Getting Ready for School

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Ready for school

It’s Monday again! I hope you enjoyed your weekend.

Aside from the first day of the week, it is Matthew’s first day in school too. He is officially Kinder-2, another school year for him. The last step towards grade school. With his eagerness, I know he will learn more this year.

Most kids are excited about going back to school but to some parents, it is a difficult task.

Some parents experience problems waking-up kids to prepare for school. Glad for us that we didn’t encounter any problem with Little Bossing.

How we do that? Here are some tips.

Let them enjoy with limitations.

Since vacation time, we still allow him to enjoy it. We let him watch his favorite clips on TV via YouTube, draw his favorite character and superhero, play outside in the afternoon.

But all of these have limitations too.

As agreement, he needs to behave nice at home. If he breaks the rule, all of these will be limited for the next day or until he become nice again.

Just like Mommy shared, the rule of punishment is better than the reward system because this will let them realize their mistakes.

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Stop The Bottles!

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One of the problems encountered by parents is on how are they going to wean their babies not only from breastfeeding but in bottles too. I just noticed that there are some kids that are still on their bottles not only on milk but in some liquids too (juice, chocolate drinks, etc.). Some even at the age of 6 or 7, they cannot sleep if they don’t drink their milk using feeding bottles.

Good for us that we didn’t have difficulties when we stopped Matt in using feeding bottles. In as early as 2 years old and a span of less than a month, he stopped in drinking milk from feeding bottles. He never wake-up in the middle of the night and ask for milk. This might be one of the reason na rin why he didn’t pee at night aside from using cloth diaper.

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Be Responsible Drinker, A Chemist Dad's Experience

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I just noticed that the age of youth engaged in drinking alcohols is getting younger. I am not against with it but I am just worried that I might experience this with my son. I admit that I started drinking occasionally when I was in late college year.

Though Papa can be considered regular drinker (As in araw-araw nakainom talaga!), he didn't influenced me nor invited me to have a drink with him, that was before. My peers are the ones who had let me taste the first alcohol I ever had.

I am not saying that Papa is not a good example for me but I thanked him for letting me know how to be a responsible drinker in a different way. Parang “reverse psychology” sabi nga.

Why I was not influenced by Papa? Here are the two main reasons that I think will answer this question.

I know how hard it is to be drunk. Not in the sense that I experience it before but I always observed from Papa and other older relatives. Pero minsan talagang nalalasing din ako. Di ba Mommy? I can really say how difficult to be drunk kasi na-experience ko na.

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Factors Affecting Childhood Obesity

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Photo source: Sarah Espanol – Com 466

Obesity is often referred to person with too much excess fat in the body. Before, we used to see these cases in adults but now, even our kids might be a candidate for obesity which we don’t want to happen to our kids.

Here are some factors that can lead to childhood obesity.

1. Oldies, like our grandparents, believe that the bigger the kids are, the healthier they are which is considered as a big myth. Overfed kids will develop a large stomach which needs more food to satisfy their hunger.  We know that kids will eat as long as they see foods in front of them. Being big is not always being healthy, remember, obesity is a sign of malnutrition too.

2. Choice of foods is also another factor that triggers childhood obesity. Kids at ages 3 and above usually love to eat sweets as well as high carb foods like chocolates and pasta. Try to make healthy options that are appetizing to your kids.

3. In our time today that we considered technology is having a great influence on kids, this is another factor that can lead to obesity. Kids nowadays have inadequate physical activities. They spend more time in from of TV watching their favorite shows or in from of computer playing their favorite games. Games that require physical activities like running, biking and walking is always became a second choice. Parents like me, take note of this, physical activities are not only for our kid’s benefit but for us too. It does not only improves your physique but it will give quality time to your family too.

As parent we must prevent our kids into this situation before it will lead to some problems. Obese kids are “cute” to look at but in fact it may lower their self-esteem later because of some bullying outside our home. Furthermore, more serious problem is that  obesity could lead to hypertension and allergies. 

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Parenting Tips on Imposing Penalties to Kids

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All parents encountered misbehaving kids resulting to some penalties. Most of the time enforcing the consequences resulted to failure causing them to continue misbehaving. Here are three basic tips to successfully impose consequences to kids.

Be realistic.

Most of us threaten kids to make them behave. However it should be kept in mind that we need to be realistic in giving threat so it will be feasible to enforce when needed. Giving threats without enforcing it will make them look at you as a good talker rather than a doer. If this happens, you will be in big trouble.

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How to Boost Kid's Self-Confidence

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Matt

Kids need self-confidence to success in many aspects. Self-confidence can be gained from falling down and getting back on the track again, expecting mistakes and making necessary corrections, solving problems by their own rather than expecting someone to fix it. But how are we going to boost their self-confidence? Here are some tips.

