Parenting Tips: How to Positively Influence Your Child

Inspired by our recent trip to a pottery farm, I remember a beautiful poem I first encountered in a parenting seminar.  Likened to a potter, parents have the influence to mold a young child’s innocent and yielding heart like a piece of living clay.  And the poem goes…

A Parent’s Influence

I took a piece of plastic clay

And idly fashioned it one day;

And as my fingers pressed it still,

It moved and yielded at my will.

I came again when days were past,
The form I gave it still it bore,
And as my fingers pressed it still,

I could change that form no more.

I took a piece of living clay,
And gently formed it day by day,
And molded with my power and art,
A young child's soft and yielding heart.
I came again when days were gone;
It was a man I looked upon,
He still that early impress bore,
And I could change it never more.

- Author Unknown

Greater Health...God's Way!

Are you the type of person who always seems to do as you please with regard to your health to the point of abusing or neglecting it?  Consuming all the junk foods, fatty foods, coffee, soda, alcohol and cigarettes you want, or not getting enough rest and exercise?  Or are you the type of person who knows the right way to stay healthy, but choose to ignore and not to follow?  Or are you like me who have the determination to live healthy but did not exactly know how and where to begin?

It was only after I became a stay-at-home, hands-on mom to my two little “angels” that I decided to pursue a healthy lifestyle.  I realized there are now lives that are dependent on me, and it would not be fair to them to not take care of myself as I take care of them.  And as I seek to know God more intimately, all the more that I am determined to honor Him in my life by loving, respecting and taking care of the body God gave me, which is the temple of His Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  To be honest, however, my current health condition is still far from my ideal.  I am still a “work-in-progress” - learning what my options are, and working myself towards pursuing a healthy lifestyle with discipline and determination…and lots of prayer!

Dr. Seuss - The Book Benefits and the Musical

Courtesy of Repertory Philippines

Don’t you just love the classic Dr. Seuss books?  My children and I do.  We have a collection of these all-time children’s favorite classic books by Mr. Theodore Seuss Geisel, better known as the beloved Dr. Seuss.  The nonsense rhymes and repetitive words combine sentences that just make the tongue roll off, not to mention the use of some weird-looking characters and weird-sounding names, are the unique mark of Dr. Seuss that both adults and children alike love.  But do you know that reading Dr. Seuss books also provide some substantial benefits in developing your child’s language skills?

T.E.A.C.H. Green: My Earth-Friendly Tips

As a supporter of “green living”, I mentioned in my previous post some “acts of green” that we do at home.  And everyday I get a daily dose of green living tips from one of my sidebar widgets, which I find really helpful as a friendly reminder and as a good information dissemination tool.  Conservation, recycling and re-planting are just some of the common earth-friendly tips that we hear or read about.  But to put together all that I want to share to you today, there are 5 major earth-friendly tips that my mind can think of right now as I write this blog post, and I found an acronym to best describe them, that is T.E.A.C.H. Green!  Here goes:

1.  Teach –  As parents, I believe it is our social responsibility to help our children understand about the one world they live in, and teach them how to be more environmentally aware and socially responsible for their actions towards their environment.  As a homeschooling mom to my 2 preschoolers, I try to incorporate this in our homeschool subjects, like in Science, Arts and in our simple Social Study lessons.  We also try to do some simple environment-friendly projects like planting a tree and growing a plant and recycling old materials and transforming them into works of art.  We also get a lot of interesting facts about our world and how to take care of it by reading the National Geographic Kids Almanac book and other related materials.

A Trip to Cornerstone Pottery Farm

Last week, our homeschool group visited a pottery farm called Cornerstone Pottery Farm owned by husband and wife, EJ and Eva Espiritu, who happen to be homeschooling parents as well.  Their farm is situated in the cool highlands of Silang, Cavite, and is just about 500 meters away from another favorite farm of mine, Ilog Maria.  The ambiance is very peaceful and relaxing as the farm is situated in seclusion amidst the countless narra trees and coconut trees and bamboo shoots, and can be reached through a dirt road branching out from the main Aguinaldo Highway.  The cool, fresh breeze and the rural experience in Silang is where the Espiritus dwell and thrive in building their world-class products.

Weekend Blog Follower Caravan #21

I’m joining the Weekend Blog Follower Caravan again this week!  It’s been months now since I last joined this very helpful weekend meme hosted by OnlineBiz and Resources.  And since my blog is less than a year old, I think I still need all the help and support I can get from kind fellow bloggers out there.  And lately, what makes it more exciting to join this weekly meme is the $5 added bonus to be raffled off every week among all who participated!  Thanks to Coffee on the Side and Walking News Paper for being this week’s sponsors.

Looking forward to blog-hopping this weekend and connecting with more blogger friends in blogosphere…Have a great WBFC weekend!  Thanks for stopping by. ;-)