What Legacy Will I Leave my Child? #ShareYourLegacy with Disney and h20+ and Win!

Love this girl to the moon and back! / Photo +Maricris G 

I was watching my daughter walk ahead of me the other day when a sudden truth hit me. It was like being sucker punched in the tummy. Ouch! Reality sure hurts. There was no denying it - "My baby is growing up way too fast!". Then it so happened that my all-time favorite brand Disney asked me if I wanted to participate in a campaign to share "MY" legacy - my answer was a resounding YES! of course.


Because, hey it's Disney, and I also have my own story to tell and a legacy that I hope to instill in my daughter, and what the heck, possibly my future grandchildren as well. A legacy that I hope they'll always remember me for.

Parenting Tips: 10 Ways to Empower Your Child with Financial Skills

Earning her first "business" profit

"You have the responsibility to educate your kin [children] about finance. If you don't, no one else will, and they will suffer for it. - Tom Dyson, The Greatest Financial Gift You Can Give to Your Children

I had a great opportunity to give my daughter a teachable moment in finance recently. I have to sell my jewelry creations at an event and she decided to do it with me selling her own creations. It gave her a hard look inside the world of retail and how it is to earn money on her own. My mom gave me this same privilege when I was young and I'm happy that I can do the same for my daughter.

A Child's First World Problem: "I have No Friends!"

I did not realize the full impact of our move until tonight when my daughter promptly but silently declared "I have no friends! I have no friends here..." walking away with tears falling from her eyes like waterfalls which she tried to hide from me. Her face painfully painted with sadness. I on the other hand, felt like a lightning struck me! Or someone punched me on the face or bonked me on the head. OUCH! My heart crumbled to pieces. My grand scheme backfired... I thought I was going to have a stroke.

The Business of Pottying: A Very Stinky Subject - Always!

I'm lovin' the current potty commercial produced by Clorox. Have you seen it yet? I'm not a loyal user of the product but their commercial captured the genuine essence of the crap-filled experiences we encounter during the potty-training years. I specially love the version where the little boy announced triumphantly "Mommy, mommy, I went potty!" then Mommy excitedly looked at the obvious destination of this potty and saw nothing and had to asked "Where?" -- You get the idea...

It never ceases to make me burst into laughters everytime. Yes, it is funny. But back then, Ah! goodness gracious -- it's another story. Back then the Censor Board would have slapped me with an R {Restricted} rating for potty-mouthing and violent, gory scenes with poopies in areas where they don't belong!

As a mom, I'd say Potty training is easily the ultimate challenge of parenthood. It's almost like training little cavemen. They're wild, barbaric and no toilet manners.

My Young Chef in Action. Teaching Her How To Cook So I Don't Have To (All the time)

My young Chef cooking Hash brown for our Sunday Brunch!

Start them Young is a rule I live by because it works! I was 6 years old when I started learning how to cook rice. It was like a rite of passage. If you're a Filipino like me, learning how to cook rice is a basic skill you are required to learn! No, it's A MUST. And it wasn't easy back then. Imagine cooking with wood fires, clay oven and heavy stainless steel pots! It was an intense challenge to say the least. But thank goodness, my youngling don't have to deal with that now, which made cooking somehow easier to learn and easier for us to teach!

If YOU Love Mermaids, You've Gotta Watch this!

photo courtesy of Hulu.com

All these Summer heat has got me started with Mermaids. So let's talk mermaid! Well, I have always been fascinated with Mermaids. Not that I agree they are real, though I wish they were, to me, they're just but one of those enigmatic characters in our twisted or  what I call, "pretzeled" minds that I heard a lot of growing up! As a matter of fact, I grew up 5 minutes away from a beach. Fisherman's tale and their distinct fishy smells are as common as the pesky house flies that seem to stick around for all 365 days!

Thinking Out Loud: I'm An Odd Mom! {but in a good way...}

So I say (nothing to do with me being Asian but you'll know in a minute). Now, while every other parents I know is cheering, celebrating even, that their children is going back to school (mine went back Monday) and can finally reclaim some moments of child-free days and their sanity, I, on the other hand is feeling gloomy! See, I told you, I'm odd. Not even kind of. Just odd. But this is not without a valid reason of course. Odd don't just happen. So, I heard.

My Give-licious Reason for { My Birthday } Season

with Emily Nesbitt of Haven of Hope House Charlotte NC
receiving the toys

It feels darn good to be able to do something for others and give them a small token of gift especially on a day where you're supposed to be the one who should be receiving gifts! This is how my birthday is now. Three days before Christmas. It isn't as exciting as one thinks since I always get 2-in-one gifts growing up, but rather than sulking about what the past had been, I decided it's time I do something different now that I'm rather older mature. And that I did! This is the second year I'm doing Zensible Mama Gives as part of my birthday celebration... and it feels wonderful!

Playing Tag in Parenting - How You Can Use this Game as a Vital Parenting Tool

I bet ALL of you reading this now know the game Tag and have played it once or more in your life. But... did you know that the concept behind this fun game when "played right" can make for a great parenting tool? Yes it can!

