Haircut Disappointment

When getting your child's first haircut at a kiddie salon, I would recommend first observing how the hairdresser works with other customers. My family and I had a terrible experience in one of the more popular kiddie salons in Makati:

My 3-year-old daughter's hair ended up too short and obviously uneven. As soon as my daughter was seated, I stepped out and left my mother in charge as I needed to go to the restroom. The moment I came back, most of the hair on her back had been chopped off (really, I cannot think of a better term for it!), but that's how FAST the process was. I would think that a hairdresser should be more careful in handling a 3-year-old. The hairdresser blamed my mom, saying that she did ask if the length would be okay. Granted, my mom may have misjudged the length, and I would have let it slide except for 3 things:

(1) In cutting the bangs, she did not bother to hold it up with her fingers the way most hairdressers do and instead used the scissors directly on the forehead. When we requested for her to hold the hair away, she insisted that she had perfect control of the scissors! She eventually relented, so I did not press the issue. She may have control of the scissors, but not of the child! This is a safety hazard as one wrong move could injure the eyes!

(2) She was too fast and rough in all things - cutting the hair, wiping my child's face with a paper towel, brushing away the hair, etc. I could see how my mom could not have properly assessed the length. Also, she's a hairdresser. She should have realized that the length was too short for a girl - the length is just above my daughter's earlobe and she needed to apply a razor at the back.

(3) This is my child's second visit to a hair salon. The first was in Rustan's Makati. That was a much calmer experience for us and the hairdresser took his time. This is my basis for saying that this second experience was a huge disappointment and could have been handled much better.

I have replied to the feedback form on their website and hope the management will look into it.  I regret not observing them first. There was another little girl having a haircut and she did extremely well with the hairdresser assigned to her. I should have taken the time to see which hairdresser would work well with my child.

Paper Dolls and Worksheets

Just want to share a couple of great finds:

(1) WORKSHEETS and REVIEWERS

Visit school.ph for worksheets for both preschool and elementary kids. Covering all major subjects, these worksheets are made by moms for moms "to help their children do well in school." Registration is FREE (though premium membership is available for full access to worksheets and the answer keys) so you have nothing to lose by trying it out. The worksheets are in PDF format so all you need is an Adobe Reader and a printer and you're good to go!

(2) PAPER DOLLS

My daughter has just hit the paper doll mania stage. If you've gone through this with your kid, you've probably also experiences that one, teensy weensy annoying thing about paper dolls in general - as cute as they are, the clothes just don't stay on with those flimsy paper tabs! WS Pacific Publications (also known as Learning is Fun) solves this with paper dolls that have small lots for the tabs to go through, which prevents the clothes from sliding off. Their Princess Sticker and Activity Book comes with two such paper dolls. Although they only have a couple of dolls, clothes, and accessories, you can also pick up a copy of the mermaid, fairy, and ballerina editions in order to mix and match. At less than ~P80 each, you can buy the whole set at SM Department Store and still get more for your money than the flimsy Disney Princess counterpart. Each book also comes with stickers and activities (including puppets, connect-the-dots, etc.). I bought one to keep my daughter busy during our 1-hour flight to Cebu. It worked like a charm and all the dresses and accessories stayed on for the duration of the trip.

Shangri-La Mactan: Slice of Paradise

I highly recommend Shangri-La Mactan when planning a summer vacation with small children. My daughter is still iffy about swimming in the beach. Thankfully, this resort provided lots of alternatives to keep her entertained and allow us parents to relax!

(1) Adventure Zone - there's a two-storey play area for the big kids. Directly across from it is a small room called the "Toddler Zone" -  a miniature, quieter version where my daughter could play without fear of being trampled by the older crowd. The staff also holds daily arts and crafts sessions for FREE.

(2) Aqua Play - outdoor play area by the main pool rife with slides and showers. The showers still freaked out my daughter, but she did enjoy running around it.

(3) Miniature Golf and Putting Area - we weren't able to try this out though it was tempting - maybe next time? ;)

(4) Fish Feeding - get some fish food pellets from the counter and wade in the water. Pretty soon you'll be surrounded by colorful (and friendly!) fish.

(5) Water Sports - parasail at 150, 250, or 350 feet! There's also snorkeling, scuba diving, jet skis, banana boats, and glass bottom rides.

(6) E-zone - there is an actual Timezone inside the hotel! I would say enough said, but there's also a Wii station, air hockey, Internet, and pinball.

(7) Daily Breakfast Buffet - if you're traveling with kids, be sure to eat at Tides instead of Acqua. Tides has a mini buffet set up for children!

