Hooray Amanda!

It's just a summer ago when we enrolled Amanda in summer school so she can experience being with other kids.  Last Thursday, Amanda made another milestone.  It was her moving up day and she had the privilege of giving an introductory remark to present the advance casa candidates for graduation.

On her first moving up day milestone, some realizations crossed my mind

1. Awards and Social Media - During my parent's time, the only way that they can highlight their child's achievements is through their chat time with their circle of friends.  With the advent of Facebook and other social media channels, the whole world sees a child's awards.  I see it as both a good and bad tool in boosting a kid's confidence.  Good, when he/she sees her mom or dad's post of her medal or trophy.  Bad, if suddenly, a child under performs and didn't bag any awards during recognition day and that his/her parents became ultra inactive in posting anything related to his/her graduation.   I think as parents we should be mindful in always appreciating our child no matter what the outcome is.  It's like what God has been doing to all of us, despite our imperfections, He never stops to be our greatest fan. 
2. Leadership and Responsibility - At home, when Amanda tends to not follow our directions on packing away her toys properly or trying to remind her to not do things because it's unsafe or to always share her food and toys, we thought that she's not listening.  When observing her in some of the school activities during this school year, I was able to see her reminding some of her classmates to always share their toys, pack their materials, and during their field trip, I even heard her commanding her classmate to sit down while the bus is running because it's not safe.  Character formation really starts at home, then enhanced greatly in school.
3. Aptitude and Attitude - I think this is a cliche already - Give me a choice between talent (aptitude) and character (attitude), which would I choose?  Character of course.  But oftentimes, when the world praises kids who get multiple awards, parents tend to think that going up the stage is the only reward they deserve when sending their child to school.  And that failure of their child to achieve this means he/she's not good enough.  Right now it would be easy for me to say and not pressure Amanda because she's just in preschool, but when she grows older, I need to stop myself from pressuring her on doing the same but rather be conscious about the joy in the learning process.  That making mistakes is all part of the growing up process.  That losing wouldn't matter as long as she always do her best.  

We're just so blessed to have Amanda finish the school year despite all the things that happened in the family.  So to Amanda, our Ate Honey Booboo, congratulations and good job for moving up to Senior Casa.  We love you so much.