What Kids Must Realize.. the earlier, the better!

Once in a father's lifetime, he would wish that someday somebody may recognize his humble efforts in making both ends meet for the family. And who would that somebody be other than your own kids. My wife? Well, I would not expect much of the same from her.. she already affirmed that when she said 'yes' to my proposal 28 years ago. Till then, we got four kids (3 boys and 1 girl; now aged 27, 25, 24 and 22 respectively).

When our kids were in their elementary days, I used to relate to them how lucky they were for being pitch to and from school by our family driver and sometimes accompanied by the maid to look at their personal grooming always and forever. Apparently, they would not understand or appreciate what I used to say as they would stare at me with blank eyes and probabaly.. blank minds also.

When I was about their age, I walk about three kms. every school day to be able to graduate from grade four. Yes, there was a primary graduation in the early 60s. And since the nearest elementary school was more or less 7 kms. away, my parents decided that I study in the poblacion. And so I enrolled at Pikit Central Elementary School and took on a harder option: that of being away from my parents at such tender age was more difficult than walking 3 kms. everyday.

I would cry silently in the middle of the night and wish that the following day is Friday so I could go home in the afternoon. It was always like that for the first few months, but as time went on, I got accustomed to it till I graduated in the elementary.

For my secondary education, I enrolled in a sectarian school. The first two years were not much a problem in terms of financial requirements. But in my third year and fourth year, when the trouble was starting to set in especially in the remote barrios, things have change quite abruptly. For moving from place to place (evacuation) my parents had to sell some working animals to make both ends meet, so-to-speak. Consequently, and not known to many, I had to resort to working while studying to be able to graduate from high school.

I would love to tell the kids this experience (or ordeal?) in the hope that it may inspire them to do better having been in a much better situation. One time, I had questioned one of the kids why he would need P100 allowance everyday when I would survive for ten pesos a week in my time. And he justified this by saying: "Well Dad, there is no point of comparison here; my father is a manager (I was then the project manager of a foreign-assisted project) while your father is just a poor subsistence farmer". Whoooaaaah huhuhu.. what a way to justify that and yet makes me dumb-founded as if my pants were falling down!!

Now in their 2os, the kids have gotten smarter, more mature and their outlook has broadened that I can comfortably talk to them and share thoughts with them on a lot of important issues. Now I fell that I don't have to make them understand, or wish that they understand, what I went through to build this family and keep it intact, and more importantly, make it safe and secure. The eldest and the second have each a child and they often tell me: "Now Dad, we understand how much you cared for us as we are beginning to step into your own shoes; how we wish that we would be as good a provider, lover and keeper as you have been and will always be.." I feel that there could not be any better complement than that.

When I was in my pre-teen and teenage days, I was exactly like my kids - I would not appreciate nor care to understand what my parents were doing to me. I thought that not having the toys I envy, especially the bicycle I was direly wishing to have, was a deprivation by choice of my parents or plain denial of what I was supposed to have. I would not take not having enough as reason for such 'deprivation'.

Thank God that I had the kind of parents, despite not having enough of resources and education, who never stopped striving to make me what I am now. It took me to have kids to understand the same.

Oh kids from anywhere and from whatever status in life: would it not be better if we realize this a little bit earlier??

My "Apo" Taught me new Shortcut on the Keyboard!

For those who had not yet experienced having an 'apo' (grandchild), let me tell you that probably the 'apo' is most naughty (or naughtiest??) at age two. My 'apo' turned two last april 5.

What would best describe a two-year old at this point? "At this age," child psychologists say, "you can expect your child to put on clothing, brush her teeth with help, stack 4 to 6 blocks, combine words, know more than 50 words, use pronouns (I, me, you, mine), follow two-step commands, know her body parts, walk up steps, kick a ball, jump up, throw a ball overhead, and her speech should be half understandable."

All true. And maybe what they didn't include in here is that a two-year old at this stage is very inquisitive, quite daring and would tinker on anything within her reach. Example: my 'apo' would try to place her fingers into a rotating electric fan, slap me when I don't listen to what she says or don't understand what she wants, sits on my lap when I am infront of my laptop, asks money from me to buy something in the nearby sari-sari store, would tend to go with anyone who gets out of the house, repeats the last word she hears from you, etc.. etc.!

Her favorite, however, whenever I leave my laptop on and go somewhere else, is to press the restart button.. and there goes everything that I had left for the computer to do.. mostly downloading some important files from the net.

One time, as I was making some comments to a blog posting (Padayon Pikiteno), I left the laptop to give way to a personal necessity at the comfort room. She must have celebrated at the sight of being alone and absolutely free to do what she wants with the laptop.

When I went back to resume my unfinished work with the computer, I found out that it was logged out. "No problem," I said, "I can easily restart the computer and do a little fixing but no files would be affected; nothing to worry.."

Then everything was fixed and soon I was back to making comments on "Padayon Pikiteno". Then, I found out that almost half of the letters on the right side of the keyboard have malfunctioned, as in when you press the letter "M" a "0" would appear, letter "J" gives "1", Letter "K" gives "2", L for 3 and so on and so forth.

I had complained to her parents to inform them that their child had done something wrong with the computer.. and most of the letters on the right side of the keyboard had malfunctioned. The father asked me what could be done. I told him it is not easy to repair a laptop. I had talked to a 'technician' before and he told me that they were not quite familiar with opening or dis-assembling the kind of laptop I have. The best that could be done, I said, is to buy an external keyboard that can be connected to the USB port.

I left the computer with a bit of frutstration, though there is no way that I should get mad with my 'apo'. She could be the worst human being on earth but she will still be the best for me. That's how 'apos' get pampered by grandparents - something that woes most, if not all, apo's parents more often or all the time. When I was in their shoes I would murmur like "kaya nga hindi na naniniwala sa amin ang mga bata e dahil ini-spoil ninyo" (That is why the children would no longer respect us because you were spoiling them.. I would address these to my parents-in-law, though I could only do that silently in my mind when I was alone).

As ususal, my son, my apo's father, would try to do something to explore for himself how the problem might get fixed by himself, either maybe accidentally or through some kind of ingenuity or trial and error, whatever..! At last he had discovered that pressing the "function" and "numlock" keys at the same have fixed the problem. And then everything that had malfunctioned on the right side of the keyboard is now in order. As if nothing wrong had happened. OK, it was just that easy.

Back to my 'apo'.. I was trying hard to imagine how a two-year old might have happened to accidentally press together the two keys: the "function" key is located on the lower left portion of the keyboard and the "numlock" key is located near the upper right hand corner.

Now, I was acting like a police SOCO (scene of the crime operative) trying to figure out every detail of how everything could have possibly happened, as if I was ready to request for a DNA test if necessary.! .. aaahh, she might had placed her left hand on the lower left hand corner of the keyboard to balance herself somehow.. and then she must have missed the switch located near the upper right hand corner and instead pressed the "numlock" key.. OK, there.. I got it.

As I said, my 'apo' just taught me a new short-cut on the keyboard. Pressing the "function" and "numlock" keys simultaneously makes the adjacent letters on the right side of the keyboard function like a separate numeric keypad.. Hehehe.. thanks dear 'apo'.. your being naughty, or let me just call it 'adventurism' and 'inquisitiveness', taught me something new and very important today.