taken as a rule. And this post is not to critize parents who use corporal punishment to discipline their kids. That’s their choice. And mine is to discipline differently.

When the little boy was younger, it was easy to discipline him. He couldn’t do much and didn’t speak back. Now that he’s 3, quite active and can speak his mind, disciplining becomes difficult. I don’t want to bring up a spoiled brat into the world, even when it’s so easy to do that specially when he’s our only child.

Before we go out or go somewhere, we talk to him and agree that he should listen to Mommy and Daddy. He needs to know that we are ensuring this to make sure that he doesn’t hurt himself or others. When he insists on buying something he wants when we are out, and that toy is not part of our plan, and start to go into a tantrum, we don’t feed on his tantrum. He ignore him and move on to a different part of the store. There’s a chance that he still will throw a tantrum, but more often than not, he will follow us and in a few minutes forget about the toy. Children do have sort attention span :)

This one time we were doing the grocery, and he was running around without looking, he was hit by a cart. We discipline him at home. When he was younger, his only form of discipline is a time out where he is kept inside a room. One minute for every age of the child. Now that’s he’s older, he has two options. The time out and facing the wall. Every after a punishment though, it is important that it is explained to him why he was punished. It is also important that the parent who saw the problem should be the one to do the disciplining, so the child doesn’t get confused.

We still have a long way to go. And we’re taking it a day at a time. We are focused on the goal to bring up a responsible, happy child and not loose our sense along the way :)