“It was great to see all the kids’ faces light up as they met Chase and Marshall from the PAW Patrol pups at our Nickelodeon Chinese New Year event. It was a weekend of non-stop celebration from onstage games, meet-and-greets with our adorable pups and ZooMoov’s PAW Patrol-themed rides. It was really a pawsome way for Nicksters to celebrate the Lunar New Year while making lasting memories with family and friends,” said Dinna Zaratan, Country Manager of Viacom International Media Networks, Philippines.

A Pawsome Time at the Pawsperous Chinese New Year Event

As soon as they stepped into The Block, families were awed to see a photo-worthy mini traditional Chinese Village along with a glittering, red and gold money tree that held cool prizes like selfie ring lights from InqPOP! and free rides from ZooMoov.

Kids worked their pawsome skills with onstage games like Limbone Rock and got great deals at the PAW Patrol merchandise retail area! They had a pawtastic time checking out the goodies and for a purchase of P500, lucky kids got to meet and even get a photo with, PAW Patrol’s heroic rescue pups, Chase and Marshall. Families also got to sample yummy treats from our event sponsor, Milkita.

The Moves with ZOOMOOV’s PAW Patrol E-Rides

To cap the Chinese New Year family bonding experience, moms and dads enjoyed taking turns riding with their kids around The Block with ZooMoov’s PAW Patrol-themed electronic rides.

It was a jam-packed weekend of pawsome experiences that will surely be remembered by one and all!

The staging of this event is also through the support of our Official Online Media Partners INQUIRER.net and InqPOP!, Official Mom Community Partner, Mommy Mundo, Media Partner, ManilaforKids.com, and Official Pay TV Provider, Sky Cable.

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The Bambini Baby Cologne Family Bootcamp featured an array of fun activities that kept kids busy and moms entertained. Upon entering, we were given a camp passport that you can have stamped after completing each activity. The Bootcamp was filled with little surprises that brought smiles to everyone’s face. Kids enjoyed a bouncy castle, a larger-than-life coloring book, a ball pit, and giant puzzle blocks. And if you complete all the activities, you can claim a souvenir tote bag personalized with Bambini’s cute characters.

As the Family Bootcamp was full of fun surprises, so were Bambini’s five scents. It was hard to choose which scent we’d cast our vote on because all of them smelled fresh and amazing! Here are the new scents:

Morning Tickles that smelled floral and sweet. Starry Lullaby that had a calm, relaxed vibe. Ocean Kisses that reminds me of a clear sunny and windy day. Cotton Cuddles with a cotton fresh scent. And the citrusy and fun Sunny Playtime! 

The new and improved Bambini Baby Cologne also had colorful and fun designs that featured cute mom and baby animals. All in all, the colognes are perfect for kids, and no doubt adored by adults.

In just a little while, Iya Villania-Arellano arrived with Baby Primo. Iya simply glowed while announcing that baby #2 is on the way.  She also shared the best moments of being a first time mom, “These are the small accomplishments. Yesterday, we went to the mall and he got busy playing. So before we left I asked him to pack away and he did! It’s such a small thing pero mapapaiyak ka na the small things you teach him at home ay ginagawa niya. I like to feel I take care of him and I’m a part of that.”

Iya also gave her advice to moms . “A lot of people might look at me and think Ms. Gym ako. But it’s really because it makes me feel good. It puts me in a good mood when I’m at home with Primo. It gives me energy, patience, strength, and endurance. I make it a point to workout and make it a point to be there for Primo. There are values I want to be the one to teach him. And I want to be there to witness milestones. If something is important to you, you’ll find a way to make it happen.”

Because Iya is such a hands-on mom, she gets to experience all the fun, silly, and simple moments with Primo. In the same way, Bambini focuses on the playful bond that kids share with their parents, making these random moments more enjoyable.  That makes Iya and Bambini a perfect combination!

Iya loves the all the scents of Bambini Baby Cologne. But she does admit to a favorite. Iya likes Sunny Playtime with its nice, mild, and yummy scent that makes Primo even more nakakagigil! But she shares that Primo likes Starry Lullaby. They actually have to hide the bottle at home because he’s learned how to open it. And he likes looking at the mom and baby animal designs and peeling off the stickers.