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The Tortuous Three

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On my last post about Terrible Two, I thought that this is the worst behavior of kids as part of their development but I was wrong, I read an article that their behavior might get worse than getting better. Therefore, we need to know some general behaviors of kids at this age in order to handle this stage of kid's development.

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We Don't Need Parasites!

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One of the things I really get worried as first time parent is about deworming my son. I heard from Mama that she was also afraid the time I was dewormed and send me to my grandparents. She was afraid, I presume, on the worms coming out which is also one of my fears.

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Afraid of Getting Lost?

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Source

Amusement and theme parks are really in this season. I bet many kids will ask their parents to visit one of them during the holidays.

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Tips for Picky-Eater Kids

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I observed that many kids nowadays are picky with the food they eat. Some prefer to have meat rather than veggies. Some choose processed meats like hotdogs, tocino and longanisa. As first time parent, I was worried and consider this as one of the major problem by most parents. Good thing we did not experience this kind difficulty with our son who used to eat what we eat without any hesitation. Of course you still need to be careful on the food you give to your kids.

To resolve this issue, I would like to share some tips based on my experience.

Introduce veggies at early age.

When Matt learned how to take solid foods, we preferred introducing him mashed veggies than meats. Although meat is a major source of protein needed in their growth and development, there are some alternative sources like eggs and veggies high in protein.

One of the veggies that kids hate is the bitter gourd or ampalaya. If you try to introduce this to your kids when their taste buds are starting to develop, they will surely familiarize with its taste making this as one of their favorites.

We also used to give Matt oregano extract mixed with his milk every morning to prevent him from getting cough and colds thus making him familiar with bitter taste. Furthermore, this will help your kids to love taking medicine. In our case, Matt loves to take medicine whatever the taste is.

Switch food varieties.

To prevent being bored about the food they eat, try to switch every now and then. Better give them different meals daily.

When we introduced Matt with baby foods like Cerelac and/or Gerber we used to buy different variant in small packages and give him different flavour every week. Furthermore, try to make your own baby food. This is lot cheaper compared to those sold in the market.

Make your own.

If your kids start to love processed foods, make your own. Processed meats are considered unhealthy because of the artificial flavorings and colors. Making your own processed food does not only give you confident of the healthy food but you are sure that these foods are safe and sanitized.

I used to make my own skinless longanisa and chicken tocino where Matt loves to have it in his plate. Maybe one day, I will make my own hotdogs too. LOL.

Mask your food.

How? If your kids do not want to eat veggies, why not use them as major ingredient in making their favourite dishes. For example, if your kids love burgers, try to make use of veggies like hearty burger (banana blossoms). You may also try making squash pancake or siomai made of kalabasa and sardines.

Matt loves the hearty burger

Another way to mask your veggies is make dried of it and incorporate them in your meal. I used to make dried malunggay leaves, grind it and add them in soups and other meals.

I hope this will help in someways to parents having picky-eater kids.

How about you, do you have any tips to prevent kids from being picky?

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It is More Fun to Learn Talking

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Sometimes, teaching your kids to talk makes both of you bored if done routinely. In all aspect, learning needs to be incorporated with fun. Here are some tips on how to have fun while teaching your kids to talk.

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Talkative Matt

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Matt is very talkative nowadays. One funny thing about him is that he keeps on repeating something he says until you repeat or agree with it. When you ask him, “Sino ang madaldal? (Who’s talkative?)”, he will answer ‘Mamatt”, pertaining to himself. Many said that this trait is being inherited.Since Mommy and I were silent type of persons, we often joked that he used to inherit this from Mama. That’s why when we asked him, “Kanino ka nagmana? (Where did you inherit that?) ”, he will reply “Mama”.

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Toddlers Develpoment

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Matt exhibits some acts that we think in advance compared to his age. At 29 months, he can easily identify and recite the alphabet, can recognize numbers as well as count from 1-20, can distinguish not only the primary colors but others too including fuchsia, can identify the basic parts of the body, can sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Bahay Kubo" in correct tunes (good thing he did not acquire singing talent from me. hehehe). He can also hold pen and colors firmly and make doodles.

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Disposable or Cloth Diaper?

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When we had Matt, we used to buy disposable diapers. We tried almost all of the brands in the market to compare and find what fits Matt.  Every payday, we bought two large packs for just half-month consumption.

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Matt and the Teribble Two

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When Matt reaches the age of two, Mommy and I observed a sudden change in his attitude. He used to cry whenever he did get what he wants. Sometimes he will start stomping his feet or even sit down and cry. Until we read about what experts called “Terrible Two”. This is a change in their attitude and part of their development. Most kids starts to have tantrums whenever they are upset to a particular thing. Worst, some will hit their head on the wall. The term “terrible two” does not mean that they will show this one as they reach the age of two like what we observed from Matt. In some kids, this starts as early as they reach their 2^nd age or after their first birthday.

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