A Semi-Comprehensive List to Manila’s Summer Classes (Sports, Staff Crew, Sensory Play)

Summer is once again here and everyone wants to enroll their child to an interesting activity that can further their child’s holistic development and well being. But where do you start?

Personally, I want my child to develop more academically, so I’ve enrolled my child to CMA (Math), The Reading Station (Reading and Comprehension), Bless Learning Center (Conversational Mandarin) and Aqualogic (Swimming), but other mothers may want something else.

Hence, I have compiled a list of Manila’s available summer classes for 2019. Who knows? You may find the right class for you and your child!

If you want your child to experience being a Kiddie Crew:

McDonalds Kiddie Crew 2019

WHEN/Schedule: Weekday workshop runs for 5 days and each day will last for 2 hours each. While the new weekend workshop option is a 2-day workshop made of 3 hours each.  Time schedule: 10:00 AM, 1:00 PM, and 3:00 PM.  Workshop will run from April 8 to July 7, 2019
WHERE: Participating McDonald’s branch nationwide, see links below for reference.
RATES: P695 (for 5-day workshop) and P595 (for 2-day workshop) inclusive of the workshop uniform (t-shirt, cap, bag, ID with lace), daily workshop materials, and daily meals!
LINKS: For more information, visit the McDonald’s branch nearest you or check their website: https://mcdonalds.com.ph/content/page/kiddie_crew_2019 and Facebook Page for updates.
SOURCE: Credit goes to Mommy Practicality Summer Workshops 2019 to where I copied and pasted this information.

Jollibee Mini Managers Camp (April 1-May 31, 2019, Nationwide)

The Jollibee Mini Managers Camp is a 6-day workshop for 4 to 12 years old kids. To inquire, please proceed to the participating stores yourselves.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/jollibee/mini-managers-camp-2019/2244320688947478/

According to the site, the camp “aims to impart to kid participants the importance of hard work and good values like leadership and responsibility through various fun learning activities. As a bonus, they get to interact with other kids and meet new friends. Example of camp activities include exposure to Jollibee values, store practices, arts and crafts, Yumburger making, ice cream making, dancing and more.”

Rates: Php 650 gets you the following:

• 1 set of Mini Managers Uniform (w/ Name Plate)
• Camp Bag
• Snacks for 6 days
• Other activity materials

Attire: Their Jollibee Mini Managers uniform, black belt, white socks, black shoes, and hair net (for girls) during the entire workshop duration.

Here are a semi-list of participating outlets. You can get the full list at their site here.

Sources: Manila for Kids Summer 2019

If you want your child to be active in Sports:

Milo Sports Clinic (Nationwide)

WHAT: “MILO^® Summer Sports Clinics teaches participants the fundamentals of popular sports and values such as discipline, confidence, and teamwork to help them become more well-rounded individuals.
PROGRAMS: 19 different sports programs
SCHEDULE: Each sports has its own schedule where you can check out here.
How to Register: Pick a sport and region where you’re located to register. Contact the organizers closest to you for registration details.

  

Ready Steady Go Kids (Valle Verde, Pasig City)

Ready Steady Go Kids is a well-known Australian sports and exercise program for kids, offers fun classes that improve your child’s gross motor skills, and learn skills like how to listen, follow directions, and work with other children.

Duration of classes: Classes in Valle Verde 5 run from April 6, 13, 27, May 4, 11, 18, 25, June 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 (every Saturday).

Venue: Valle Verde 5, Pasig
How to enroll: Call +632 211-8344
Price: Php7,800 for 12 classes and Php10,000 for 20 classes
Facebook: Ready Steady Go Kids
Source and Credit to for Information: Smart Parenting

Futbol Funatics (All over Metro Manila)

Want your child to learn soccer? This summer class ends with a blast with a tournament to rev up your child’s competitive spirit.

Program Information: Futbol Funatics offers year-round camps in various locations around Metro Manila, specifically Cavite, Paranaque, Alabang, Makati, Taguig and Pasig.

Schedule: April 1-May 15, 2019. Each module has 10 sessions, with 5-6 modules offered per camp venue per year. Enrollees are accepted any time throughout a module.
Training Frequency: 2x per week.
Class Duration: The Beckham Buddies sessions (ages 3 to beginner 6’s and 7’s) run for 1 hour, while sessions for all other older age groups run for 1.5 hours.
Ages: At least 3 years old
Contact: 0917-329-0011
Schedules: Full schedule here.
Venues:

• Cuenca Park, Ayala Alabang Village, Muntinlupa (April 3 to May 15, Wed & Fri, 8:30 a.m.)
• Tahanan Village Park, BF Homes, Parañaque (April 3 to May 15, Wed & Fri, 4:30 p.m.)
• Urdaneta Park, Urdaneta Village, Makati (April 2 to May 16, Tue & Thu, 4:30 p.m.)
• BGC-Turf, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig (April 1 to May 15, Mon & Wed, 4:30 p.m.)
• Meralco Fitness Center Oval, Ortigas Ave., Pasig (April to May 19, Sat & Sun, 4 p.m.)
• Elizabeth Seton Field, Imus, Cavite (Schedule TBA)
• Goodstart School – Philamhomes, Quezon City (Schedule TBA)

How to enroll: Make your reservations via text message to +63 917 329-0011 (for all venues except Philamhomes, QC). Messages should follow this format: Full Name of the child + Age + Camp Venue + Module Period. Within 24 hours, Futbol Funatics will send you a response regarding the availability of slots.