While Iya was on stage, Primo was busy checking out all the activities of the Bambini Family Bootcamp. It seemed that just like Bambini, Primo’s all about having fun and adventure! Iya also shared how she’s worked with Cosmetique Asia before through Silka Papaya soap, and how happy she is that the company continues to be part of her growing family.

Bambini hopes to be a part of our family’s small moments and big adventures too! Bambini Baby Colognes are available in three sizes – 25ml, 50ml, and 125ml—and packaged in an easy-to-go grip curvy bottle. Their five new scents are so good that they bring little surprises to anyone who smells them for the first time!

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As a mom, I love encouraging them to explore new interests. If I see something I think they’ll like, I will push them to try it out at least three times before they decide if it’s a yay or nay. Zach is a crafter. He likes taking less conventional classes like leather-making, polymer clay molding, and photoshop classes. Reese is learning sketching and has discovered a gift for calligraphy.

Because I’m so interested in what they are interested in, I was so glad to find out about MindPrint. They are the Philippine licensee of the Institute of Multiple Intellect (IMI), the leading brain mapping institute based in Los Angeles.  Basically, they help children, adolescents, and adults learn more about their true potential by studying how their brains are wired.

Coby, Zach, Reese, and I were very excited to undergo IMI Mapping. Our fingerprints were analyzed to reveal our brain functionality, ten intellects, personality, processing & acquiring styles, left & right brain function, and possible careers and interests. We were all pleasantly surprised to read our results! And the best part is I’ve taken out the guesswork when it comes to activities. What I’ve learned about their intellects and personalities is helping me be sensitive to their inclinations, encouraging them to nurture grow their passions in any way I can.

Discovering Dermatoglyphics

We went to the MindPrint office to have our photos taken and fingerprints scanned. We were told the Evaluation Generation would take 72 hours and that we’d receive the results during our consultation session. We each received a booklet called “Innate Intellect Evaluation” that detailed the results of our brain mapping.

That’s Kaiz Patel of MindPrint taking Zach’s fingerprints.

Let me share with you an excerpt from our Innate Intellect Evaluation:

“Medical science has confirmed the connection between your brain and fingerprints which form between the 13^th and 21^st week of gestation in the womb. As your brain forms, your fingerprints form at the same time as a reflection of your brain pattern. The epidermal material in your fingertips is the same as that of your brain, forming a direct link between the two. Unlike any other ridging or creases on your body, your fingerprints are sub-dermal, meaning that they originate below the skin and so they lie both under and on the skin surface and never change. These patters on your fingertips reveal the speed and style in which your brain will handle various aspects of your innate intellect. This reveals how you both learn (input) and use (output) information.”

Since each person’s fingerprints are unique, MindPrint believes that we can understand one’s innate potential, personality, and preferences through dermatoglyphics. Let me clear that this is no way related to fortune telling. We are not predicting our children’s future. Instead, we are using their fingerprints to identify their potential early and provide guidance to help them nurture their strengths.

Our intellects: their processing style and processing speed

The brain is divided into two hemispheres, left and right. It is also divided into five lobes from the front to the back of the head:

• There’s the pre-frontal lobe associated with sense of self and others.
• The frontal lobe that works on reasoning, planning, parts of speech, and problem solving.
• The parietal lobe that focuses on movement, orientation, recognition, and perception of stimuli.
• The temporal lobe associated with auditory stimuli, memory, speech, and emotions.
• And the occipital lobe for visual processing and aesthetic sense.

Each of these lobes have 2 intellects (I and We), giving each person a total of ten intellects.

MindPrint explained that every person is gifted with 100% processing speed which gets divided between 10 intellects. Based on processing speed, my strengths lie in my self-belief and self-determination. I also have good interpersonal skills, relying on verbal and non-verbal communication to help me relate well with others. It also affirmed my observation skills as I’ve always had a keen eye for detail.