(8) Sand Castle Station - a small covered portion of the beach is dedicated to the artistic tots. It's well stocked with molds, pails, shovels, rakes and whatever else you need to create your masterpiece.

(9) Chi The Spa - the resort also has its own spa. At ~$100 for a "traditional Filipino hilot" though, we decided to pass on this one.

(10) SWIM!!! - there's at least 3 swimming pools and did I mention that there's a beach too? ;)

We stayed at the ground floor of the  Ocean Wing, which was well worth it. Every morning you can literally step out into a huge expanse of grassy walkways leading to the restaurants, pools, and beach. The Ocean Wing has its own pool, which is smaller, but just the thing when you want to kick back and relax and shy away from the boisterous crowd at the main pools.

Some tips: pass by a convenience store on your way to the hotel. The price of bottled water in their shops and restaurants is staggering! Also, set expectations with your tot - their cable TV does NOT have Disney Junior.

Summer Fun School @CIE + 50% Off Promo

The Summer Fun School is back in action at the CIE Preschool. The first wave starts tomorrow and there's a 50% discount for the first 30 enrolees! Enrol your pre-schooler for SY 2012-2013 by tomorrow, April 18, 2012, and your tot gets to attend their summer school for FREE. See flyer below for more information and school's contact details:

Catch the SpongeBob Party on May 5, 2012

Is your tot fond of the little guy who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Mine's not, unfortunately. But I do know that there a lot of little kids who are fond of SpongeBob SquarePants and thought it best to share the flyer I received in my inbox today.

So if you do have a kid who's mad about SpongeBob, then drop by Bonifacio Global City Open Field on May 5, 2012 for some fun in the sun at the SpongeBob Yellow Party! Games, activities, and prizes await! Best of all, entrance is FREE. Note that the party is from 3PM to 6PM so be sure your kids are protected from the summer heat.

Toddler Teachers (formerly Toddlers Unlimited)

To all mommies and daddies desperately seeking a preschool in Makati - have you dropped by Toddler Teachers yet? Be sure to stop by their new address at 120 Tordesillas Street, cor HV Dela Costa & Soliman St., Salcedo Village, Makati City (the official website still has the old address). I was very impressed by this school and wish I learned about it sooner.

The first thing to catch my eye were the facilities. The classrooms, toilets, and common areas  are spacious, bright, cheery, and well-equipped. The library alone is impressive! It's rare to see a preschool with it a separate room set up as a library (most would just have reading areas inside the classrooms). Rarer still to find one with a huge collection of well-organized books (I saw labels upon labels such as "Animals", "Counting", "Filipino", "Silly Stories", "Transportation", and many more). The cozy atmosphere and presence of couches makes it really inviting to the kids.

The staff is equally impressive. There are teachers, assistants, and helpers per class, making sure that the needs of each and every child is seen to. I was relieved that all the teachers had good diction!

Did I mention the preschool is recognized by DepEd? It also offers the Galileo Enrichment Program, which teaches English and Singapore math. If you're hunting for a preschool in Makati - this is definitely worth looking into! They are currently offering a summer program, with an option for 2x, 3x, or 5x a week.

Learning How to Read: First Books

So when my 3-year-old came up to me and said "Mommy, I want to learn how to read!" I eagerly started our lessons. She learned her letters and sounds already, so I figured some phonetics lessons and will be on our way to early reader books.

I could not have been more wrong. Most of the common words used in stories don't always follow the simple sound rules. "Me" is "M-ee" not "M-eh". "You" is "Y-oo" not "Y-oh-uh". And so on.

A preschool teacher brought me in the direction of "sight words" - the most frequently used words in the English language that kids should memorize. Sounded easy enough, but going through the words was boring and tedious for both me and my child. I could tell she was fast losing interest and knew I had to involve her more in the reading process.

I was also advised to find books with rhyming words. I browsed through the large selection in both National Bookstore and Power Books, but all the shelves of Pre-Level and Level 1 reader books still seemed to complicated for my daughter. The closest ones I found that were easy for her to grasp were Dora's So Many Bananas and Mickey Mouse's Are We There Yet? Where were the simple "See Jack run" and "See Jill play" books from my day?

Finally, I stumbled upon two great resources for free books for first time readers:

http://www.clarkness.com/Single%20Page%20Stories%20page%201.htm

http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/printable_booklets.html

While my daughter is disappointed that they're not real books, I finally saw progress (and by the way her eyes sparkled, she did too!) as she read through the 1-page stories all on her own. It's slow going, but so were the lowercase letters, writing, and cutting in the beginning...so I'm still confident that we'll get the reading down pat too!

Incidentally, another great find for me is Disney School Skills: Sight Words which so far, has successfully taught her to recognize the words for the days of the week and colors.