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Letting children become fully functional, independent

BY Nestor Corrales

January 19, 2014
3:41 am

MANILA, Philippines—A family life and child development expert is sharing this valuable insight to next-generation mothers: They should be well informed if they want their children to be protected.

Dr. Lilian Leynes-Juadiong of the University of the Philippines shared some insights on early childhood development in a roundtable discussion at the new Nido 3+ campaign launched January 15.

“3+ years or early childhood is the time of discovery for children. Child learns and absorbs information at a fast rate so let them become fully functional and independent,” Juadiong said.

She said the first four years of a child’s life is the best time to let them experience routines to build their confidence.

Juadiong cleared the fears of mothers to expose their children to conflicts.

“Expose your children to conflicts, it strengthens them. This could be distressing and disturbing but only through this that a child could learn,” she said.

She added that at an early age, children should be exposed to social interaction to teach them to conform to social rules and social values to develop their attitudes.

Children should be taught how to socialize, she said.

“The values and attitudes children learn from their early age are usually carried throughout their lives,” she said, noting that first time mothers should be aware of it.

Asked about her opinion on raising kids in this digital age, she said technology could greatly affect child development so using gadgets should always be “in moderation.”

She said mothers can let their children handle gadgets but with a limited time and should be under supervision.

She pointed out a clear example.

“Like, television per se is not bad, but you should limit the number of hours your child is watching and supervise what shows are appropriate for them because this will affect the attitude of your children,” she said.

She explained that a lot of alternatives could be given to children in the absence of gadgets.

She cited storybooks as a great alternative to boost the imagination of children.

A simple conversation with kids, according to her, also helps a lot in building their imagination.

“The child should communicate. That is very important,” she said.

She said children should learn to communicate what they feel, whether positive or negative.

“You don’t get mad at them. Becoming angry to their expressions will never teach the child how to work through it,” she said.

Juadiong was joined by Nido’s newest ambassador singer-songwriter and mother of two Barbie Almalbis-Honasan.

Almalbis shared her parenting experiences in mothering her two kids saying it was the best years of her life.

“I used to worry a lot. I used to control them,” Almalbis said.

She shared that the simple incident of seeing her daughters fall down would make her panic.

“That’s exactly how I feel about my kids, and when Stina (her first daughter) was very young, I always panic whenever she fell down or hurt herself, and she would always cry. But later, I learned to be calm and just help her up,” she said.

“They say that having a child is like having your heart walk around outside your body. And now that my kids are growing up, I realized that the joy of being a mom is really amazing,” she said.

She said she is confident that her children are well-protected with the best growing up milk which is Nido 3+.

Almalbis who sang and arranged the new Nido commercial said she feels so honored to do the commercial.

During the vent, attendees had an exclusive screening of the refreshed version of the Nido 3+ “You’re my Number One” music video.

Almalbis worked with fellow 3+ ambassador Sharon Cuneta who last revived the song in 2009.

“It was an honor to work alongside with Sharon and her son Miguel for this project. I am equally thrilled that I got to do this with both Stina and Liam (her daughters) who also enjoy Nido 3+ very much,” she said.

With the newest Nido 3+ campaign “Letting Kids be Kids with Mom’s Loving Protection,” the challenges of raising kids will definitely be magical and kids will grow the best they can possibly be.