I was surprised to find out that one of my limitations is my visualization and imagination. This means that I’m more of a logical learner, thinking in terms of sequence and cause & effect. But MindPrint shared ways I could strengthen this intellect.  Joining artistic activities, visiting art exhibits, doing puzzles, will help me speed up processing in this part of my brain. I guess it’s also a good way for me to take a breather from hectic days.

Apart from our brain’s processing speed, there’s also a processing style. There are 4 styles of processing; self-cognitive, affective/imitative, reflective, and reverse style of processing.

50% of my finger prints showed a self-cognitive style of processing, described as independent, individualistic, self-learner, stubborn, competitive, and needing time and space to process information. The remaining 40% of my finger prints show the affective/imitative style. This means that there are parts of my intellect that are flexible, adaptable, easy going, and highly receptive.

We can have any one style on any one finger, that’s why each of us are unique. According to MindPrint, no two people have the same distribution of speed and style as no two people have the same fingerprints.

I was very excited to see my kids’ evaluation. I wanted to know their strengths and weaknesses so that I can be more intentional with our family activities.

My kids seem to take after me. All of them show strong self-confidence, self-achievement, self-determination. But after that similarity, I began to see how each one is beautifully unique.

Zach, who likes crafts, has strong fine motor processing. And he showed high sound memory and music appreciation intellects as well, making me appreciate his love for music more. 80% of his fingerprints show a self-cognitive style of processing. He “processes everything internally based on their own experiences and do not easily get affected by the outside environment when processing.”

Coby is into fencing. His fine motor skills and gross motor skills had strong processing speeds! No wonder he does well with fine movement, muscle control, sports, and physical endurance. As for his processing style, he is also self-cognitive, making me feel blessed to have two head-strong boys.

Reese’s results show high intellect in speech. She uses language well, and even has the capacity to learn many languages! Her sense of beauty is also quite high, meaning she is skilled in aesthetics, color combinations, 2D visualizations, and art appreciation. She’s already a slime business owner and a budding artist! Like her brothers and myself, she is also self-cognitive.

Special in their own way

Reading through MindPrint’s individual evaluation of each of my kids was like trying to get to the end of a juicy novel. I feel I’ve made more sense of things I’ve already known about them. At the same time, I’ve discovered new things about each child. The results went on to detail our personalities, learning styles, and left and right brain dominance. There were even suggested career paths for each child. But what I like best is that MindPrint didn’t end with just results. The evaluation was helpful with suggestions on communicating and interacting with each child better.

I’d like to share a few lines of the notes I’ve made for Coby, Zach, and Reese:

• Coby’s personality is an idealist, meaning he is structured, organized, methodical, even to the point of being a perfectionist. He is a kinesthetic and auditory learner with a dominant right brain, meaning he is more intuitive. As for possible careers, he will do well in management, government, dancing, sports, and alternate medicine.
• Zach’s personality is efficient. He loves is comfort zone; is easy going and sympathetic. He is left brain dominant, relying more on rational. That’s why he has an auditory and visual style of learning. He will do well in the fields of management, music, drama, hotel management, travel, and tourism.
• Like Coby, Reese is an idealist. To communicate with her (and Coby) better, I need to focus on one step at a time, being prepared to answer “how” questions. I also learned to keep my two idealists motivated by complementing the accuracy of their work. Reese has 50-50 right and left brain lateralization. She’ll do well in the fields of home science, management, humanities, drama, hotel management, travel tourism, and mass media.

MindPrint is technology we can definitely take advantage of. By learning more about their innate talents, we can create opportunities for fun one-on-one times that gain us a deeper understanding of who our child is. It is a very good tool, but no means a parenting solution. The answers to our kids’ innerworkings are there, it’s up to us to put it to good use.

For more information about MindPrint, contact them at:

Mindprint.ph

hello@mindprint.ph

Sarene – +63 917 811 1986

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Sparklelab, a pioneering educational studio that marries science, tech and fun is ready with their summer schedules.  See their very interesting classes below:

APRIL 2018

Gamemakers: Arcade Olympiad

Racing games. Rhythm games. Fighting games.

Play them. Design them. And code away!

