A Review of ProActive Parenting's Gentle No's for Toddlers

Being a first-time mom with no background experience in child discipline, I’m the perfect example of what you shouldn’t be doing to your kid. Whenever Holly shows signs of bad behavior in the house (spanking or biting), I’d scold her, call out her name, and look at her in the eye. I’d try to talk to her like how a mom would talk to a 7-year old, but if she didn’t stop her bad behavior, I’d punish her by slapping her hand and raising my voice.

What frustrates me is that this method of discipline wasn’t working at all. I couldn’t get her to stop slapping her nanny on the face, biting her aunt’s shoulder, or pulling my hair. She is a feisty 1-year old who didn’t seem to want to listen to anyone.

What Do You Love Most About Being a Mom?

I used to feel sorry for classmates who, when it's time to share about your parents' occupations, say that their mom is "just a plain housewife." It surely doesn't sound as pompous as when you say "My mom is a lawyer" ...or a doctor ...or a businesswoman. I usually imagine a frazzled woman wearing that floral daster doing nothing but cook and clean the house all day. What a boring place to be in, I used to think. Now that I'm a mother myself however, I realize how wrong I had been to judge housewives like that!

Interesting Facts About Mother’s Day

My own mother will be in Guam to attend the wedding of a niece on the second Sunday of May this year. I myself am not too keen on celebrating the day, except maybe for daydreams of sleeping in and having Rodic’s tapsilog served to me in bed (a logistic impossibility).

However, the concept of officially celebrating motherhood with a special day is an interesting one.  The facts behind the celebration make it even more interesting.

• The founder of Mother’s Day in the United States, Anna Jarvis, never became a mother

• She died in poverty after spending her life fighting against the commercialization of Mother’s Day

5 Simple Budget-Friendly Ways to Celebrate Mother's Day

I'm sure you're excited for Mother's day. It's that one special day where mothers are remembered, loved a hundred times over, and of course pampered twice as usual (think a day at David's Salon).

We especially love this day because it's an opportunity to make our own moms feel special. We want to let them know just how loving, selfless, and beautiful they are, so we do our best to make them twice as happy on Mother's Day.

But wait, do you have the budget for your planned surprise? Are you quite tight on cash right now that you can't celebrate Mother's day the way you wanted to?

Got My Rustan's Fresh Card!

Okay, I just gotta share this: I finally managed to claim my very own Rustan's Fresh Card after collecting PHP 5000 worth of grocery receipts at Rustan's (Fairview Center Mall). It's funny but it felt such an accomplishment for me haha! (I even felt giddy when they asked for my birthday in the application form.) If you are a frequent shopper at Rustan's, you can also get a Fresh Card from any outlet for only PHP 200. Since we are loyal patrons of Rustan's, I chose the option to get a free card (by collecting the mentioned amount of receipts over a three-month period) and today, I succeeded. Yay!

Healthy Recipe: Pinakbet

For moms and dads who are looking for healthy food for their family meals, here is a popular Filipino dish from the north to add to your dinner recipe collection.

7 Tips When Traveling with Your Baby

The idea of traveling sounds like a dream, doesn't it? You get to visit beautiful places, meet interesting people, experience the beauty of the local culture, and (of course) take home some rare souvenirs. Well, at least that's what the ads always portray.
Now let's put a baby in this picture. Aside from tending to all of your traveling needs, you have to consider the baby's needs as well. Birth certificate, travel documents, his own suitcase filled with clothes and diapers, his baby bottles, his large can of milk (if he's bottle fed), toys, etc.

Stressful, isn't it? Well, traveling with a baby isn't a joke even if you're only taking flights within the country. You have to consider the best times to travel, the things you need to bring, the health of your baby, and who you're flying with. I've had to fly to and fro several times back when my daughter was only a couple of months old, and the stress and work that came with the task was fun yet demanding.

10 Practical and Affordable Things To Do This Summer

Ever the Azkals fan, Naomi wrote about soccer camp or football for kids this summer. Her blogpost inspired me to make my own version of things for the kids to do during this 2 month long vacation. Here are a few more suggestions for fun and educational activities that you could do with your kids.

Coming from a practical and thrifty stay-at-home hands-on parent, it kind of requires more time & planning than usual. But then again you won’t be spending a fortune on fees and lessons.

Mom Notes Partners with MomCenter

Dear Moms,
We are happy to announce that Mom Notes has joined hands with Mom Center, the largest parenting online resource and community in the Philippines, in bringing you more valuable articles, the latest events, parenting news and tips, and the chance to join contests and win cool prizes from Mom Center sponsors.

We encourage you to sign up at MomCenter.com.ph, where you could interact with thousands of other Filipina moms (and dads maybe?) in this extensive online parenting community.

Life Is What Happens

I was going to post a series of comic strips based on humorous events around my house with two wild kiddos and their harried homebased writer/artist of a mom. Dad and college kid home-for-the-summer will be playing best supporting actors for a cast of five. I even asked the hubby to do the sketches for me. However, both our artistic mojos have all but been lost in the day-to-day of mother/fatherhood, so that he was able to do only one very lifelike cartoon character sketch of the youngest, and nothing else.

To save the day (or at least the blog post for my scheduled day of posting) I attempted, with my lesser drawing skills, to do ‘em sketches myself. I did make passable drawings there on the sketchpad, I am proud to say. Why are they not here then? Oh, it’s because I lost the drawings in the clutter of my household. I missed a week of posting because of this. Told ya I was harried.

How to Raise Well-Rounded Achievers

[You may also view this article on MomCenter.com.ph.]
For the past couple of weeks, I've been seeing a lot of Facebook friends posting graduation and recognition photos of their children/nephews/nieces/grandchildren.

I posted one myself of me and my daughter Nini, who was awarded second honorable mention and was named Most Cheerful/Most Gentle in her first-grade class (so proud of her!). One of my Facebook friends, whose daughter took home tons of academic and extra-curricular awards after her high school graduation (and is an incoming freshman at the University of the Philippines to boot), caught my attention. I wondered, "How do you raise an achiever?"

What's the History Behind Your Child's Name?

Your child's life on this earth begins with his name. A name is the symbol, the identity which a person carries throughout every chapter of his life. His family, his friends, his enemies, his mentors, and up to the very last stranger he introduces himself to will recognize him by his name.

This is how important choosing a name for my daughter was to me. I wanted her name to be perfect and beautiful as it reflects how beautiful and special she is to me. The problem though is that choosing a name out of the millions of possible ones out there is just too difficult for me.