Parenting 101

Manila Workshops’ Making Memories + Party Planning

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children's birthday party, parenting 101, workshops, parenting workshops, photography

I was able to attend Manila Workshops’ First Time Parents: Making Memories and Party Planning, held at the Medela House in Quezon City a few weeks back. This is my second time to participate in a Manila Workshops event as I have attended their Lunches With Love workshop last year {which I have yet to share here, by the way}. The speaker, Michelle Katigbak-Alejandro, editor-in-chief of Metro Weddings, shared loads of tips and chunks of knowledge to first-time and would-be parents about effectively recording the little one’s milestones and capturing precious memories.

The second part of the workshop, on the other hand, was chock-full of tips and wonderful ideas on how to plan and throw a beautiful party for our children, without stressing too much and breaking the bank. It was something I enjoyed attending and I really wish that I was able to attend a similar workshop when I was just a fledgling and struggling new mum.

Part I: Making Memories

children's birthday party, parenting 101, workshops, parenting workshops, photography
Part I: Making Memories with Michele Alejandro

Some of our baby’s milestones include growth milestones {the monthly birthdays, increase in height/weight, and pedia visits}, the developmental milestones {like the first laugh, first smile, first time to sit up and first time to eat solid foods}, social milestones {like the first play date, first time meeting family or their first music class}, and finally the holiday milestones that include their first Christmas, Halloween, Easter and so on. Our little ones accomplish a number of these milestones during their first year of life and it ought to be one of our goals as mums and parents to document each momentous occasion in our children’s lives.

There are several ways in which we can capture our baby’s milestones:

  • Photographs ~ the most common and the easiest way to capture our little ones. Photographs last for a lifetime and more and sure are effective and wonderful ways to remember and capture the moments in our babies’ lives. Nowadays, parents can choose the most convenient way to take their children’s photographs, may that be with professional DSLR, point-and-shoot camera, mobile phone camera or Instax, or what most of us know as Polaroid.
  • Videos ~ these might be a bit tricky to shoot but videos are just as nice to capture our little ones, with sounds and actions, to boot!
  • Recordings ~ is a great alternative especially if your child tends to be distracted by the camera in front of him. Recordings are perfect and discreet way to capture babies’ voice and noises without them being conscious about it.
children's birthday party, parenting 101, workshops, parenting workshops, photography
Recording Milestones with Photo Interviews

Here are a few tips from the workshop on how to take baby photos

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events, mum for a cause, Parenting 101

No Hope Lost: Raising Awareness On Pneumococcal + Rotavirus Diseases

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events, mum for a cause, parenting 101, children vaccine, vaccines, children health

I was fortunate to join fellow mum bloggers and other people from traditional media to witness the launch of GSK’s No Hope Lost Campaign held at the Makati Shangril-la’s Paranaque AB Hall earlier this month. The event was graced by Barbie’s Cradle vocalist, mum Barbie Almalbis, who shared her scary experience when one of her children got hospitalized due to pneumonia. Also present in the event is resource person, Dr. Sally Gatchalian, Director of the Philippine Foundation for Vaccination, who enlightened us about the importance of having our children vaccinated, as well as clarified certain myths about vaccines and vaccination.

Pneumonia and diarrhea are the top 2 leading causes of mortality among Filipino children less than 5 years of age and the scenario is very much similar with the rest of the world. Losing a child is the most-heartbreaking experience any mother could ever have, it is beyond imaginable, in fact, that thankfully parents, and society in general, is doing anything to prevent the loss of their children. It is also good to know that both diseases can be prevented through vaccination.

Pneumonia in a nutshell

An estimated 37 Filipino children die of pneumonia every single day. It is, in fact, the single greatest cause of death in children less than 5 years old worldwide. Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung that primarily affects the microscopic air sacs alveoli. This is an infection caused by the bacterium S. pneumoniae, or what is popularly known as pneumococcus, which in turn can lead to life-threatening conditions such as pneumonia. This bacterium can also result to Acute Otitis Media {or AOM}, a common and highly prevalent ear infection. When pneumococcus invades the blood, it can also result to severe medical conditions such as meningitis, complicated pneumonia, as well as sepsis or blood poisoning. These invasive forms of the pneumococcal disease are categorize into Invasive Pneumococcal Disease or IPD}.

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please excuse the blurry image, my phone was under repair during this time i had to resort to my old smartphone…

Symptoms of pneumonia include:

  • rapid or difficult breathing
  • cough
  • fever
  • chills
  • headache
  • loss of appetite
  • wheezing

Diarrhea in a nutshell

Diarrhea is the second leading killer of children under 5 years of age globally. There is a registered 1.4 million child deaths yearly because of this disease. The common cause of diarrhea and severe dehydration in young children is Rotavirus Gastroenteritis {RVGE}. This is also the leading cause of diarrheal hospitalization and deaths among children and is considered most severe in infants aged 3-24 months.

Rotavirus is dubbed as a “democratic virus,” affecting virtually every child during the first 5 years of life, regardless of race or socio-economic status. In the Philippines, diarrhea is the second leading cause of child mortality resulting to more than 13 Filipino children dying due to diarrhea every day, or to almost 5,000 deaths yearly.

Prevention is Better Than Cure

Early protection is the key to prevent penumonia and rotavirus disease. No child has to die because of these diseases as they are both highly-preventable. Raising awareness about these diseases is a very effective way to combat them and hopefully eradicate them in the future.

Ways to Protect Children Against Pneumomia and Diarrhea:

  • breastfeeding
  • constant hand washing
  • cleaning your immediate environment and preventing air pollution
  • providing adequate nutrition
  • vaccination

Available Vaccines for Pneumonia and Diarrhea

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mum's thoughts, Parenting 101, Tips and Tricks

Parenting 101: Let The Children Be

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Don’t you sometimes wish you can simply tell your child what to do and what not to do? It is rather frustrating that they oftentimes disobey what we have just told them not to do so they can do the exact opposite. I have had one too many of those episodes. A number of them caused unnecessary stress, frustration and embarrassment. But the thing is, our children, as much as we’d like for them to be everything that we would have wanted and envisioned them to be, are beings with minds and feelings of their own. Even when we have the best of intentions, things will most of the time not work out the way we planned for them to be. The little one might want to eat noodles instead of the nutritious, healthy meal we’ve painstakingly prepared for him, he might want to watch more telly than do the sheet exercises we have scheduled for him that day, he would have totally deviate from what we have planned for the weekend family time. No matter how much we planned even the minutest details in our little ones lives, there is no guarantee that they would follow those.

It might be a bit difficult to wrap our minds around the idea that things may not work out the way we plan, but what is more important is that we allow room for them to grow, explore and test their limits or their newly-found independence. I know, it is easier than done. And if you are an OC-ish mum like me, that does not make the job easier. But we are our children’s guardians for a reason and our primary duty is to protect their interest and nourish them as they blossom into the being that they are made to be. 

The image above pretty much sums up everything that our little tots need to learn to be great adults when it is their time, it is challenging in itself without having mum throwing numerous suggestions or bossing them around. It is probably a good idea to rest easy on our children and let them be. They sure will be young for a short while so let’s all do the best we can to make it worthwhile.  And, yes, I am also making it my 2014 goal to say “yes” to my little man more often.

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