Great kids Archives - Mommy Ginger

I have a new yaya and it’s her first day today. Although, we loved the last one, she had to deal with personal issues. We will miss you, Ate Nene. So anyway, going back to this new yaya, she was really impressed at how well behave my daughter was. She is one of those great kids you’d see — always such a good girl. She was shocked that my little lady knew how to pack away her things, knew how to answer adults respectfully, etc. The new yaya was also amazed at how unattached my daughter was to the TV. She didn’t really care much for shows. Our daughter, also, wanted to play at the playroom more than to play with just her tablet. She loves it when people tell her stories — random stories about anything!

When people ask us how we did it, how did we raise such an amazing kid, I actually don’t know what we did well. We actually don’t know what specific things or lessons or parenting skills we have applied that contributed to making our child such a great kid with a great attitude.

What I will tell you now is what we do and what we follow in our household, and I don’t even know if this is what helped. It has worked for us, but of course, it may not work for you.

One of the things that we keep in mind at home is to do everything in moderation. We can have fun and play with our daughter, but we expect her, too, to do her share in some of the chores. “Chores” for a three year old really is just packing away her toys, helping get stuff, help put things away — those simple things. We make it clear that we can be silly and funny, but if she does something wrong or does not fulfil commitments, we switch to our serious, stern parenting modes. I think she gets it that we mean business!

Parenting can be tiring but fun! 🙂

Also, moderation means having boundaries with certain things and activities. When we go inside a toy store, we already set expectations. We talk to her and say that she can have just one toy or she needs to wait for the weekend for us to buy her a toy. She ends us just playing with the toys inside and she doesn’t throw any tantrums when we don’t buy her anything. Although, occasionally, she will cry when she thinks about a certain toy, but she hasn’t really cried loudly and uncontrollably inside a store.

I teach her to try to dress up by herself or pick the dress that she wants to wear.

We also teach her to commit to doing things and to be responsible for things. We bought this task chart in one of the Homeschooling Conferences that we had before. We use it now for Zeeka. If she completes tasks and fills the chart with stars for one full week, she is allowed to choose a prize. The tasks in her chart included sharing (since this is what we have noticed to be something difficult for her to do), dressing herself, brushing her teeth, taking a bath, etc. For the reward that we give, it’s normally a toy that I can afford or an app that we have to pay for. This week it was a Yo Gabba Gabba application that cost me $4.99. Haha!

We also teach her to make her own decisions. Do you know that this great kid chooses her own clothes? We don’t pick them for her. She chooses what she wants to wear on a daily basis. This little lady loves shopping, and believe it or not, she has great taste! She even has more fashion sense than me.

My daughter also has a set schedule and I encourage the yaya or anyone watching her to follow this schedule. I’m sure when she grows up, she will eventually break the schedule, but I think that having a routine instills good habits that I think she will carry on until she’s older (like taking care of her health and having enough sleep).

Making them responsible for things doesn’t make you a boring parent (I think we’re cool parents! haha!). When they are still young, my belief is that these children need to have a balance between fun and learning to handle responsibilities, and it’s our responsibility as parents to teach them to balance these things.

PS. Check out the Mommy and Me collection of Great Kids PH! Have you seen the clothes that we wore above?! It’s so cute!

I’ve been so busy lately that I have felt so guilty. We have been so focused on growing our tech startup business that we have spent less time with Zeeka. But even if we have spent less time with her these past few days, we make sure that we show our daughter that we love her.

Children always want to feel that they are loved by their parents. It has been extra difficult for us recently with our daughter since she has become extra clingy. I guess this is what happens when they are already old enough to say what and how they are feeling. She has become extra vocal in telling us not to work or not to go to the office.

There are a lot of ways to show your love for your child apart from the material things. The following are good ideas to consider doing to show love to your child:

Spend quality time with your child
My daughter loves going to the mall. She loves trying on clothes. This has become a thing that we enjoy together. We would visit stores and buy Mommy and Me outfits! Haha!