Over a series of 12 workshops, participants will play games, explore a variety of game genres, understand their history and develop their very own digital games.

The Arcade Olympiad culminates in building arcade machines to house the games the kids create and an open house celebration where family and friends get to swing by and play!

P14,000 for 12 sessions. P8,500 for 6 sessions.

Each session runs for 3 hours. All materials included in the fee.

Minecraft Club: Play. Build. Invent. Share.

Survival Camp: Do you have what it takes to live through your first night? Can you mine iron ore pronto and battle mobs until dawn? Do you dare look the Enderman in the eye?

Minecraft Survival Camp is a five-day intensive that combines gameplay with real-world design challenges. Participants learn principles of design, circuits and engineering as they build forts, fashion armor, battle creepers, mine red stone and set up traps – both in the game world and at the Minecraft campgrounds.

Adventure Camp: Build waterslides and rollercoasters. Create labyrinths. Design a game of hide and go seek. Team up with friends and capture the flag.

The Minecraft Adventure Camp introduces participants to principles of game design and development as they design levels, build worlds and engineer play. Kids create games, share them with others and improve upon their designs by receiving feedback. Kids may opt to design games in the Minecraft world or choose to create their very own board games, card games and wacky sports at the Minecraft campgrounds.  

Creative Camp: Rich soundscapes. Breathtaking scenery. Majestic worlds.

The Minecraft Creative Camp immerses participants in the world of digital art as they create their very own art installations and interactive exhibits featuring projections from the Minecraft world. As an added bonus, kids get to create and keep all sort of cool Minecraft fan art – from 3D printed toys to diamond swords and creepers that burst in sunlight.

P5,000 for one week Survival Camp

P5,000 for one week Adventure Camp

P 6,000 for six sessions Creative Camp

P12,000 for All Camps Access Pass

SFX Lab: Zombies, Spaceships and Droids, Oh My!

Immerse yourself in fantastic worlds as you master the art of cinema and special effects. Write short scripts. Build sets. Play around with makeup, prosthetics and costume design. You’ll learn the principles of cinematography as you shoot and edit your very own fantasy films. Slime, stardust, blood and gore and a green screen is available so you can recreate Hogwarts, Middle Earth, Tatooine – or fashion a world of your own design.

P8,500 for 8 sessions

All materials included in the fee

Toy Mill: Time Travel

A curious little creature named Cogs dabbles in the art of invention. It seems that he has somehow turned a defunct washing machine into a time traveling device. Brilliant! We invite you to join Cogs as he journeys through the history of toys. Take on the role of archaeologists and unearth toys of ancient Egypt and ancient Greece. Witness the first kite take off in China – and take on the challenge of building your own drone. Journey to the renaissance and discover the story behind the hobbyhorse. Then fast forward to the twentieth century where you’ll be reading case studies on Lego, My Little Pony, Scooters and Nerf while designing and building your very own toys. You’re in for a lot of fun design challenges, wacky playtests, engineering feats and materials science as you create toys of wood, leather, plastic, clay — even cheese!

P10,000 for 8 sessions, each session lasts 3 hours

All materials included in the fee

MAY 2018

Gamemakers: Hackathon

This 4 week, 12-session hackathon invites young people to work creatively and collaboratively as they design game-based solutions to a particular social problem. In groups of two to five participants, young people investigate a problem, explore the affordances of digital and non- digital games, and develop a game-based solution to the issue at hand. Technical skill-building workshops in the areas of digital art, sound design and game development are accompanied by seminars on: games for health; inspiring civic participation through play; the games for change movement; and persuasive games. The resulting projects may range from Android or IOS apps to board games, card games, geo-tagged games and anything else our participants dream up.

P12,500 for 12 sessions; 3 hours per session

All materials included in the fee

Stitches & Circuits: Fashion in the 20th Century

Take a journey through time and explore fashion of the 20th century. You’ll start your journey in Paris in the early 1900s at the center of the haute couture movement. You will witness the impact of the First World War in the field of fashion: how austerity led to less frivolous, more androgynous dress, which eventually gave rise to more freedom and independence for women. Through the roaring twenties and the great depression, the flower power movement, the economic prosperity of the 80’s and the dawn of the power suit, you will continuously explore the relationships between politics, economy, fashion and social and cultural norms. And you’ll be designing and creating your own shirts, skirts, hats belts and jewelry that combine traditional fashion with high technology.  

