Did you take photos while your kids were opening their gifts?

Their smiles were immeasurable!
I often play the moment back in my head (in slow motion and with background music) when kids rejoice and jump in excitement at the sight of a toy peeking out from the wrappers. It is so beautiful I sometimes wish it’s Christmas all year! Okay, maybe not. Haha. It’s not a very relaxing month for parents to say the least. I actually wish we could get what we’re hoping for too. Rest and alone time maybe? Right, not happening. LOL. Okay, so while our kids are busy enjoying their new toys, I hope you’ll join me in unwrapping another gift before the year ends.
I am actually very happy I am posting this topic this Yuletide season.
Our children are our greatest gifts aren’t they? And because they are, we try our best to get them what they wish for. But have you ever thought that alongside Frozen dolls, talking Ninja Turtles, and Adventure Time toys, another great present to give is to help them discover their gifts? By that I mean the ones they already have in them. Their innate gifts.
I have recently attended a seminar-workshop hosted by Chi Sigma Iota entitiled Counseling the Gifted and I am so excited to share to you all the valuable things I learned for the whole day I was in UP Diliman for it. It was such an eye-opener and I wish I could write everything down without turning this into a 20-page post! So I guess I would just give out the points that struck me the most.
To start off, this post is not limited to parents of gifted kids. I believe the wisdom that resource speaker, Dra. Leticia Peñano-Ho shared would benefit every parent, every family, gifted or not.
In fact, you might actually discover that you (and not just your child) are possibly gifted too. You might actually wish your parents knew so you could have possibly done something about it.
Up to this day, many are still unaware of what giftedness is all about. People (teachers included) only pay attention to “intellectual” ability i.e. very young children identifying the flags of the world, naming countries’ capitals, or reciting the periodic table of elements backwards (what?! haha). So let’s do some quick descriptions to understand it better.
What exactly is Giftedness? Continue reading…
The past month hasn’t been so good to us.
Just the week after I launched this site, Mia got sick. She was vomiting and we didn’t know why. Her face was thinning and she was losing the pounds we worked hard to gain. And I found myself eating a bag of potato chips (in hiding) everyday while dealing with it.
Yes, I’m a stress eater and I find comfort in food. Salty food. Okay, unhealthy salty food. Tsktsk. Continue reading →
DING!
For some magical reason, our daughter obeys that sound more than my voice.
That may have sounded like it’s not in my favor but if you have been reading my posts, you can tell that I’m all for easy, tear-free, and no-fuss methods. Anything that can do those, I’m willing to test.
So when I heard that timers help ease transition from one activity to another, we gave it a try. As always, I was skeptical about it Continue reading →
It was 7 in the morning and our child was crying in the bathroom. She was upset because…
I helped her rinse her hair.
Yep, didn’t think that could start a tantrum too. I’ve read that toddlers and preschoolers have different ways of asserting their independence and ours have chosen the bathroom version.
Continue reading →
These past days, I have been trying to recall how our parents and grandparents did it without smartphones. Let’s enumerate quickly shall we?
They used snail mail and telegrams to connect; they used landline phones, beepers, and bulky cellphones to keep in touch; and they waited for radio announcements and the TV news hour to get the latest headlines. Looking at this, I say, they get information only on certain times of the day, and not all day.
Continue reading →
Even if we have an early talker, there are times when I still can’t get the answer I need, such as when I ask how school was or what they did on certain days. All I get is, “Umm many things” or “It was okay.” Well… that’s not okay.. Moms need detailssssssss.
To solve this, I incidentally found a way that does not involve rephrasing our questions but teaching them one character trait. And it is.. (drumroll please) Continue reading →
Babies cry a lot and we often need to guess why. Do they want more milk? Do they need a diaper change? Is it colic? Are they too tired? Are they feeling sick? If only they could tell us! Well of course, they won’t start talking until they’re about 8-10 months old, and even then, their words still won’t be as clear as we want them to be.
In our country, many parents “baby talk” their kids thinking they are not capable of understanding adult conversations yet. I don’t blame them. Even I thought kids could only start saying understandable words by age 3 or 4. But Mia proved me wrong. Continue reading →