Quality time does not depend on the length of time that you bond with your child. It only has to be meaningful both to you as a parent and the child, where both focus on building the relationship. It means giving your full attention to your child (no checking of gadgets, etc.) What you can do is set aside that time which is only for your children — a day at the mall, a simple story time, etc. means a lot to a child more than you would know.

Be a good example

When you want them to be an obedient, generous, kind-hearted individual, then lead by example. This is the best way to teach a child about love and respect. Be kind to others and respect others. This is what they will see and this is what they will emulate.

Teach them discipline

Many children associate being disciplined as an act of “hate”. What we do as a couple is that we explain to our daughter why we get mad or why we discipline her. We explain to her that it’s because we love her and because we don’t want her to get hurt.

Be there when you are needed and Keep promises

I think that what kids really want is security. Since they are still young and unsure about a lot of things, they need to know that you will be there for them. There will be times when your child needs someone he or she could lean on so be sure to be with him or her during those times. Also, always keep your promises. These children need to see that they can trust and rely on you to keep your word.

Be sweet

Our daughter is a very sweet and caring child, and I attribute it to the fact that my husband is very caring and sweet to me. Haha! I think she always sees us hugging each other at home and putting one over the other in terms of needs, so she’s that way, too. She’ll always tell me, “Mommy, are you sad? Please don’t be sad,” when she sees me stressed out. I believe that even at a young age, a child can be very observant and critical of so many things. Show your child affection and you overtly show him or her love. Simple hugs and kisses on the cheek will mean a lot to them.

Act as your child’s protector

Sometimes, as parents, our “disciplinary” role is our automatic go-to-role. When we see another child crying beside our child, we automatically think our child did something wrong, and we “automatically” scold them without analyzing the situation. As parents, there are a lot of times when we need to be logical. We need to analyze then act accordingly. You would then see that there are a lot of times when we should have been our child’s protector even.

This happened to us. Our daughter is a meek and quiet child in front of other children. She would allow other children to take her toys and grab it away from her. We need to keep in mind that our children are weak and could not fend off for themselves. There are times when we need to tell them that they need to step up and fend for themselves. There are even times when we, as parents, need to step up, too, to act as our child’s protector especially when their security and safety is a concern.

Grant wishes

Kids wish for a lot of things and I think that sometimes, we need to grant them. Parents are so afraid that they would grow up as spoiled brats, but I believe that if you grant wishes in moderation, this will make them feel appreciated and loved. Don’t be too scared!

Compliments and praises

We never fail to give our daughter compliments and praises and we do it by being very specific about what she did well. I read somewhere that being specific makes everything clear and they would most likely do it again since they understand.

See, showing your child that you love them is not that hard. We don’t have to overthink. We just need to feel and trust that they will grow up to be Great Kids!

How do show your children that you love them? 🙂 Share a tip on Facebook and / or Instagram and tag @GreatKidsPH and @MommyGinger

Here are the mechanics:

a. A Mommy and Me set will be given to the chosen mom who shares the best tip on what they do to show their child their love on facebook and/or Instagram:)
b. Share your tip using #GreatKidsPH and #MommyGingerFinds so that we can monitor the entries
c. Contest will run from June 10 to July 1. The more posts, the more chances of winning.
d. On July 2, 9am, the winner will be announced via the Mommy Ginger Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/mommyginger/
e. The winner must be willing to claim the prize from any of the branches:

Pois Belly & Kids BOUTIQUES:
– TriNoma: Ground Floor near Activity Center
– SM Megamall: Level 5 The Atrium
– Shangri-la Plaza: Level 4 Main Bldg
– Alabang Town Center: Level 2 Expansion Bldg
– SM Mall Of Asia: Ground Floor in front of Kids Universe
– SM City Cebu: Level 2, Main Mall
– SM City Iloilo: Upper Ground Floor
– SM Lanang Premier Davao: Level 2
– Ayala Center Cebu: Level 3

f. You must be able to show a valid ID upon pick up of the prize 🙂

Post away and good luck!

