The Perezes at Smart Parenting Mom Workshops 1: Raising Toddlers

by - 6:44 PM

Friendly. Cheerful. Happy.

These are the usual adjectives that describe my 20-month old son's disposition.

Our family of three had celebratory dinner at Buffet 101 a few weeks ago. My husband left to get his next plate while I fed Popy. He sat on his high chair by the aisle. A woman was about to pass behind him from his right. He watched her, and when she was close enough, grabbed her by her wrist, smiled and said hi. The woman, in awe, stopped by and greeted back. Popy even said goodbye when she left. He did this to three more people.

He is, most of the time, but definitely not always and he seems to be comfortable at being cranky and naughty when with me than when he's with his Tatay.

I'm a yaya-less work-at-home mom who spends time with Popy 24/7. We've had our highs and lows with the lows occurring mostly a few minutes before he naps and when he sees Hotwheels in the toy store and I refuse to buy it (but the father gives in). It gets hard and tricky on weekdays because I have an 8-hour shift and deadlines to meet, and a tantrum, of course, delays me.

Thankfully, like an answered prayer, I was invited by Smart Parenting to attend their Mom Workshop!





Dubbed as Smart Parenting Mom Workshops 1: Raising Toddlers, it was held last March 18 at the Makati Diamond Residences. I so badly needed it. I was able to tag-along my co-mommy blogger and real life beshie (lol) Ferry of ferrywrites.com, my husband Gab and Popy.



Taming Tantrums was the first talk for the afternoon, led by Michelle Tambunting of Young Creative Minds Preschool. Toddlers can be impatient and impulsive, defiant, curious and active, and often have trouble being reasonable. With these, she stressed on the following, among others, but I would like to give emphasis on these three:


1. The importance of understanding them by putting ourselves in their shoes - I'd like to believe that I've tried my best to practice this since day 1. Everytime he was fussy and crying inconsolably, I kept in mind that he's trying to tell me something whenever he's crying, that the world is so much different from the comfort of my tummy and that it was a call that I need to answer, especially that he can't express himself in sentences just yet.

2. Talking in a tone of voice one notch lower than their pitch - We tend to be a notch higher than our son thinking that he's crying and screaming so loudly, that maybe he can't hear us. But we need to talk to him softly, but firmly. We, actually, attended a Waldorf course that encouraged us to call our kids' names in a certain tone, almost melodious, to calm them when they're throwing fits.

3. Explaining our point of view briefly - Okay, I'm a bit guilty of this one. I'm very logical and I tend to explain in long logical litanies. And yes, most probably he won't understand all these logic that I try to tell him.

Michelle also discussed how we can raise kids effectively in this digital age. I'm a natural parenting advocate, but I have to admit that the digital world is something I can't dodge, especially that I work online. Being yaya-less with no other relatives nearby to help me, of course, my son sees how much time I spend in front of the computer. Tendency is, he sits beside me and watches YouTube shows from my mobile just to keep him busy. What I do is, I try to filter what he watches, which are all educational, and he only watches while I work, which isn't too long. After that, it's reading, play and nap time in no paticular order. We have art time somewhere in between, too.



There were also talks by Dr. Carmina Arriola-delos Reyes, a pediatrician and infectious diseases specialist, on pain and fever management and Nicole Hernandez for Belo Baby and how she found the perfect skin care products for her kids.




The last segment was by Arceli Tan of Insular Life who talked about Financial 101 for us parents. We're very much considering this for Popy's future and even asked my husband to speak to her, personally.

We were all treated to a wonderful buffet by Makati Diamond Residences, giveaways from the event's generous sponsors - Insular Life, Belo Baby, and Calpol - and partner concessionaires - Smart Steps and Giant Carrier.




Belo Baby and Nature to Nurture

GSK's Calpol

Pumplepie

Insular Life

Oh, and we don't always win raffles, but when we do, we do it together. Lol! Gab and I won a Belo Baby gift pack each. So lucky of us!

That's me (2nd from the left) and Gab (4th from the left). Look at that happy guy!

Gift packs we won. Hihi! Sorry, the little one unboxed his Tatay's already.

Every momma got a loot bag from Smart Parenting!

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For more vital parenting information visit www.smartparenting.com.ph and follow them on Facebook, Instagram (@smartparenting) and Twitter (@_smartparenting).

Summit Media has 15 websites reaching an average of 22 million viewers monthly, making it the leading lifestyle digital network in the country. Sixteen million of that audience is from the Philippines, representing 27% of the country's total internet population. For more information, visit www.summitmedia.com.ph.

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