A good number of students take up summer job these days, you hear them greet you a hearty “Good morning, sir” or “Good morning, ma’am,” as you walk into a fastfood outlet. Clad in their respective fastfood outfit, they look prim and smart as they serve your food complete with spontaneous smile. “Enjoy your meal, sir! (ma’am), “they quip, and perhaps, you must have felt their gentle manner rub off on you.

This scenario plays itself before us as we visit malls or other places where a fastfood outlet is located. Some of these student workers are in high school; others – and perhaps the majority – are in college. There are even small boys and girls who try their hands at doing “serve with a smile”. A number, no doubt, work part-time during regular semesters. These student workers bide their time between study and work to help defray their school expenses and earn extra cash for daily needs.

We laud their spirit and attitude toward work. We uphold and promote the dignity of labor, because the values we learn from it are enumerable and immeasurable: courtesy, politeness, respect, thrift, honesty, you name it. Cognizant of this fact, a number of big business establishments sponsor programs directed especially to students who endeavor to earn while they learn. Institutions of learning offer the work-study program, and many students, past and present, have availed themselves of this extraordinary educational program. There’s no better time to train the hands to do productive work than when one is young.

Next time you leave any fastfood outlet and heat these student workers call out a spirited “Thanks you for coming, sir(ma’am),” try to return their smile and thank them for making work an important part of their life. They, too, need appreciation, you know. 

The Almighty had never failed them for before my brother flew back to Riyadh her wife was already pregnant. Not just quite sure thought if it’s going to be a boy or a girl again. Her being able to monitor how healthy my son have developed, she kept on asking me what prenatal vitamins I’d been taking when I was pregnant with my precious Zach. I took several prenatal vitamins then so off I scan Zach’s baby book to run through my checklist again.

We’re so glad with her pregnancy and we’re as hopeful that it’s going to be a boy.

Will he be a cheerful and pleasant person? Will he be an asset or a liability in society? These are significant questions parents should consider in the training and development of their children.

I have heard some parents say: “Never mind he is still a child”. When some responsible adults meaningfully urge that a child be reprimanded for some mischief, the child’s doting mother would beg: “Be patient with him. He is still a baby”.

This is more often than not tragic because the child is growing without the parents realizing that he is developing into manhood. And because he has been treated like a child all along, even in his maturing years, he behaves like a child. This is one reason we have a lot of childish people around us.

Preparing the child for school is one of the important matters parents should be carefully aware of, for it is in school where most of his waking hours will be spent. They should never consider burdensome the time that they need to spend with the child to teach him values that will help him develop love, patience and obedience. Their home training should teach lessons that will inspire cheerful disposition and encourage resourcefulness and independence. These positive values are the most important wealth parents can bequeath to their children.

There are some parents who leave the home training of their child to the so-called tutor. They have no time for the child, and if they have, the moments that they spend with him usually and in trouble – the mother scolding and berating the child for being very slow in learning and the child feeling guilty and losing confidence in himself.   

Parents should direct their child training efforts to the development of self-respect in the child, particularly in his early childhood. How the child feels about himself influences not only his choice but also his decisions. How he will grope in or cope with the world around him will be reflected in his concept of himself. The standard and ideals that parents awaken in their children by way of their example determine, to a large extent, not only their future lifestyle but also how they will face the challenges that come their way.

As parents, we should take stock of our ways of dealing with our growing children. We should reexamine the direction to which we are leading them. What kind of future are we preparing them for? What preparation are we giving them for their future?

If society maintains its present rate of change, what will their children’s world be like twenty years from now? As traditional values continue to break down, what rules will guide their children as they face challenges yet undreamed of? And as they stand on the threshold of an uncertain future, what should parents do to help them prepare?

Parents should accept as natural their concern about the future of their offspring. It is doubtless prompted by a fervent hope that today’s children develop into tomorrow’s happy and successful adults. But parents can do more than just wonder. They can teach their children a simple goal-setting process that shows them how to achieve success and how to reap the many bonuses that accompany success.

The ability to set and attain realistic goals has far-reaching implications. Because success is the ultimate confidence-builder, the child who establishes goals and works to achieve them reaps the invaluable benefit of greater self-esteem. Each successive achievement generates the momentum to set and attain newer and more challenging goals.

The process is gloriously self-reinforcing. Each success brings a wealth of positive reactions from others, and each compliment or pat on the back contributes to a child’s belief in himself. The end product is a child who grows more confident and secure with each new achievement. And a secure, confident child is far better equipped to deal with the occasional disappointments and losses that are an inevitable part of life.

Goal-setting can be taught to elementary school children and refined to meet their changing needs as they move on to high school. Considering a child’s developmental timetable, 8 years of age is an ideal time for parents to introduce the goal-setting process. The typical 8-year-old is beginning to grasp the concept of cause and effect, and will be capable of understanding that certain desired actions may lead to certain desired ends. In addition to being intellectually ready, the 8-year-old’s differentiation between fantasy and reality has become more firmly established. This enables the child to choose goals that are more realistic and attainable than those a younger child might select.  

Choose to make someone else happy. “The joy that you give to others is the joy that come back to you,” wrote  poet John Greenleaf Whittier. Behind that statement is this simple but profound truth. Our happiness is magnified when we got out of our way to make someone else happy.

Choose to examine your expectations. “Many people are chronically unhappy because their expectations are unrealistic,” says Dr. Bobbi Sommer, author of Psycho-Cybernetics 2000. Don’t delude yourself that youcan ward off unhappiness in all situations all the time. There’s no such thing as permanent, uninterrupted happiness. The important thing is to learn to accept setbacks without thinking of them as permanent conditions.”

As parents one of our duties is to train and to expose our children to activities that would develop their personality. We should be looking for one that would help our children boost self-confidence such as getting them to music class and get them to develop some talents. Parent should be guiding their children to a successful life. Some of our kids may have not discovered yet their talents and so parent may have to make the first move of getting them to learn things such as bringing them to music schools and get them to play instruments such as the guitar.

The guitar might be one of the most challenging instruments that our children may learn to play. Parent may look for guitar lessons for kids that are simply good and affordable. As our kids develops their talents in music they also develops their intellects as it has been proven by numerous studies that children who are into music have good reasoning ability and are most likely to excel in academics. Since music is the language of the soul as they say, then kids who plays good music plays a melodious souls. So get kids to music now and start it with a guitar.

One day the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country; he wanted to show his son how poor some people can be. They spent a couple days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. As they were returning home, the father asked the boy, “How was the trip?”

 “It was great, Dad.”

 “Did you see how poor people can be?”

“Oh,  yeah.”  

“So what did you learn from the trip?”

The boy said, “I saw that we have one dog, and they have four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our yard, and they have a creek that ahs no end. At night we imported lanterns, and they have the stars.

“Our patio reaches to the front yard, and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on, and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.

“We buy our foods, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us. They have friends to protect them. “

Then the boy added, Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are!”

 Too many times we forget what we have and concentrate on what we don’t have. One person’s worthless object is another’s prized possession. It’s all based on one’s perspective. Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks to God for all the bounty He has provided instead of worrying about wanting more.   

enjoyed playing the bubbles

 One thing really amazes me, every time I wash our clothes in the washing machine he turns uneasy not because he is scared with the buzzing sound but simply because he wanted to get near the tub to watch the bubbles twirling. He cries if we put him on his crib. He gets so delighted when we allowed him to touch the bubbles. He enjoys playing with them and we just love watching him wearing those big smiles.

wow... nice feeling playing the bubbles...