Remembering 9/11 - How would you tell your child about it?

photo courtesy of wikipedia.org

I was still in the Philippines when 9/11 happened. I just got home from work. Not long after that, a frantic call from a friend came through. I was told to turn the TV on quick! "US is under attack..." I was aghast at hearing those words, more so when I finally saw the images on TV. It sent chills all over my body. It was one of those things one will never soon forget...

Back to School Project: Introducing the 50 States to your Child with Collectible Coins

In two weeks, my daughter is starting back at school. I'm already anticipating the bigger volume of homework she's going to be bringing home now that she is entering second grade. None of us are ready for it. I don't think you'll ever be. But in order to get her in a mindset, I decided to kick-off back-to-school week with a fun project that's equally educational. Do you know the 50 States by heart? 

Fun Ideas: Go Wild with Summer Colors! Or not.

 Who said anything about wild piggies not looking cool?

Are you running out of ideas to do this Summer with the kids? Are you about to pull your hair out because the kids are driving you nuts and your bag of tricks is almost empty? I'm not there yet but the infamous cabin fever is just around the corner for most of us. So what to do?!

1000 Origami Cranes for Japan

My not-so-perfect Origami Crane

My daughter and I finished folding our Origami Cranes {Senbadsuru} after more than 5 minutes, even with the help of Yuki, a Japanese woman volunteering at the Wells Fargo tent at the Asian Festival just this past Saturday. Not bad for a first try. But do you know what makes our not-so-perfect Origami Cranes so special? 

The Potty-Mouthed Child

You're on a field trip at the zoo. You are a Volunteer/Chaperone parent. You are inside the Aquarium complex.  As you approach one of the exhibits, you noticed an interesting sight.You excitedly pointed this out to the kids you are in charge of and told them to look through the viewing window. Two alligators are on top of each other, who are also both on top of a poor turtle and who is desperately trying to get away. Sudden noise of disbelief erupted. Then from nowhere, this little girl who is no older than 8, came charging towards you to see what all the excitement's about. As she got close and saw what it was, let out this loud expletive: "HOLY SHIT!" - What would you do?

Impact of bullying on children by Aparna Vashisht of Parentella

Bullying is a problem and many dismiss it as a part of growing up. It is assumed that kids get over it or that they should just "tough" it out. For a child, however, bullying has far reaching impact that shapes their personalities. A friend of mine had a really difficult time at middle school. A child hit her son and they had to go to the principal's office. The boy was suspended for a couple of days but what happened on the playground was worse for my friend's son. The boy had hit my friend's son and he didn't hit back. All the kids in the playground made fun of him for not fighting back. For weeks, school was really hard for him.

No child should have to worry about going to school and stress out about their day ahead. Girls getting bullied and differently is a well-known issue. One of our authors wrote about her Mean Girls experience.

Mobile Shots: Oh Christmas Tree!

We never had a real tree. Six Christmas years... But this year, it's going to be different. We're getting a real one...Our very first real Christmas Tree! A surprise my dear hubby concocted for the family for Christmas this year! So, our loyal fake tree remained stowed in the attic as the quest to find the perfect live tree ensued...

Blue Christmas Tree @North Lake Mall

Sassiness - The 5-8 Year Old Phenomena

I was recently at a 4-day conference in Asheville NC where attendees were predominantly charged-up Estrogens, PMS'er and pre or post menopausals with a dash of brave testosterones on the side, who of course has one thing in common -besides being hormonal- Kids! Strangely though, it appeared that moms with 6 year old daughters like me has an uncanny similarity :  the case of Sassiness!

Skyping In The Bathroom - How Skype Saved The Day {or Night }

Being away from the family especially from the kids sometimes bear a mild bout of separation anxiety. Not necessarily common in older kids but it oftentimes affects them when parents go away for a longer period of time and they're not use to that. A thing that happened to me last week as I was away for 4 days on a conference for Type-A Mom. So far, the longest I've ever been away. My 6-year old felt the void at the second night. She misses "Mama" and wants to see her right there and then. The poor girl is inconsolable and was already crying and bawling her eyes out. Papa was helpless. What does a mom to do in situations like these? Hello Skype!

Skyping inside the Bathroom

Math in Parenting: Using the power of Subtraction

I'm not your so-called traditional parent. Meaning, my parenting skills are not based on any parenting textbook or guidebook - never a fan of those - nor influenced by the culturally-guided olden, antiqued ways of parenting my parents have imposed on me { or the lack thereof } when I was growing up. I always believed in individuality. Yes, parenting skills are not natural-borne traits but our parental instincts do - most of us are blessed with it and yet some don't - but we do learn...differently.

Back to School Woes: New NC State Board of Education Policy is Ridiculous!

So, school started today and try as I might, my mind still could not come to terms with the fact that my little girl is now in grade school! Add the thought of tons of paperworks, assignments and what nots into the equation and what you get is one delirious mama!

Driven to epileptic anger by the note that we got from her teacher {from the school} today. If you're a mom with a child in school in NC you need to read this.