P12,000 for 12 sessions; 3 hours per session

All materials included in the fee

Get Reel: Introduction to Documentary Filmmaking

Childhood poverty. The public education crisis. Youth incarceration. Adolescent health. Over the course of 4 weeks, participants are invited to think deeply on a subject of personal interest and community relevance and produce a short documentary film on the subject. Participants experience all phases of the production process from pre-production (research, planning) and production (shooting, interviewing) to post-production (editing, sound design, translation and subtitling). Participants collaborate with peers and mentors to create compelling films that pose difficult questions, seek solutions from a variety of stakeholders, and put forth arguments that get the audience thinking more deeply regarding the issues at hand. The program culminates with a screening of the participants’ works.

P14,000 for 12 sessions; 3 hours per session

All materials and shooting excursions included in the fee

Toy Mill: Time Travel

A curious little creature named Cogs dabbles in the art of invention. It seems that he has somehow turned a defunct washing machine into a time traveling device. Brilliant! We invite you to join Cogs as he journeys through the history of toys. Take on the role of archaeologists and unearth toys of ancient Egypt and ancient Greece. Witness the first kite take off in China – and take on the challenge of building your own drone. Journey to the renaissance and discover the story behind the hobbyhorse. Then fast forward to the twentieth century where you’ll be reading case studies on Lego, My Little Pony, Scooters and Nerf while designing and building your very own toys. You’re in for a lot of fun design challenges, wacky playtests, engineering feats and materials science as you create toys of wood, leather, plastic, clay — even cheese!

P10,000 for 8 sessions, each session lasts 3 hours

All materials included in the fee

Here’s the link to Sparklelab’s SUMMER WORKSHOPS: https://www.sparklelab.ph/summerworkshops2018/

Register online at https://www.sparklelab.ph/register/

Sparklelab is located at 43-A General Vicente Lim Street, San Juan.

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We listened to a talk by Marriage & Family Counselor Cristina A. Co who gives valuable advice on how we can guard our children against exposure to pornography.

Starting Them Young

The porn industry is trying to target our kids while they are young. Why? “Because at this young age, the brain is soft and delicate. Repeated experiences lead to habitual watching of porn. And this becomes dominant pathways in their brain”, says Co. This is hard to hear—but the earlier kids start, they more addicted they will be when they grow up.

Sex talks are usual taboos in our country. But Co says that as sexual exposure is aggressive in targeting our kids, so should our efforts be in protecting our kids against porn. Co adds, “Experts forecast that in two years, the average age of sexual exposure will be 6 years old”.

What porn does to the brain

Watching porn exposes the brain to unnatural levels of dopamine and endorphins— a certain “high”, like a wave of pleasure all over the body. But it short-circuits the brain. According to Co, consistent exposure to porn desensitizes our children’s minds. After surges of dopamine, the brain eventually stops producing dopamine, leaving the viewer craving to feel the level of satisfaction he or she has felt before. And as a result, the person seeks more intense pornography to achieve the same high as before.

This is so damaging to our children. When children are exposed to that endorphin high, Co explains that during situations of stress, distress, and fatigue, they will turn to the activity that gave them an experience like no other. They will watch porn. And this pattern will continue on and on unless there is intervention.

What we can do

The first step, Co teaches, is to understand our children. “Teens take more risks not because they don’t understand the dangers, but because they weigh risk versus reward differently. In situations where risk can get them something they want, they value the reward more heavily that adults do”. Since our children’s minds are still developing, they have the tendency to be impulsive in their actions. They’re not thinking about the consequence of their actions, they’re looking at the rewards they can get out of a situation.

How does this apply to us? Co stresses the need for open communication with our children. Instead of saying, “Don’t do that, that’s wrong!”, parents should take the time to probe on what is motivating the child to do something despite the negative consequences ahead. Together, you can talk it out and understand your child better.