Price: Ranges from Php550 (1 session) to Php4,000+ (all sessions)
Website: http://www.futbolfunatics.com/
Facebook: Futbol Funatics
Source and Credit to for Information: Smart Parenting

Bohemian Football School (Paranaque City)

Summer is just around the corner and Bohemian Football School is doing its first Summer Camp for kids who want to learn or develop their skills in Football!

A tribute to Filipino Football legend Paulino Alcántara, The Bohemian Football School is a training program that strategically focuses on strengthening the player’s fundamental skills. It is a program that you can choose to opt as your child’s primary football training, or an appending football mastery class on top of your child’s ongoing club or varsity football training.

Ages: Age 4 to 15 years old
Child to Coach Ratio: 1 coach to 10 students max
Venue: Sessions will be conducted at The Village Sports Club, Paranaque City
Contact: footballschool@bohemiansc.com.ph or 09177744696
Website: www.bohemiansc.com.ph
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bohemianfootballschool/

Taekwondo Lessons at The Upper Deck Sports Center (Pasig City)

FitKids’

FitKids’ Summer Programs offer a variety of fitness programs aimed to increase collaboration, active fun and learning. They offer the following classes in different venues in and around the city:

• Ballet: Makati, Taguig, Alabang, QC and Manila
• Hip-hop: Makati, SM Aura, QC
• Football: ⚽️ Blue Bay Pasay, Binondo, SM Aura, Salcedo Makati, Rockwell, San Antonio Village Makati, and Marikina!
• Judo programs: SM Aura, Makati

Here are the classes available in Makati, powered by Cambridge Salcedo and Groundworks by Playworks:

Classes in Taguig and BGC Areas:

Classes in Quezon City and Manila:

Please check out their Facebook account for more details:

Contact: 0917 513 8377
For Ages: 1.5 years old to 12 years old
How to enroll: Send a message to FitKids official Facebook page to reserve a slot.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fitkidsph/

Swimming classes at Aqualogic Swim Co. (Various Locations)

It’s never too early to start fostering swimming skills in your little one! Aqualogic Swim Co. offers year-round swim classes for kids of all ages: AquaBabes for children ages 6 to 35 months, AquaKids for children ages 3 to 14, and AquaTech for children ages 15 and above.

Rates are also reasonable given how important swimming is as a skill to learn:

To reserve or enroll, simply text their numbers and they’re quite responsive.

 

To contact them:

Aqualogic Swim Co.
Tel: 0917-858 2782, 0917-703-6386, 02-703-6386
Website: www.aqualogicswimco.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aqualogicswim/

Swimming classes at Bert Lozada Swim School (All over Metro Manila)

Bert Lozada Swim School (BLSS) is the biggest and well-managed swim school in the country, employing an average of 150 teachers, coaches and staff. From a single venue in 1956 (YMCA Manila), it now has 56 venues all over the country. The school has produced 7 Olympians, several national swimmers and record holders.

Programs: http://www.bertlozadaswimschool.com/programs

How to register? Check out their list of accredited Bert Lozada Swim School locations via:

1. Visit their website: www.bertlozadaswimschool.com
2. Call them at Tel: (632) ‎563-5532, or
3. Send them a message at their Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bertlozadaswimschool

If you want your child to enroll in a variety of other activities:

Photography: 1 Day Young Photography Workshop for Kids

Young Photographers: Photography Workshop for Kids 2019

Is your child aged 8-17 years old and is showing interest in taking pictures with remarkably great photos? Would you like them to enhance their talent in photography?

Manila Workshops and Cath Kidston would like to invite you to this year’s Photography Workshop for Kids!

What Kids Will Learn:

1. The Camera and How It Works
• Bodies and lenses.
• Capabilities and limitations

2. Why Are We Getting Blurred Photos?
• Exposure triangle lecture and hands-on
• Aperture and depth of field
• Shutter speed and motion
• ISO

3. Camera Handling and Care

4. Why you need to shoot in the best lighting conditions and finding what works.
• Light and exposure (further demo on the exposure triangle)
• Understanding light and how to use it to your advantage.
• Artificial lighting and Natural light
• Hard and soft lighting.
• Modifying light

5. Quick formulas to ensure good photos.
• Elements of composition.
• Subject, foreground, and background relationship.
• Emphasis.
• Rule of thirds.

