Its week number two for the Lunchbox Meme. Just leave a comment here as soon as you have posted and I’ll do the round up later tonight.
11
Nov
Greetings, Mommies!!
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Today is the first day of our weekly meme and we’d like for you to share what you pack in your kids’ lunchbox. It can be as simple as a sandwich to an elaborate 5-course meal. Its up to you, just show us.
4
Nov
One of the jobs that we, Mommies, have to take very seriously is preparing lunch boxes for our kids and hubbies. Nowadays, packing lunch isn’t as simple as making a peanut butter sandwich and throwing in a can of juice. With all the healthy options available there is the increasing demand of making nutritious pack-away meals for our family.
28
Oct
As parents, we want our children to be good, responsible and wonderful people, better than what we have become, as we see ourselves.
How do we start teaching them to be such as we want them to be? We start with ourselves.
How do we teach honesty? Do we expect them to be honest when we tell them to tell our talkative friend on the phone that we are not home when in fact we are? Do we expect them to be honest when we shamelessly download information and pass it as “their” research project without naming the source?
Level with your child by being honest. Nobody spots a phony quicker than a child. By: Mary MacCracken.
How do we teach respect? We treat them with respect by speaking to them with kind words. We treat others with respect too. Do we expect them to be respectful when we have the tendency to react negatively to people around us?
How do we teach love? We start this by showing and telling them that we love them even if they commit mistakes. We show this not just through the buying of material things but taking the time to listen to what they have to say. This also starts with loving ourselves and our husbands.
How to we teach about safety? We drive safely and show road courtesy. We practice good health habits and practical precautionary measures.
How do we teach patriotism and love for the country? We recognize products made in our country, by our countrymen. We respect what nature has to offer and not do anything that will lead to its destruction.
How do we teach about being independent when we have the “yaya” or nanny do everything for our children? We should give them responsibilities to make them feel they can do things on their own.
How do we teach about loving God? We pray and we strengthen our faith in God by observing God’s teachings. Even if we profess to love God but we don’t show this through our actions, we can not be good Christians in our children’s eyes.
How do we teach having a healthy self-image? We eat healthy and maintain a healthy lifestyle. We are satisfied with how we look. If we try to improve how we look, it is not just to look physically better but to be healthier.
How do we teach about self-confidence? We try to make good choices, not because we are sure of ourselves but because we have thought about the positive and negative consequences of these decisions. We readily accept challenges not to prove to ourselves and others that we are better than them but because we want to be better persons.
How do we teach them to love reading? We must first love to read. We read to them, then, we read with them.
The issue on melamine-contaminated milk products coming from China has prompted neighboring countries to conduct milk products’ recall in their respective markets. As a consumer safety move, the Philippines, through the Department of Health’s Bureau of Food and Drugs has recalled late last week, milk and milk-containing products which are now subjected to testing for melamine content.
As of yesterday, BFAD has already removed four popular dairy products from the initial list of food items to be tested for possible melamine contamination. Manufactured in New Zealand and distributed locally by Fonterra Brands Philippines, these four products include Anchor Lite Milk, Anlene Milk Low Fat, Anmum Materna, and Anmum Materna Chocolate.
The delisting of the four milk products leaves 52 more that are to be tested by BFAD for melamine contamination and partial results of the tests on some other milk brands will come out hopefully this week.
This latest product recall has created somewhat of a puzzle yet to be resolved and for some panic, especially to mothers, who, according to latest market researches and studies, are said to be the most powerful consumers of all time considering their decision-making power as far as buying consumer products are concerned. And milk, being the food staple of non-breastfeeding kids is definitely one of these products.
In situations where product recall is happening, what is the best to do? How do mothers take on the issue? Debbie LaCroix, a parent and proactive consumer advocate gives us a handful of suggestions and tips on what to do if products that we happen to buy for our kids gets recalled and how to avoid buying items that may be recalled in the future: Read the rest of this entry »
23
Sep
That is, the Philippine Blog Awards 2.
The year’s premiere event for bloggers was held on Sunday, September 21st, at One Esplanade.
The best Philippine blogs across 36 categories were recognized on that night, and the FMB moms (minus Lynn - we missed you!) were there to support their favorites. TeacherJulie was a finalist for the Best Single Post on Family and Living Category, and our dear friend Rachel for the Blogger’s Choice Award.