Growing up as a kid, I learned one thing about every person that I ever had the chance of meeting — every single one has a skill or potential that may be the same or different from what I have. When we were in grade school, I went into business with my sister. We sold pastries and in that business, we defined each one’s roles. She was the one in charge of baking the products. I was in charge of marketing.

Effectively selling to people and influencing them to buy into an idea or product were talents that I had identified early on in my life. Although, when I reached my mid-twenties, I went through a period in my life where I was lost. I didn’t know what to pursue. I got to identify and see so many talents that I felt like I was all over the place. I wanted to do a lot of things. A lot of people said that I needed to focus. I felt like this was a ‘disease’ that I needed to be cured of.

I am seeing this, too, in my daughter. She is such a great kid with so many talents. I see that she loves singing and dancing. I also see that she has a sense of fashion and she has innate talent for mixing and matching outfits (and not to mention posing!).

She loves shopping!

She went straight to the rack of Great Kids!

She searched for the perfect outfit and chose this!

I was worried, because I felt that I had to make her choose and encourage her to stick to that ONE talent. It was just until recently that I realized that this was something that we didn’t have to be ashamed of. While each may be gifted with a unique skill or two, there are also those who are “different”, not because they are highly skilled in one aspect, but because they have a skill set that is unique to them, as formed through a diverse range of interests they themselves developed with constant exposure to different things, and this is something not easily copied by others—the multipotentialites.

By definition, multipotentialites are people who live a life of diverse interests or creative pursuits. Oftentimes, people who are so-called multipotentialites hold many different jobs and careers and have tried many activities throughout their lifetime starting from their adulthood, simply because these things appeal to their curiosity and they find out that they are good at these, too.

A multipotentialite could be a person who is into painting, then later on turned into a writer, and then even later, pursued another unrelated interest. Or, this person may be a musician who turned computer programmer, and then later on, pursued a different job altogether.

When we were young, we were asked by adults what we wanted to become when we grew up. We then would only say just one profession — doctor, accountant, lawyer, etc. For the rather imaginative kids, they would blurt out an engineer-doctor, or a runner-writer-chef. I noticed that oftentimes, when kids would say a bunch of stuff like these, the adults would tell them to just choose one. But, really? Why should they just choose one path? Did anyone or anything limit us to just have one passion? Just one true calling? Multipotentialites are those children and adults who have no “one true calling.” These are people who have so many passions.

Raising a Multipotentialite

The multipotentialites, nor their parents, would not be aware that they may be a multipotentialite in the early stages in their lives. If you find that your child has a strong interest in one thing, then after a few months or a year, wants to switch to another hobby (this cycle of may go on and on), chances are the child is a multipotentialite. I, am a multipotentialite, and I know a lot of friends who are, too. I think my daughter is a multi-potentialite, too!

Regardless of this title or discovery, what we, parents can do is not to overthink. Let’s just support them and expose them to as many fields of interest as possible, and give them the freedom to switch interests and explore early on in their lives. Over time, your child will be independent enough to make choices for himself/herself. If they reach a point when they, too, realize that they have so many talents, we, as parents, will be there to back them up, because now we know better.

P.S. Thanks, Great Kids for allowing us to shoot in your store! 🙂

Great Kids offers fresh, fun and pretty apparel for young girls aged 2-10 yrs old and capsule collections of Infant Girls, Mommy & Me & maternity apparel.

GreatKids is available in

The SM Stores:
– BF Paranaque
– Cubao
– Cebu
– Davao
– Iloilo
– Makati
– Mall Of Asia
– Manila
– Marikina
– Megamall
– North EDSA
– Pampanga

http://www.zalora.com.ph/catalog/great-kids/

Raise Great Kids: Healthy Balance Between Responsibility and Fun

10 Things to Show Love for your Great Kids

Raising Multi-Talented Kids

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