6. Visual exercises and the IG game.
• Photo challenge
• Portraits
• Still life
• Abstract/IG game

EVENT DETAILS:

Date: April 13, 2019
Time: 11AM – 6PM
Venue: Cath Kidston, BGC, Taguig City

LEARNING RATES:

Early Bird Rate: Php 2,499.00
Regular Rate: Php 3,499.00

**Workshop Fee is inclusive of handouts, certificates, giveaways and snacks!**

For more details contact:
VENI – veni.anabo@manilaworkshops.com | 09272816651

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Quezon City Activities:

Bless Learning Resources (Banawe, Quezon City)

Address: 219-6 Biak na Bato, Quezon City, Philippines
Contact: 0943 858 3211
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blesslearningresources/

Hello Munchkins Play Cafe (Banawe, Quezon City):

Address: 219 Biak na Bato, Barangay Manresa, Quezon City
Tel: 961-4634 or 0917-528-9163
Ages: 2 to 10 years old
Email: hellomunchkinsplaycafe@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hellomunchkins/

Smallville Montessori: Arts & Crafts, Yoga, Cooking, Reading, Music @ (Katipunan, QC)

Smallville Montessori Katipunan
Location: 21 Esteban Abada St. Loyola Heights QC
Contact: 0917-898=8374 or 932-6322
Class Times: From 10am-12nn, 2x to 3x per week
Rates: P15,000 for the whole month

Pasig City Activities:

Messy Baby Play (UA&P, Pasig City)

Why messy? Because is fun!  Especially when each session has thematic, sensory play stations that allow your little ones to explore colors, shapes and textures, with you guiding them.

It’s a great way to bond with your little ones, and observe how they relate to different objects and experiences.

For example, for water play:

Beat the summer heat while engaging your little ones in water play! Water’s one of the best open-ended mediums to interact with—depending on presentation—we’ve had them sudsy, colored, frozen—whatever shape or form, kids loooove playing with it!

And it isn’t just all splashing, splooshing, and making a fun mess, water play is an exercise in gross and fine motor skills, and for our toddlers who are crazy about transfer work and pouring, their play can also

☀️ Begin an understanding of the concepts of less and more
☀️ Develop eye-hand coordination
☀️ Help develop problem solving skills
☀️ Engage their senses with varied presentations—warm, cold, solid, sudsy, colored

What’s even more awesome, is if you have a little patch of green grass available to you, you can set up right there, and not only keep your little one busy with play, you get to water the plants too! 😊 Multitasking, and conservation! Well, every little bit helps. We hope your access to water’s a-okay. To water play, you won’t need much. 😉

Check out what we have in store for you this week, as we come to the last few sessions of Term 1! We have a few more slots left at CDE, we hope to see you there!

Just send us a DM, or head over to messybabyplay.com/register —it’s the link in our bio.

To Register: http://messybabyplay.com/register/
Locations: Makati and Ortigas Center
Price: Php 3,900.00 
Website: www.messybabyplay.com

To be Continued if I have time….

 

Summer is Here! And so are Summer Classes!

Pre-school just ended this week, and summer has just begun. Apparently, my daughter has 3.5 months of summer break to enjoy before she resumes her regular classes.

Fortunately, so many people are offering a broad variety of summer classes. That’s why, I’m swamped with deciding which activity I am to enroll her. Yipee!!!

While money is no object (since many of the classes are affordable anyway), I have to be more selective on which class to enroll her since I don’t want to tire her unnecessarily.

I still do want her to enjoy summer as she’s only 3 years old. 🙂

Just in case you’re wondering, my decisions are based on five important factors, as follows:

1. Schedule for more convenient Logistics – The classes must fit each other.  I don’t want her classes to be all over the place.
2. Location – It still has to be graphically desirable.
3. Enrolling her must make sense on the type of person I want her to be – Sorry, but I don’t think I’d want her to be a ballerina, so ballet classes while cute, is a no go.
4. Talent – She must have a natural affinity for it. My daughter cannot draw and doesn’t seem to be interested in coloring so no art classes for her.
5. Reviews and Referrals – Which is why I picked two of her classes, CMA and The Reading Station. Both programs come highly recommended by my peers.

To be honest, her learning how to cook or to dance may be cute, but we don’t really think it’s that important at this time.

We can teach her how to cook and bake at home (or at least, wait until she’s a little bit older to appreciate it), and from what I heard, dancing classes at such a young age may not be optimal as other older kids may overshadow her.

In the end, I’ve enrolled her in the following classes, and I’m very happy with my choices. Here they are for your reference:

1. Swimming Classes: Aqualogic Swim Co.

My class of choice is from Aqualogic Swim Co.

Photo Credit: Aqualogic Swim Co.

Swimming is a very important life skill, and I think it’s important for a child to get over their fear of water at a young age. Aqualogic has a lot of venues available, and their Richmonde Hotel Ortigas class is set in an indoor heated pool (I like!).

