Learn From Home Episode 2 - Parent Preparedness in Pandemic Times

Grace and Wonder with Magis Deo Kids

As far back as I can remember, my family and I had facilitated sessions with the kids and the youth of Magis Deo. Domeng and I led the singing in talks designed for them on several occasions. Afterwich, we assisted in activities of the assigned facilitators. A year ago, our eldest, Nico, joined me in the clay workshop for Magis Deo Kids. Last month, it was couple power time again as Domeng and I led a pop-up card making activity for the children.

The grace in taking part in these activities is plentiful. As a family, we get the opportunity to work together outside the comforts and confines of our home. To be called upon by friends and companions in the community to serve and to share our talent is another. We grow as persons when we share and serve the community. This is an experience I personally value. The love and devotion we learn and apply in the family should spread out to the bigger society and to the world in general. Often, parents need the help of others in teaching their children. I am thankful that Magis Deo, in its own way, has helped us raise our children well.

Lastly, it is also a wonderful experience knowing the young children of Magis Deo members and companions. They are diversely talented, confident and respectful kids. Being with the Magis Deo children fills me with hope. Imagine the programs we can design for them. Think about continuity and formation as a developmental program. The fish and bread is multiplying before our eyes and we only need to discern more to know what to do with these graces and wonderment. 

A Peaceful Christmas From Us, the Gagatigas!

Author of the Month: Ma. Teresa Gumap-as Dumadag

I have the pleasure of interviewing Ma. Teresa Gumap-as Dumadag, author and breastfeeding advocate, about her new children's book, Mommy Loves You Just the Same. She shares with us her recommended books for parents to read aloud to their kids and the books that inspired her to become a better mom. Her thoughts on the pros and cons of self publishing lend insight for other authors out there who contemplate on taking this route.

Mommy Loves You Just the Same is an ebook published by Full Life Cube and will have a launching online on May 19, 2016.

Mommy Loves You Just the Same is your first children's book. Congratulations! You have written non-fiction books for adult readers. What was the experience like for you to move from this genre and into children's story writing?  

I was more comfortable writing for adults because I was used to speaking and teaching adults in my line of work as a Consultant for management, human resources and training solutions, as a Career Coach and Counselor and a Speaker. But as I grew more confident in caring for my children and raising them, I entertained the thought of publishing my own children’s book more and more.

It has been my dream to write for children since I became a parent. I loved reading to my kids. It’s one of my favorite bonding moments with them. I have read countless books for them in the past years. These wonderful books that we found inspired me to write my own story about our family life. These books also inspired me to create stories that carry the lessons I want them to learn. Stories are very powerful in bringing our message across. Being a homeschooling mom further strengthened my desire to teach through children’s stories that I myself wrote.

Many Filipino writers are experimenting and migrating into self-publishing online. What are the pros and cons of this business model?

 The pros of this business model are the following: 

• It’s easier and faster to have your book published because you don’t need to wait for traditional publishers to like your work or to wait for publishers to include your book in their publishing schedule.
• You can earn more if you know how to reach a wider audience or a bigger number of people.
• You have more freedom on how your book would look like or how it would be marketed.

The cons are:

• All costs would be on you.
• You need to do all the work or you need to find a good and reliable team who will help you achieve your goals for your book.
• You don’t have the connections or network that the traditional or established publishers have.

What are your top 5 recommended picture books or story books for parents to read aloud to their kids?

Oh, there are so many wonderful books for children! It’s hard to choose only 5. It also depends on what lessons you’d like them to learn from the books you’ll read.

• My top of mind picks are I’d Choose You by John Trent, PhD and Love You Forever by Robert Munsch.
• The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein  
• For babies and very young children, my favorites are the books written by Sandra Boynton like The Going to Bed Book and Hey! Wake Up! My kids love these books so much that they were able to memorize these books right away after reading these to them daily for 1 week when we first bought these books.
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is also one of our favorites. The kids love this simple story with colorful illustrations.
• We also love the Oh Mateo series of books, especially Book 5: The Growling Tummy.

 What are the top 3 books that shaped who you are as a mother?

• Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
• The Power of a Praying Mom and The Power of a Praying Parent both by Stormie Omartian
• The Parent Map by Dr. Harold Sala

If you were to leave your kids a book to read for the rest of their lives, what is it?

The Holy Bible would be that book. 

Bonding Moments Through Books and Reading Part 1 of 2

Tito and Mel Isada on their wedding day.

Mommy Mel Isada is based in the US. She and her husband, Tito, are raising a young reader, their son Matthew. Mel lends us this interview sharing her experience of living in the US but remaining a Filipino at heart. What's more, she tells us why reading is an important part of Matthew's development. Matthew has started preschool and Mel provides him with books they both love to read.

Why invest on books?

I know books can help my son to love reading at an early age and continue the love for it and live with it as part of his daily life. Reading books also is a bonding moment for me and Matthew! It is here where I can see him relate to the real world and find his way to create his own world. 

Describe the challenges of a Filipino family living in the US, particularly, your role as mother to Matthew.
 
As a first time mom in a foreign country, every day is a BIG challenge to face. It needs a lot of mother's love to be able to always put my best foot forward to make my son give the best in him and use it the right way with a touch of Filipino way. It is very fulfilling to see his milestones which includes the use of PO and OPO and kissing of the hand to elders. It is a wonderful feeling that Matthew relates his experiences in his country of origin as he talks in Tagalog like telling his kalesa ride, the tricycle, jeepney and the kaskaserong (fast and rowdy) bus! It is always fun when he sings in the house. 

Pusong Pinoy pa rin!

Ask him to sing a song and he will give you songs from TFC (The Filipino Channel) teleseryes. We never miss to eat Filipino foods. Matthew loves paksiw, adobo, pansit. I read him stories and one of his favorites is the book entitled My Daddy, My One and Only by a Filipino author, Zarah Gagatiga. He would bring it in the car as we go to school for me to read it to him. I read both the English and then the Tagalog version. By the way, if you happen to bring him at Seafood City (Filipino Store) at the veggies section, he can tell you the different veggies while singing Bahay Kubo (in tune). 

It's not a piece of cake raising a kid in US but I'm ready to give it all with the support of my loving husband, Tito. It is very important to us, as parents, to inculcate in Matthew's young mind and heart, until he lives on his own, that he is a Filipino. 

What are Matthew's favorite books?
 
I started reading to him Thomas and his Friends. Thomas (the train) is his first favorite character. I also read Curious George (series). Jack and the Beanstalk, Peter Pan and The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Lately, after our vacation from the Philippines, I started reading My Daddy, My One and Only and Ang Barumbadong Bus.

Part 2 of this post is Matthew's interview on the books he loves to read! 

Tito, Mel and Matthew on vacation in the Philippines.