Something to Blog About

I love reading other people’s blogs but I never like writing one. Not that I do not like to, it is just that I could not find anything that might be interesting for others to read. I always tell myself that I will write one as soon as something worth blogging about comes along.

Well, I think I finally have something. It is about something that happened just this Saturday in a reunion of all the batches of the graduates of Educhild.

Educhild, a term for Education of the Upbringing of Children, is an organization which helps parents become better parents, as I like to define it. Jing and I have attended a parenting course in Educhild some 4 years ago, and last Saturday was a reunion of all the batches (batch 1 to 8) that have graduated since the course was given in Antipolo some years back. Thus, I felt honored to have one of the organizers call me and ask if our eldest child can be part of the program that night as she can say something about what Educhild has done for our family since we graduated.

I excitedly then asked Isay if it would be alright for her to write something for the Educhild reunion and she just looked at me. I then wondered if that look was a way of telling me that nothing much happened after all the months of case studies and discussions that took as away for at least 3 hours every Saturday. Worry and tons of questions then filled my mind as I wait for her to finish the write-up. Did Jing and I even apply anything that we learned? Did the children even appreciate the changes we tried to make to improve our family life? Is she even doing the write-up at all??

Four years after graduating from Educhild, let me share with you what our daughter Isay shared with us in that reunion. Jing and I were the proudest parents that night.

From the beginning my parents had children, they already knew what they wanted their children to turn out. They have been great parents ever since I can remember, and, having them join Educhild turned them out to be even better. Let me just enumerate some of the most things that have left an impact in our family life…

Our favorite one is when each one of us celebrates our birthday. Dad and mom thought of a tradition that we do during our birthdays. They would take us on a “date” to the restaurant of our choice. All the attention of both our parents is focused on us, which makes us forget that there are four other siblings back home. This tradition begins when we become 8 years old since birthday parties are only celebrated until the age of seven. Since I was 8 and have been having my date with them for six years now, I have never had a dull moment with a hilarious and crazy mom (whom I am proud of) and a playful and outgoing dad. I never get bored.

Another one would be doing household chores. The first time our parents assigned each one of us our household chores was such a drag. We were all so used to having people do things for us, like, set the table, fix the bed, clean the plates, take care of our baby brother, and feed our pets. Eventually all four of us got the hang of it. Mommy would always make sure that all chores given to us are done and properly completed. Doing chores has already been a part of us for a long time, which we have already been used to, although, it would be great to escape from it once in a while.

Family meetings are usually done at home at the dinner table. And occasionally we would go out and discuss things over large servings of crepes. We would usually talk about things that we all think should be improved and done at home. And sometimes read articles and write down what we thought the piece of writing was about. One time, all of us had tears running down our eyes because we didn’t know how to deliver the idea we were trying to convey, which made it harder because mom and dad couldn’t understand the thought we wanted them to comprehend, and people at the restaurant are now looking at us in a strange way thinking probably why all four of us are crying over crepe. We ended laughing at ourselves for weeping, after our parents figured out what we have been trying to explain to them.

Keeping family traditions, family meetings and having house chores are some of the things my siblings and I will always remember. They have helped my parents, us and our family as a whole. With thanks to Educhild all of us have learned to work together as a team and most importantly, as a family.