Rates are also reasonable given how important swimming is as a skill to learn:

We are enrolling our daughter twice a week for the entire summer. It’s easy to enroll them. Simply text their numbers and they’re quite responsive.

To contact them:

Aqualogic Swim Co.
Tel: 0917-858 2782, 0917-703-6386, 02-703-6386

2. Math: CMA Mental Arithmetic

I wanted to enroll her at CMA ever since we conceived our child, but was forced to wait until she was 3 years old before we could enroll her.

This is the class that excited us the most. Why?

Watch and be impressed:

Here’s her assignment for Class 1 — Pairing builds up familiarization to the Chinese Abacus. Even my husband wants to learn how.

After seeing the kids compete in a CMA Competition in SMX, we were sold. We’ve been wanting to enroll her ever since. Can’t believe she’s starting now. 🙂

The rates are also reasonable for me:

Php 4,200 for 8 sessions + Php 2,500 for materials = Php 6,700.00 per month
Makeup classes: 2 classes

To inquire:

CMA Mental Arithmetic
East of Galleria Building, Topaz Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig City
Tel: +63 2 584 9670, +63 917 568 6875
https://www.cma.ph/

3. Reading: The Reading Station

Self explanatory. I believe that books open up a lot of world for kids and so far, I’ve heard a lot of good reviews about The Reading Station. There are a lot of branches available, and I booked the branch that is closest to my husband’s place of work:

Taken from the website, here are the program details:

The Phono-Graphics Reading Program (COURSE LENGTH: 2 1/2 years to 3 years)

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The Phono-Graphics Reading Program also known as the PGRP is a course for Early Reading Literacy. With practice, training and discipline, goals are achieved.

The program is designed for non readers and emergent readers ages 3 1/2 to 7 years old.

Kids who are found to be more than 7 years old but with reading skills covered still in the program are accepted in the center.

Special emphasis is given to decoding, encoding, comprehension and early love for reading.

COURSE GOALS

• Early Reading (Decoding)
• Spelling (Encoding)
• Comprehension Skills
• Vocabulary Build up
• Sentence Construction
• Language Skills
• Basic Paragraph Writing
• Reading Discipline
• Very Early Love for Reading

Rates are a little bit higher but let’s try before we complain — Php 18,000 for 36 hours or 3 months program, at one hour per class.

To inquire, book for an assessment at the branch closest to you:

The Reading Station – Philippines
MAIN BRANCH
Unit C, 109 Scout De Guia, Brgy.,
Sacred Heart, Quezon City, Philippines
Tel: +63 917 100 5252  •  +63 2 358 3337
Branches:  http://www.trs.ph/branches.html
Website: http://www.trs.ph/index.html#about

4. Conversational Mandarin: Bless Learning Resources

This is the first time for me to try Bless Learning Resources but their summer program looks very interesting.

I talked to Teacher Eliza today, and was interested in their conversational Mandarin class. Ideally held 3x a week for the summer period for one hour per class, their conversational Mandarin focuses on words that are regularly used daily like:

“How are you?”

“What’s your name?”

“How much is it?”

It’s a great complement to her now Chinese classes at her preschool.

To inquire:
Bless Learning Resources
Address: 219-6 Biak na Bato corner Makaturing St. Brgy Manresa Quezon City
Tel: 560-4519, 0943-858-3211
Look for Eliza

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I’ve stopped at enrolling my daughter at four since just these alone will give her a busy schedule with two varied classes per day. Here’s her schedule:

• Swimming: 2x a week, 1 hour per class
• CMA Math: 2x a week, 1 hour per class
• The Reading Station: 3x a week, 1 hour per class
• Conversational Mandarin: 3x a week, 1 hour per class

Overall, I’m happy with her choices. I know it looks like a lot, but it’s over a space of 6 days so it’s quite loose.

I will revisit this post after daughter finishes her programs to give you an unbiased review on how good these programs really are.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Big Bad Wolf Haul this Year!

We went to The Big Bad Wolf book sale last night at The World Trade Center. The book sale runs from February 22 to March 4, and is open 24 hours a day.

Admission is FREE and the crowds have significantly thinned when we went, which made for a comfortable shopping experience.

This year, I only bought this for myself — The Innovators by Walter Isaacson (₱290) and The Elephant and the Dragon by Robyn Meredith (₱350):

But I went crazy for my daughter since the BBW booksale is a great place to buy hard bound books for the Little ones. Here were my best picks for the price:

My daughter really loved this, The My Little Pony Metal Case Set (₱390)

The Paw Patrol Pup Pals Storybook and DVD (₱350)

Louise and Andie: The Art of Friendship by Kelly Light (₱230) and The Best Book of Fairy Tales by Miles Kelly (₱350). My brother also bought another book by Miles Kelly for Nursery Rhymes:

Bully: A Lift-the-Flap book illustrated by Naomi Tipping (₱190). Never too late to learn about bullying.

