Mom School: The Ogalala Child Development Workshop

Last Saturday, the #FabSkye and I got to attend Mommy Mundo’s Mom School: The Ogalala Child Development Workshop at the F1 Hotel in BGC.

It’s the first time I went out with just the #FabSkye. Her Tita Nanny is not available and the Reigning Tatay has to go to school. But because I really want to attend to this workshop; I grabbed my bag and the baby, flagged an Uber car and off we go to the event. And it was worth it.

The Workshop:

Even if I had a hard time running after my little snitch, I learned a lot from it. Basically, the workshop is all about how you could help your child learn. Thru play, by understanding their language of learning and everything. The speakers are teachers and experts on child learning. It was a very interesting workshop that could definitely help me in teaching my child.

I am already starting on the whole home schooling stuff with Skye. We are doing picturing recognition, basic counting, alphabets and sounds. It was so much fun. And so I wanna know some techniques that could help me. And this workshop delivers with flying colors.

Here are some of my take-aways from the workshop.

It’ll be close to impossible to teach your child to unlearn things.

This is my favorite. Coz it makes me realize the importance of being a role model to my child. And to make sure that I am firm with whatever it is I want her to learn. This is even applicable in disciplining your child. It was brought up when a mum asked the speaker what to do to make her child stop using the iPad since she feels really guilty knowing that according to studies, iPads are not advisable on kids less than 2. And one mum (also a preschool teacher) said that she should just stop her child using it pronto. But the speaker said that since the child already knows and recognizes iPad as a very interesting object, making her stop using it would be a recipe for disaster. And I couldn’t agree more. I could already hear the crying and the endless tantrums. Anyway, the speaker said that she should monitor and reduce the time spent on iPads instead.

This is my favorite because I went thru the horrible experience of making my child unlearn the wonders of telly. My mother, in her lame attempt to make my child sit still used the telly to “baby sit”. And so the kid learned that Baby TV is an awesome channel and that her all time favorite character is Minnie and Mickey Mouse. And that dancing to the Hotdog song would make her day complete. I tried to eliminate the TV but it was not working. I know I mentioned it on this blog. About my views against telly. And while I still think that tellies are not good for kids less than 2, I could not make my child unlearn it. I kept the no TV time for Skye rule here at home except when it’s Mickey Mouse Clubhouse time and a 30 minutes TV time in the morning and another 30 in the afternoon. It was better. She is happy, I am happy. Same thing goes with the iPad. Although she seldom use it, I would allow her a max of 10minutes every time she’d “borrow” it. She’s very fond of the iPad but it won’t keep her still for longer than 10minutes anyway. She would want to do something else. The little snitch.

Each child has a unique way of learning, adjust to it.

Some kid prefers to hear the stuff, some needs action, some are visual – it is up to you to know which is the best way to teach your kid and adjust to it. Although traditional schools only have this classroom set up in teaching the kids, the parents could help by making that their home review sessions are adjusted to the kid’s unique way of learning. Although for toddlers, like my daughter, medyo mahirap pa to know exactly so we should try different approach and see which seemed more effective.

Toys are effective ways to teach your kids, invest on proper toys.

This is something I really believe in. While I don’t really shower my child with too much toys, I make sure I invest on good ones. And while I want her to love her books (which she does!), I want her to play with other toys too. We only have a handful of toys here at home. Those I know she’d love and at the same time learn from it. But take note also that th stuff our kids should learn is not limited to ABCs or 123s. Her little stroller is perfect for her motor skills. We introduced the idea of potty training to her thru her Baby Alive dolls. Her Minnie Mouse doll is her comfort toy. We also have a little xylophone here to introduce her to music.

They showed a lot of toys on the event too. And explained how each could help the kids in learning. It is also important that you introduce a wide variety of toys to the kids. And that’s what I’m doing.

Use playtime as learning time too.

I know that its been said over and over again. But its really, really true. I would usually play with Skye and I’d use that opportunity to teach her sounds, letters, basic counting and everything. It was fun. It was fulfilling. I have been reading a lot about home schooling. And as early as 1yr old, we are already doing home schooling. I love that the baby’s showing positive reactions to it. But I don’t hurry her up. I allow her to take her time.

I also try to make her play with other kids. That way she could learn and develop her interpersonal skills. Which is very very important.

Tagging her along on my blog events is also a way of developing her social skills. At least nasasanay sa tao, sa events, she would know how to behave properly on situations like that. which s super cool.

This event is super worth it. I learned a lot. I enjoyed listening to the speaker. And since this is a series, I am looking forward to the next events.

Anyway, here’s our OOTD on that day…

Yay! I lost a lot of weight recently. Probably due to the constant running after the kid. Sayang coz it’s the most decent picture I got. Tapos blurred padin. (Hirap to do a mirror selfie with an active kid!) Please let us take this moment to appreciate my new look and the return of my old body. Konting kembot nalang. Hallelujah!

When: 25 July 2015
Where: Mommy Mundo's Mom School Event in BGC
What #FabSye Wore: Top, Belt and Shorts: Gingersnaps | Gold Shoes: Suki Baby
What ReigningStill Wore: Black Top: Gap | White Shorts: Mango | Flats: Shoebox

I can’t believe how big the baby is now. Super likot. Super active. She has her own personality now. And while I really enjoyed our Nanay and Kakay bonding moment, I don’t think I’m keen on doing it all over again. Grabe ang hirap! I have our stuff to attend to and carry, plus her constant running around. Sobrang hirap. I was super tired that day. Suicide teh! Never again.

Plus she has this habbit now of lying on floor and wiggling like a worm if she’s frustrated or if I didn’t give her what she wants. Hahaha! Adorable but crazy. I am playing the cool mum by letting wiggle around until she’s done. She would then get up and continue playing like nothing happens. Wow! Although I really don’t appreciate the stares I got from other mums there. So sad. I felt like they are judging me. Like I’m not being a good mother because I allow my child to wiggle on the floor while crying. But hello? What am I gonna do? I don’t want her to think that wiggling and crying would make me give in to her demands, because, hell no way! Oh well, that event gave the first taste of “mum wars”. Which is both sad and frustrating. But I have to adjust. This is my life now.

#FabSkyeOOTD Events Homeschooling Parenting Tip