TOPAZ HORIZON

Today, Nov. 20, is Gifted Awareness Day. For parents like us, this may either mean we're celebrating the fact that we have super achiever kids or lamenting the fact that we don't. Actually, mamas, every child is gifted! We just need to identify those gifts, encourage them, and support our children so that their gifts can develop and they can use their gifts for society's benefit.

That's what I learned recently at the special event PROMIL® Four created for mommies.

(Stay with me, mamas, this is not your usual event coverage post!)

With the Philippine Center for Gifted Education (PCGE), the milk brand prepared workshops for mom bloggers, influencers, and celebrities to help us all appreciate being a child again and learning how a child learns. Experts in developmental pediatrics, clinical psychology, obstetrics, health and wellness, nutrition, and even the arts were our speakers that day. We learned to calm ourselves and move our bodies with yoga (I am now so into yoga, mamas!), how to paint like preschoolers (it was both easy and hard), communicate with words and with just our intuition (both surprisingly had their pros and cons), and to work as a team. It was a fun-filled day!


We also listened to talks on how we moms can identify our children's gifts, how to nurture them, and how to support our child's journey to a well-developed giftedness that contributes to the betterment of the community. It was very inspiring, mamas! Ang dami kong natutunan and marami rin akong mom guilt na lumabas haha

I would like to say that I had an important realization that day, and it's this: The future rests in a mother's hands. Ever heard of that adage, "The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world"? We all say the children are the future, but if their mothers don't care for them, that's not a very bright future. Mothers are so important!

Dra. Leticia Ho, Clinical Psychologist/Neurotherapist and President of Philippine Center for Gifted Education, told us that kids start their battle in life from conception. Will your child be smart, strong, healthy, sickly, mentally delayed? Will your child be fat? Will he be pandak? All these factors are determined by genetics, of course, but a mother who knows exactly how to take care of herself can shape her child's future and even affect the future predetermined by one's genetics.

From conception, a child's development and future depends so much on his mother—if she's eating well, if she lives in a good environment, if she has a stress-free pregnancy. When she is at the peak of her health, a mother is able to nurture her child's abilities even as the baby grows inside her.

Healthy little boys! But the one in my tummy was a delicate pregnancy. Was so scared!

So what happens now to us and our kids, us mamas who had stressful jobs or relationships, mamas who couldn't eat properly when we were pregnant, mamas who were sick—will our children be doomed for life? Not necessarily. Or paano na if you're the typical Pinoy family—you and your husband are around 5 feet tall. So ibig sabihin ba nun pati mga anak niyo forever nang maliit? This is where the mother comes in!

While a child's crucial development begins in the womb, we can still intervene when they are babies and toddlers. The first 1,000 days of the child, starting with the mother’s pregnancy, is so important! We learned that these thousand days are when the child "responds and adapts to different interventions."

Intervention is an interesting word. It means positive interference. To interfere is to stop something from its intended destination and then steer it to another direction. In that sense, even if a child is headed to ill health, stunted development, and a sad future, we can stop that from happening. We can intervene! How? With the proper nutrition, good parenting, and lots of love!

Explaining pregnancy to the boys through art!

I know PROMIL® Four is for kids so why am I talking about parenting here, right? It's just that so much focus is put on our children that we forget the most vital part of our child's development—the mother! What is a child without a caring mother? What is a child without a mother who knows exactly what to do to prevent illness, knows the best food to give him, knows the best ways to encourage and push a child to do his best, knows what kind of education her child needs, knows how to protect and nurture her child? A mother in an ideal environment—meaning she is healthy, is educated, financially secure, and in an emotionally fulfilling relationship—will not only give birth to healthier children but she is better equipped at raising stronger, healthier, smarter, and more successful people.

Sadly, in most societies, girls and mothers are the least valued members. Did you know that in India, their preference for sons has resulted to short people? Short, as in pandak. How did this happen? Well, if they have daughters and sons, ibibigay nila yung good food sa mga sons nila. Gatas sa sons, tubig sa daughters. Also, sons go to school, daughters stay home and learn nothing. The problem is (there are many problems to this honestly) who becomes mothers one day? Obviously, it's the girls! And if you have short, unhealthy, uneducated mothers, they will give birth to short and unhealthy children! To make matters worse, because they're uneducated mothers, they won't know how to raise their children in the proper and healthy way! What a disaster!

Invest in girls. Invest in mothers!!!

An empowered mother is the most important factor in creating a generation of brighter, smarter, healthier, and kinder children. I really believe this, and my belief is based on studies and research. Dra. Leticia Penano-Ho, President of Phil Center for Gifted Education, told us moms, “Every child has the talent which can be a Gift if discovered and nurtured early. It is the parent’s role to make the child’s talent reach his full potential, or else that gift could just be there untapped and undiscovered.”

Our role as parents is to create an environment that is a good foundation for a child to be conceived and nurtured in, then we keep that environment healthy by giving our child proper nutrition and plenty of physical and mental stimulation. In a safe and secure and loving world like that, a child truly blossoms, which brings us to our next role, which is to spot his special gifts. It can be a talent, a skill, an intelligence, whatever it is we must embrace it and encourage it.

There I am trying to spot if I have a little athlete or two!

That's what I got from the PROMIL® Four’s Learning Workshop for us mommies! I hope I impressed upon you, mamas, to take care of yourselves so you can be the best mothers you can be. Because I also left the event feeling more determined to get some sleep, get fit, and eat better so I can be healthier and alert and happy. This will help me pay more attention to my kids, feed them better food (and ease up on the fast food), give them good milk (Piero likes his "super milk" PROMIL® Four!), and expose them to more learning experiences (like music, sports and art) so I can spot what their special gifts are and nurture them!

Anyway, PROMIL® Four, together with Atlantis Production, will be featuring talented children in the local production of Matilda the Musical, a play that features the story of a gifted child. The play is currently showing till December 10, 2017. PROMIL® Four is raffling out free Matilda tickets! Visit www.promilfour-matilda.com for more information.