1001 Things to Find: Stage School and Cheeky Monkey (₱190 each)

The Hippo Magic’s Augmented Reality Books that cost ₱290 each. We got The Three Little Pigs, Velveteen Rabbit and Goldilocks. My brother got the Little Red Riding Hood and Counting Numbers.

Interesting concept and easy to read. Please note though that not all pages are interactive. You still need to read most of the pages to your toddler.

Don’t worry, there’s a lot of stock of these babies at the booksale. I don’t think you’ll really run out.

And some activity books ranging from ₱100 to ₱290 each:

The Now, No and Why Book by Tracey Corderoy cost ₱160 each. The sticker books were cheap at ₱100 to ₱120 each.

To be perfectly honest, I saw better finds last year than this year. They had a full row of Young Adult and Fiction books this year, but less of what interests me, Business & Economics and Cooking.

No matter, booksales are always a treat and the Big Bad Wolf is always an event. Regardless of your interests, you WILL still find some great steals that will be enough for the entire year.

We went last night, Monday, Feb 25, and there weren’t any lines anymore. I heard they’re restocking so there’s more to go around.

Here’s daughter and father going for their midnight snack. Have a good evening everyone!

Mommy Chronicles: How to Raise a Budding Entrepreneur

“One dollar! One dollar!” exclaims my daughter as she tries to sell her wares to my staff from the shop set her grandma gave her today.

She must have learned selling from Ryan’s Toy Review. Either that, or one dollar is too cheap a price for legitimate wares.

Another Mommy asked how to teach kids entrepreneurship a few days before.

My father was an entrepreneur.

My mother was an entrepreneur.

And I later grew up to be an entrepreneur as well.

I don’t really remember my parents actively teaching me how to be an entrepreneur.

So how the heck did I turn out to be one?

It’s the Littlest Most Mundane Details

My father used to teach me about entrepreneurship without me knowing it.

We would go to a restaurant, and we would analyze if this restaurant was profitable or not.

“How many staff are there at the store?” he would ask.

“There’s ten,” I’d answer. And would proceed to count them one by one.

“Good,” he would reply. “If each employee cost php 13,500, how much would the total labor cost be?”

“₱13,500 times ten is php ₱135,000.” The middle school me would answer, pleased that my multiplication tables can now be used.

He continues to ask, “Let’s say rent and overhead which includes electricity is php 60,000, how much is the total cost of running this business?”

“₱135,000 plus ₱60,000 equals php 195,000.” I would answer. This is easier math.

“So let’s say cost of doing business is rounded up to php200,000, how many meals do you need to sell to break even?” He asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked, now confused.

“Okay, how much is the price per meal?” He would then ask.

“It’s php 100,” I would answer. “And there’s four of us so that’s php 400 for our table, more or less.”

“Now, if the cost of the food is php 30 per order, that means per meal has php 70 of profit,” he concludes. “If you make php 70 per meal, how many meals do you sell to break even?”

Ahhhhhh…. see the point?

“Cost of business is php 200,000. Divide php 200,000 by php 70 profit per meal, how many meals is that?” He asked.

“2858 meals!” I excitedly answer.

“Now divide 2858 meals by 30 days, how many meals must be sold per day to break even?”

“95 to 96 meals a day, daddy,” I answered.

“Or 50 meals per lunch and dinner,” he would say. “Or around 10 to 15 tables per meal hour. Look around you. Is this restaurant full? How many diners are here on a weekday lunch?”

There was only 4 tables dining. Two had two people, one was a sole diner and there was us, 4 on a table — or 7 people in total.

“The restaurant isnt making money,” he concluded. “It will close down in a few months unless they change something. Anything.”

“How sure are you, daddy?” I asked.

“Do the math,” he said. “And you will know.”

Sure enough, the business DID close down.

It was tragic to see.

I am sure that the owners were well intentioned and had high hopes and dreams when they opened the store, but you can’t fight against the tide if the numbers were against you.

And that was how my dad taught me about entrepreneurship.

Not by reading a book or taking a class.

But by analyzing every business that we come in.

Every single day.

My daughter is only 3 and there’s still more to teach her.

Right now, she’s just selling things for one dollar. Tomorrow, hopefully she’ll be selling more at a profit.

Teaching about entrepreneurship is like building the pink towerZ

You talk to her everday about the most mundane things, and build it up, until years later, without her really knowing it, she inevitably becomes an entrepreneur.

Because this was what her parents did.

Because this was something you guys talked about every day.

Because this was her training.

Because this training became her calling.

And that is how you raise an entrepreneur.

One day at a time.

Upbringing Makes a Difference

I talked about the Big Bad Wolf Booksale the other day. We were all having a ball scouring through rows and rows of books. My 2 year old daughter kept on putting books to the pushcart while my poor mother and her yaya was putting them back.

I had a small realisation: While we were so excited in finding good books for my daughter, her yaya was bored. Real bored.