As mentioned earlier, the endorphin rush is what hooks a child or a teenager on porn. He or she is turning to it as a source of comfort during times of emotional distress. We need to ensure that the family becomes the source of comfort. Providing a loving and secure environment will help the child turn to the parents when things go out of hand.

Co also introduced the idea of inoculation. Much like vaccination, the term inoculation refers to a deliberate introduction of a disease to protect you from future infection. Co believes in giving the sex talk as early as possible. She says that the earlier we start, the less awkward it’s going to be. Of course, there is a proper way of talking to our children about this.

You can engage your child by showing happy family photos. Then explain that there are other pictures, videos, and even cartoons that show people without clothes and doing inappropriate things. They need to understand that they may feel many emotions when watching it. But it can become an addiction, so they should not watch it.

I “CAN DO” it

Speaking of open communication, Co suggests that parents create an action plan with their kids if they are ever exposed to porn. The “My CAN DO Plan” is easy to discuss and gives you a platform to inform your kids of what they should do in case they ever encounter porn in any form or way:

• C – Close my eyes.

We need to explain well enough that there is no good that can arise from watching these kinds of videos. They need to get as far away from it as possible.

• A – Always tell a trusted adult.

Co shared that parents need to “set the stage” before talking about sensitive matters like sex. Kids need to feel safe, relaxed, and assured that you won’t be angry no matter what they say. From there you establish a strong foundation of trust.

• N – Name it when I see it

”That’s a bad video!”. Teach your kids to call it out if they are ever exposed to videos with sexual innuendos.

• D – Distract myself!

They should get away from the source of the video or image as soon as possible. Leave the room and do something else.

• O – Order my thinking brain to be the boss!

Unfortunately, the decision-making part of the brain will not fully develop until the ages of 18 to 25. We have to teach our kids that there is a feeling brain and a thinking brain. The thinking brain is the rational brain that will make good decisions.

Protect Your Home

Co mentioned that the porn industry is so savvy that small mistakes in spelling on search engines will cause links to bad videos pop-up. As parents we can do our part in protecting our home against bad websites.

“How much do you spend on dinner with your family? P1,000 or P2,000? Well, for P1,000 a month, you can subscribe to these sites that are family safety tools”, she says. Much like a virtual nanny, these websites provide social network protection and parental control solutions from profanity, promiscuity, and violence. Most of the also alert parents by text and email during suspicious activity. Here is a list of websites she shared:

• BESECURE.COM – Comprehensive online media filter for social networks, movie and video ratings, as well as iTunes filter for explicit music.
• COVENANTEYES.COM – This scores websites visited for mature content and sends a report when they are visited.
• FAMILYSAFE.COM – Helps parents filter out bad words and videos.
• INTERNETSAFETY.COM—Has 35 categories of blocking, as well as keyword blocking and blacklists.
• MYMOBILEWATCHDOG.COM – Safeguards your child while using mobile phones and immediately alerts parents if he or she receives unapproved email, text, or phone calls.
• SPECTORSOFT.COM – Monitors the online activity of kids ad identifies pornographic content they can be exposed to. It records every detail your child does on a computer.

What’s Next?

The easiest solution would be removing any form of screen time—ever. But that’s impossible. “If a child is used to a gadget ever since he was little, you can’t just remove that away from him”, says Co. Doing so would only set the stage for argument. She advises to take it slow so that you can cut back on screen time without a fight.

“Spend time with your kids. Did you know that the first 10 minutes after they arrive home from school will set the tone for the whole evening?”, says Co. Parents need to be intentional in dropping everything to talk to their child and probe into the many things that happened throughout the day. Co also explained how dinner time should be sacred. Keep gadgets and TV out of the picture and keep on talking to each other.

Indeed, moms and dads have huge tasks ahead of them when it comes to protecting children against pornography. Co reminds us to take things one at a time. It’s never too late to change, correct bad habits, and improve our relationships with our children.

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This 2018, Expo Kid partnered with Manila for Kids, a leading online resource for fun activities in and around the Metro. Attendees were treated to an exciting lineup of art, music, sports, and multi-activity providers.

