Mother of 2

The school year has officially opened this week for me and my eldest son. He is on his second year of school and is currently in the nursery level.

I remember last year when I spent the whole first week of school with him, staying inside the classroom and watching him as he interacted with the other kids, chatting with the other mothers there. I felt so emotional that time because I realized how my son has grown.

I also recall how frantic I was summer of last year trying to determine what school to place my kid into. I cruised around the neighborhood, visiting the nearby pre-schools. I asked my cousins, friends, acquaintances. I searched the DepEd site too as I wanted to ensure that the school I chose was accredited and not some hocus-pocus institution. In the end, it was through the recommendation of my yaya that I found what I felt was the best school for my child.

Here are the things I watched out for in my quest for my kid’s school:

• Should be near our home. Should either be walking distance or or reachable without much inconvenience by public transport (i.e. 1 tricycle ride)
• Should have a small teacher-student ratio. My preference was 8-10 students. I mean 3-year olds are very difficult to manage, and they still need close supervision. How can that be achieved if the class has a population of 30 kids?
• The school should have an acceptable payment plan for tuition fees.
• The school should be transparent on where the fees to be paid will go - no miscellaneous fees of considerable amount (say P2K) with no accounting of where it will be spent for.
• The classrooms should be spacious, with enough room to play and run around a bit.
• The school should have a playground - even a small one.
• The teacher/s should be enthusiastic. I cannot have some grumpy old teacher taking his/her frustrations on my kid.
• Lastly - the principal should be enthusiastic and devoted to kids as well. I do not feel comfortable having a Miss Tapia (stereotype) run the school where I will leave my kid to stay and learn even if it is just for 3 hours.

I am happy that my kid’s pre-school satisfy all of the above and I’ll bet I will have the same challenges once my kid goes on to gradeschool. Thankfully that’s a few years in the future.

Do you want this guy frowning on your child?

When you have young kids, you always seem to find yourself going to the malls, visiting toy stores or the kids section at your local department store. Many malls already have places where the kids can play video games or play bowling, basketball, or catch a prize. Timezone is a famous place that I bet many kids will recognize. Another place I recall is dreamscape which is located in Robinson’s Galleria.

Tiendesitas was put up a couple of years ago and it instantly became a place you could bring your children to. It was child-friendly mostly because of the large Pet section they have.

And then they opened the Fun Ranch. Its basically a place for kids and all kids. It has food carts that sell kiddie goodies, bump cars, carousel, video games, restaurants, salon, cake shop, and other services that cater to kids.

Parents can also reserve a place to hold their children’s birthday parties. Truly it is the dreamland for all kids. One more plus is that it is a few steps away from the Tiendesitas tiangge so mothers and aunts who wish to go shopping after can.

The downside I see is that the place is considerably expensive compared to timezone and dreamscape which offer most of the same services. However, grandma (my mom) was all too willing to shell out any amount just so her grandchildren get to have fun.

Next time you are thinking about a place to bring your kids, drop by the Fun Ranch. It is still a fun place to be.

Updated:
Fun Ranch - http://www.funranch.com.ph/
Frontera Verde, Ortigas Ave.
Corner Libis, QC.
Tel. No: 706-30-29 and 706-3031

Marie Claire magazine featured an article in its May 2007 edition about a certain mother’s club that exists in Japan. This club supposedly is composed of mothers within a community. Membership to the club is believed to be essential to one’s child’s success in school and in the community with regards to access to opportunity. Apparently, membership comes with opened doors to good schools and good services. Much like being in a high school clique.

It is a difficult task to get accepted into the club. One must be deemed acceptable by the members of the club and especially approved by the boss mom. One’s manners, clothes, income, friends, way of life is scrutinized and judged. Once a member, mothers have to behave, dress, walk, talk, and live according to the club’s defined standards which are mostly dependent on the club’s boss mom. Going against the group is social suicide.

Which is why many mothers are pressured into doing things they normally would not do just to be accepted to such an exclusive organization. Many would kill just to belong. Which is what happened one school day for two schoolchildren in Japan - Wakana Takemoto and Jin Sano, both aged five. Their classmate’s mother was supposed to drive them to kindergarten class but later on was killed by the same mother. And this is because the “mother’s club” failed to accept her for reasons we could only surmise.

It is sad how such things could lead to depression and eventually murder. It is sadder to think that truly the victims are the children who are very young to understand such pressures that their parents have to contend with.

This kind of clique is not exclusive to Japan. It exists in many communities around the world. It exists here in our country, maybe not as evident but then it does exist and we as responsible parents should ensure that we take care not to get our children entangled in such adult intricacies.

After all, they are the future - we should ensure they live to enjoy it.