This was so different during the Toy Sale when she was also scouring through the different offerings in the hopes of buying her 7 year old daughter the latest Barbie or teddy bear at discounted prizes. During the Toy Sale, she was even more excited than us, and even borrowed money just to do her purchase.

I realized how our priorities are different. Yaya was so gungho in buying her daughter the latest toys and gadgets. I pour the same amount of energies to buying books for my daughter.

Here is her bookcase months ago. She has a lot mote books now. Daughter is super spoiled when it comes to books.

I think it’s these little details that make big differences in a child’s brain. While one cannot control a child’s intelligence or personality too much (we can blame genetics for that), we can however guide our child to what we think is the right direction.

For me, it’s teaching my toddler a love of learning and reading. It’s to appreciate storytelling, expand her imagination, and for her to know that when it comes to books, her Mommy’s purse is open.

My daughter can identify letters from the age of 2. She can count from one to 20. Her vocabulary has expanded. I have her school to thank for that.

To be honest, I realised yaya doesn’t read. During her spare time, she listens to music, check Facebook or call her relatives. Consequently her daughter most likely doesn’t like to read too… not if her toys and gadgets are available.

I want my children to read. I want them to love the written world. I want them to go bonkers on booksales over toy fairs. I want them to treasure studying. That’s why I invest in books. In early learning. This is the difference upbringing makes.

These are the little things that make me happy. It also made me realize that parents must do our part to ensure our kids love to learn, and the way we do it is to expose them as much as possible to books and learning at a young age, so that they will welcome these tools with love as they grow up.

So how about you? Will you invest in a new ipad for your kids? Or books? Hope it’s the latter, because a love for the written word is one of the best things we can teach our child.

Have a good week everyone!

The Biggest Book Fair in Manila is HERE!

The Big Bad Wolf Book Fair is now ongoing at World Trade Center from February 16 to 25, 2018. The fair is 24 hours and last continuously everyday until midnight of February 25.

Entrance is FREE and the venue is airconditioned. The only thing they don’t allow are food and drinks. Books are usually sealed but there’s often a sample book that’s available for you to browse. The fair does replenish titles daily.

Pushcarts are provided for shopping convenience and after checking out, they do have a helper to assist you in carting your purchases out. Cash, debit cards and credit cards are all accepted.

Parking is a bit of a hassle and bringing a driver is recommended. One can park across the street at Wensha Spa for php35 and walk a bit to the fair. Not a big problem if you ask me.

We went last Friday and boy, was it FULL!

Great thing there were 42 cashiers so lines were still manageable. They do have priority lanes for PWDs and senior citizens so bringing my mom was a plus.

According to the cashier, there were 2 million books on sale. And we had our fun browsing through different titles. They had books categorized into Architecture, Travels, Transportation, Cooking and Baking, Self-Help, Movies & Music, History and Biography, Business & Economics, Young Adults, Romance, Hobbies & Recreation, Fashion & Beauty, Young Readers among others. Half of the hall were Children’s Books!

Here were our purchases on the first trip:

Usborne Big Picture Atlas 370

Please 160

Thank You 160

Sorry 160

Mary Had a Little Lamb 230

Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes 190

My Book of First Words (Kasia Bowowiejska) 160

Toddler Town Zoo 160

Hoot, A-Holesome book of counting 190

Young Learners Picture Dictionary 190

How do Dinosaurs Stay Friends 290

Frozen Puzzle Book 290

Big Book of Aesop Fables 390

Tall and Short, a peek-through Book of Opposites 190

Dino, a Cracking Book of Colors 190

Playtime Stories Campbell Baby 190

Cinderella, James Newman Gray 230

Little red riding Hood, James Newman Gray 230

Frozen Poster Collection 100

My husband also dorked out and bought these:

I on other hand built up my collection:

Yesterday, we came back and hulled the following books:

My Little World: Love, A Heart-Warming Book of Giving 190

My Little World: I Love my Daddy 190

My Enormous Book of Numbers 330

The Great Big Dinosaur Treasury – 390

Pompom Panda Gets the Grumps (Sophy Henn) 230

Ladybird Favourite Stories 350

We are Best Friends 230

Dora Look and Find 290

Monkey Not Ready for Kindergarten (Marc Brown) 190

My Book of Counting (Britta Teckentrup) 190

Freddie the Fish, Star of Show 160

Seasons Come Seasons Go Tree (Britta Teckentrup) 290

How I Did It (Linda Ragsdale) 290

The Mr Men Show Popup Book 290

Hoppity Hop Peekaboo 160

Princess Baby Night Night 160

Wolfie the Bunny 230

Can You Find Happy Cow

Fish Food Popup (Andy Mansfield) 190

Up & Down (Britta Teckentrup) 290

1000 Fantastic Stickers 190

Bad Kitty’s Tasty Treats (Nick Bruel) 290

The Almost Terrible Playdate 230

Julius Jr. Stickertastic 100

Pinkabella 2000 stickers 190

Super Animals 2000 stickers 190

My Big Wipe Clean Around the World 230

Doodle Numbers (Taro Gomi) 190

Alphabet Activity Sticker Book 230

Kimmidoll Junior Best Friends Sticker Book 160

The Triple Package (Amu Chua and Jed Rubenfeld) 230

The Patron Way (Ilana Edelstein) 190

Winning the Customer (Lou Imbriano) 290

How to Speak Money (John Lanchester) 350

The Moment You Can’t Ignore (Malachi O’ Connor) 290

Icons and Idiots (Bob Lutz) 190

I Love You More than My Dog (Jeanne Bliss) 190

Fizz (Ted Wright) 290

Habit (Charles Duhigg) 190

Running the Gauntlet (Jeffrey Hayzlett) 290

Fairness is Overrated (Tim Stevens) 290

A Bigger Prize (Margaret Heffernan) 230

The Mind of the Customer (Richard Hodge) 290

We also bought cookbooks and books for kids for my yaya’s daughter.

Overall, The Big Bad Wolf Booksale is a real treat for all book lovers. If you love books and don’t mind to go one time big time, this is a great show for you!

“Your Child is ‘Matigas ng Ulo’ (Hardheaded)”

My daughter’s teacher has been complaining about our 19-month old child. She said that our kid is strong-willed and hard headed.

The teacher also said that she has a tendency to hurt herself when she is frustrated. According to the teacher, our baby goes dabog dabog (pull a tantrum) when she doesn’t get her way, stomping her feet in frustration.

This unfortunate news was met with shock by the husband and the grandmother. 

“They don’t know our kid!” they exclaimed. “She’s not even 30 and don’t even have kids. How can she be a good judge on whether a child is hardheaded or not? All kids her age are the same way!”

That’s what parental love is — if other people criticize your child, you become a protective tigress and immediately defend them. 

In my husband’s case, he can’t help but think that the teacher is picking on our kid, singling her out. “She’s been complaining about her over the last two days,” he said. “Does she complain about other kids too?”

My own mother is at a loss too. This is the first time a teacher has actually criticized my child. Most of the time, teachers love and adore her.

To be honest, I am a bit surprised too. 

My daughter is sweet and helpful. She is very active and likes to learn. In class, she’s usually in front listening intently to the teacher. And while she is stubborn and opinionated, a little bit of personality does not hurt anyone. 

“Do you want a pushover for a daughter?” my husband asked. “You said you wanted personality. Well, you got personality.”

Personally, I think being defensive is an automatic reaction by any parents who love their child. It’s easy when other people adore our kids. It’s hard if other people don’t like our kids as much. 

I think maybe the teacher doesn’t like our child as much. In defense, our child doesn’t lean towards her as much with the other teachers. While she can easily show affection to other people, she is a bit wary with this one, which may cause the teacher to single her out. 

Regardless, I’d like to believe the alternative — that the teacher is telling the truth and our kid truly can be stubborn and hard headed. She is our firstborn daughter and the first grandchild after all. 

If that’s the case, this might be an eye opener for us. That our daughter may not be as sweet as we think she is, and we may have to adjust how we deal with her a bit so that she won’t turn into a complete brat. 

In the end, we chose our school for a reason. They chose their teachers following strict standards, and we have to respect that these teachers know exactly what they are doing.

It’s very tempting to paint the teachers as the bad guys. That they are wrong and we know our children better. 

But if we fall into that trap, we don’t do our kid or ourselves any favors. If we think we can do better, why don’t we homeschool them ourselves?

The truth is, we can’t do it better. 

We aren’t trained teachers and we don’t have the time to teach our children. The school has been there for decades and the teachers are properly trained and must follow a strict curriculum. 

Teachers deal with a lot of children everyday. 

Because they observe a lot of kids, they can see disturbing patterns earlier. If left unchecked, our daughter might become increasingly difficult. 

So even though the news is hard to accept, I thank the teacher for opening our eyes. For bringing this to our attention. 

Again, teachers are not the enemy. They are our partners in teaching our kids academic knowledge and common sense. It’s critical that we work together to maximize our kids potential.

How about you? Do you get defensive when your own child is criticized?

Mommy Review: Gymboree Magnolia

Like many mothers, I have enrolled my baby on both Gymboree and Kindermusik. For Kindermusik, my baby has finished a semester and one unit in two of their branches. For Gymboree, we have only availed of their Php 600 trial class in their branch at Robinsons Magnolia.

What Gymboree Magnolia Looks Like

Here’s what Gymboree Magnolia looks like — padded floors and materials, with wooden and plastic slides. Despite its “safe” environment, you still have to supervise and watch your child especially as they can always bock their head if they fall.

As you can see, there are still some hard corners a child can hit himself/herself with if you’re not careful. It will not kill your child, but it’s enough to give them a bruise.