Expo Kid helped parents plan an enriching summer for their kids, keeping them entertained and engaged all throughout their upcoming free-time.

Apart from the exhibits, Expo Kid prepared an all-day program for everyone to enjoy. Talks about coding, animation, story-telling, bullet journaling, to name a few, kept the afternoons interesting. Parent-Child Yoga and Zumba Kids were also part of the agenda.

Expo Kid also awarded notable kids who have discovered their passions and talents. They are our Champions of Summer, children with inspiring stories of hard work and accomplishments.

Expo Kid 2018 has shaped up to be the most inspiring yet! Instead of wondering how to keep kids from being bored, parents now have to figure out how to fit all their kids’ activities over two months. As for the kids, they know that if they work hard and put their hearts into their passions, they could be next year’s Champions of Summer too!

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Mommy Mundo founder Janice Villanueva facilitated an interesting discussion on best practices for starting your own business. Tiffany Tuazon of The Nest Attachment Parenting Hub, Em Matias Sulit of Gamechanger Inc, and life coach and publisher of The Sunday Night Journal, Aurora Suarez shared their personal experiences and advice for moms who dream of making the leap to Mompreneurship.

Tiffany Tuazon left a career of graphic designing when she saw potential in the baby product market. While she was pregnant, she became the local distributor of the K’tan Baby Carrier, and the rest is history. Today she has three branches of The Nest Attachment Parenting Hub, offering curated baby products to Filipino moms.  She had left sound advice for inspiring entrepreneurs, “Organize your business and finances, it will save you a lot of time and errors. Also, practice sound business ethics. Take pride knowing that what you’re doing is your original work. And lastly, deal with people professionally at all times.”

Ems Matias Sulit came from a fast-paced, jet-set career with a global logistics company. Her job required trouble shooting and problem-solving skills that she carried onto her mompreneur adventure. She now owns Gamechanger Inc that caters to various companies’ logistical requirements. “In this day and age, the idea of being a Mompreneur has become very romanticized. Before you jump in, know your finances and how long you can sustain your family without a salary. Don’t measure your success against the success of others. Never compare your page 1 to someone else’s page 100,” shared Ems.

Before pursuing her passion, Aurora Suarez worked with of one of the country’s leading publishing companies. She joined the publishing world with the hopes of writing her own book. But with her hectic lifestyle, she wasn’t able to do so. Her dream of writing her own book has finally come true with The Sunday Night Journal. Today, she is a certified life coach and full-pledged Mompreneur. “Wherever you are now, know that everything is unfolding properly. Whatever challenges you face helps you become who you’re supposed to be,” she advised the audience. When she was setting up her business, someone told her not to put the habits of the corporate world into her Mompreneur life. She challenged everyone to pause and think about what will make running their own business a joy and a pleasure.

Being a Mompreneur takes a lot of time, courage, sweat, and tears. But our speakers showed that it’s all worth it in the end. Take your time in discovering what you’re truly passionate about. You’ll find that at the right time, all the skills you’ve learned throughout the years will help make your Mompreneur dream come true. Plan your business well, and if in doubt, know that you can always count on your Mommy Mundo community for advice and support.

After the Mompreneur Meet-Up, we changed gears from business to parenting. Pregnant Pause 18 welcomed parents with babies arriving just a few months away. Expecting couples learned all they could about pregnancy, preparing for a safe delivery, and real parenting solutions from pioneering childbirth educator Rome Kanapi.

Kanapi walked parents through the first signs of labor, breathing and relaxation techniques, and managing labor pain. Breastfeeding and infant massage techniques were also taught to the eager group of moms and dads.

It turned out that the fun was just getting started. Mommy Mundo, together with Baby Dove, threw a surprise baby shower for all the attendees! With the parents’ exciting and daunting journey ahead, they need all the help they can get. Baby Dove helps give parents the confidence that they’re providing the best care for their baby with its range of gentle skin care products.

Laughter

Learning

Partnership

Fellowship

These made Pregnant Pause 18 the most memorable yet.

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