The special guest of the evening was Senator Mar Roxas, whom we successfully ambushed for photo opps and chit-chat. The senator blogs too, by the way. Read the rest of this entry »
23
Sep
It is this time of the year again. Planning time and then budgeting for next year. They go hand in hand so imagine how busy we are at the office at this last leg of the third quarter.
Almost always the planning session lasts for three days and out of town. It is to give the participants the time to focus and deliberate on their programs. We are scheduled to have our planning next week. I am so glad it will only be for two days and the venue is quite near, only an hour drive from Manila.
Even so, it means I will be out of the house for two days - away from my daughter. I have been doing this since I started working, one would think I am used to this by now. I don’t think I will ever be used to staying out of the house for days. I have “interventions” to make my time away from my family more bearable. I have provided myself three simple checklists - pre, actual and post-trip activities.
The previous years my list is up to the minutest details but I have to give credit to my husband and my daughter and our help. They are able, functioning human beings as my husband says it perfectly. Don’t sweat the small stuff so to speak. For one thing, my husband and I see to it that our schedules complement. We cannot have trips at the same time. That is a cardinal rule.
My pre-trip activities include two major things. I check the school work of my daughter for the next days that I will be out. If there are projects for submission, I note them down so I can call her. This is not breathing behind her neck but just asking how she is progressing with her project. A little help from mommy, even if she’s away, won’t hurt in case she finds something hard to do.
I have always dreamed of having a flower garden. Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up to colorful blooms everyday? What about butterflies and birds merrily playing in the garden amidst the flowers?
I started having a garden years ago when I started to collect orchids and indoor ornamental plants. But alas, my thumb wasn’t green enough to sustain the life of these unfortunate plants. These all died after a few months. Or maybe even weeks.
I have tried again, last year. We got several grown plants with blooms but the dog thought these were toys and managed to uproot several. So the plans to have this flower garden was botched again.
My husband has been talking about having our own farm and planting plants that will yield fresh produce for our own consumption. A vegetable garden in one area, some fruit-bearing trees in another, and maybe a few chickens that will bring fresh eggs. A part of the plan will be an area for dog breeding, if it is still possible. He said a flower garden would be nice but for what purpose since we can’t use those flowers anyway.
Ok, now I am starting to be convinced to start a vegetable garden.
This is the part 2 of the Homeschooling in the Philippines post.
Socialization. This is one of the foremost questions that people ask to families who decided to go the non-traditional way of educating their children.
I want to ask one question: How many of you here are still friends with or in touch with your elementary or high school friends? I would even like to proudly say that our batch was a closely-knit batch for we have been classmates from Kindergarten to High school. We are still in touch with each other. We communicate through our Google group, we see each other during holidays in the province or maybe once or twice a year for reunions. But that’s about it.
Through it all, I have learned to socialize, learn manners and unwritten friendship rules and just be myself and enjoy the company of friends.
Socialization does not just limit itself to one’s peers. It goes beyond dealing with other people. Socialization in my case is not a real problem since I bring my children with me to work, twice a week. They have seen and met my husband’s friends and my friends. They are learning to (even briefly) socialize with people from different walks of life, like those food servers in the mall where we wait for my husband to pick us up before we head for home, the Kuya and Ate at work where they are being asked to request for things that I need and even socialize with my colleagues.
There, in my workplace, they have forged friendships with other children and they look forward to seeing them and playing with them. They do not really mind if at times they have difficulty having conversations with some of them.
Interactive. Learning should be interactive. Questions should be asked and answered. Answers can vary too, and the way these answers were found should vary too, for there are different sources where answers to questions can be found.
How?
This is an easy recipe. I used to do it with whole chickens, but I realized my kids and husband would attack the thighs and leave the breast to me. Nobody wants the white meat in our house.
Chicken thighs, contrary to what you may have been led to believe, are healthy (remove the skin if you must). According to Women’s Health Magazine, dark-meat poultry like chicken thighs are rich in iron, zinc and B vitamins, while having lower fat content than red meat (such as beef).
Chicken thigh meat is juicier and doesn’t dry up the way white meat does after it has cooled. So it’s ideal for school (or office) lunch too. I’d marinate the chicken at night, throw them into the oven the following morning. And, voila! A superb school lunch that your kids will be proud to share with the class. 