Given that it’s inside the mall, the area is lighted with fluorescent and can be a bit dark. There’s no natural light pouring in, which is one limitation of a mall area that cannot be helped.

The area is clean though and well maintained. It just doesn’t look bright and brand new, but heck, that’s not what we’re there for.

The price can be a bit confusing.

Instead of charging the parents per class or per semester, Gymboree charges an annual membership fee of Php 2,000 before you can enroll your child to a class.

There’s a lifetime membership of Php 4,000 which you can use most likely until your child is 5 years old. After which, I don’t think Gymboree will hold their attention any longer.

The class rates are cheaper when you enroll to more classes. If you enroll your child to Gymboree 4x a day for 48 weeks for example, class is almost half the price at Php 500 + the 1-time annual fee of Php 2,000.

For simplicity sake, I made this chart so you can understand the price per class better. I don’t like confusing marketing so this chart will help you decide which classes are for you:

Being a member, you can avail of the gym free play schedule, a sample of which is as follows. As you can see, despite paying for the annual membership fee, you still cannot come and play whenever you want. Instead, you follow the schedule given by the branch.

As you can see, prices are NOT that cheap for an hour’s worth of play. I will talk about the program later on so you can see if it’s worth it for you or not. But in comparison, the price I pay for Kidzoona with 1 baby child is only Php 450, so a Gymboree class is almost equivalent to what you pay for in Kidzoona free play.

A Kindermusik class is Php 875 for the same hour (but with no annual fee), so technically, a Kindermusik class is slightly cheaper than Gymboree for the same amount of time your son or daughter spends in class.

Thankfully, Gymboree is one of those programs where you can try first before you enroll. Trial class was Php 600 for my child. That way, you can see if this class is meant for you before you part with your hard-earned money.

There are several classes available for Gymboree depending on age

Since my daughter is still less than 18 months old, we availed of the free trial class for Gymboree Play & Learn 3. After her class, we also checked out the Play & Learn 4 class, and it’s mighty similar to Play & Learn 3 except that the children are more active, and there’s a small up in terms of difficulty.

At first, the class begins with the child and their caretaker embarking in a brief sing-along, sang acapella by the teachers. This was followed by the first activity where the child, with some support, is asked to:

1. Crossing a makeshift bridge with pillows,
2. Climbing a wooden slide
3. Walking across the plank
4. Getting the colored pillows and
5. Placing them in a plastic box at the end of the plank before
6. Coming down the steps facing backwards

Yes, it’s that complicated. I think the 1-year old children finish the activity with TONS of help from their adult companions. For children who are older, they can do the activities with a lot more ease, but it’s still almost the same steps.

Thankfully, given that there were only 4 kids in the class, the teacher-student ratio was terrific.

For this session, there were two teachers and one assistant for a group of 4 students.So even though that some of the kids couldn’t even walk, everyone still managed to finish the activity in 10 minutes or so time. There’s a lot children can do with adults’ help!

After this activity, they had to climb another slide, push down pillowed shapes down the holes, before rolling two balls after reaching the top, and then sliding down.

Another activity was climbing up the stairs with assistance, moving across the pillowed tube before sliding down after reaching the end:

Another activity was sitting on a circle, singing songs, playing with some toys, and then appreciating the blowing bubbles song.

The class lasted 1 hour 15 minutes. As a whole, there was singing, a lot of movement and activity, and some free play.

My Thoughts on Gymboree

I can only talk about the trial class we experienced last week so do take my advice with a grain of salt.

Personally, Gymboree is a great program for you to plunk your child in if you want them to be occupied by an hour or two per day. After Gymboree, you can enjoy some merienda as a family in the foodcourt outside.

However, if you are operating on a limited budget and can only pick one class, I would suggest you sign up for Kindermusik instead. I say this with much caution especially since I know that a lot of mothers are big fans of Gymboree, but analyzing the two programs as a whole, I feel that Kindermusik is more cohesive, more professionally ran, and honestly speaking a better program than Gymboree.

Not that Gymboree is bad, but it’s just that the quality of Kindermusik Philippines is simply above average. From what I’ve heard, Teacher Jeannie of Cubao and BGC Chapter is one of the best Kindermusik teachers in the world. Now, how rare is that?

Kindermusik’s pricing scheme is also more straightforward than Gymboree. You can pay per class, or for a semester, and the prices don’t really vary too much.

And effect wise, while my daughter was tired after Gymboree, I felt that she enjoyed Kindermusik a lot more. The songs are catchier and are more ingrained to her brain. For example, if she pulls a tantrum, all I have to do is to sing to her and she immediately breaks into a smile.

Regardless, given that these two programs have trial classes available, you can go and see for yourself which program is better for you. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Gymboree directly. Details are as follows:

Website: http://www.gymboree-ph.com/
Phone Customer Service: (632) 817-0951 local 251
Customer Service Hours: 9am to 5pm
Email Customer Service: tellgymbo@gymboree-ph.com