As a parent, we want to protect our kids from anything that can harm them or affect their emotional and physical being. However, as much as we want to be with them 24/7, there are times we need to let them be by themselves like going to school, where they interact with other students including bullies.

Sad to say, bullies are part of our society today. We might not all be capable of stopping them, but there’s something we can do about – Make our kids Bully-proof!

First, we would like to point out some hints if your kid is being bullied:
• Does your kid come home with torn clothes, damaged books, and with missing stuff?
• Does he/she like to talk about school?
• Do you notice any bruises, scratches, and cuts that he/she can’t explain?
• Is he/she excited to go to school or attend any outdoor school activities?
• Does he/she take the long route to and from school?
• Does he/she show unpleasant mood swings?
• Do you often catch him/her having a bad dream?



There are other ways to identify a victim of bullying. If you notice your kid showing any of these signs, you must act immediately. How?

1. Have a one on one talk with your kid. The child might refuse to tell you everything in one shot. Take it slow and let the kid open up by giving him/her assurance that everything will get better. Let the child feel you are on his/her side.

2. Once bullying is confirmed, set a meeting with your kid’s school adviser. Do not head to the other concerned party right away. With the thought of your kid being harmed, some moms may probably look like they’re coming in for a war. I know how moms can be over protective, but it is better to settle the issue in civil manner.

3. Spend more time with your kid. Accompany him/her to school at least once a week and see who she/he hang out with. Make friends with his/her friends.

4. Give him/her a slight idea of what bullying is and how to deal with it positively.

What’s your take on this? Feel free to share your thoughts!

Single parents are now entitled to have their own national ID Card known as Solo Parent ID, which aims to provide a comprehensive program of benefits, services, and privileges to both parents and their children.

Solo Parent Eligibility/Qualifications as Defined by the Republic Act 8972 are as follows:

A woman who gives birth as a result of rape and other crimes against chastity even without a final conviction of the offender, provided that mother keeps and raises the child.

Parent left solo or alone with the responsibility of parenthood due to the following circumstances:
a. Due to death of spouse.
b. Spouse is detained or is serving sentence for a criminal conviction for at least one (1) year.
c. Physical and/or mental incapacity of spouse as certified by a public medical practitioner.
d. Legal separation or de facto separation from spouse for at least one (1) year, as long as he/she is entrusted with the custody of the children.
e. Declaration of nullity or annulment of marriage as decreed by a court or by a church as long as he/she is entrusted with the custody of the children.

Unmarried mother/father who has preferred to keep and rear her/his child/children instead of having others care for them or give them up to a welfare institution.

Any other person who solely provides parental care and support to a child or children.

Any family member who assumes the responsibility of head of family as a result of the death, abandonment, disappearance or prolonged absence of the parents or solo parent.



CRITERIA FOR SUPPORT

Any solo parent whose income falls below the poverty threshold as set by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and subject to the assessment of the DSWD worker in the area shall be eligible for assistance. A solo parent can directly inquire from the following agencies to avail of their services:

Health Services (DOH)
Educational Services (CHED, TESDA)
Housing (NHA)
Parental Leave (Employer, DOLE, CSC) Note: A solo parent whose income is above the poverty threshold shall enjoy only such limited benefits as flexible work schedule, parental leave and others to be determined by the DSWD.


Benefits:

Tax incentives for solo parents with child/children with disability

A single or legally separated individual who has a child, legitimate, illegitimate or legally adopted, is entitled to a basic personal exemption granted to a head of family. He/She is entitled also to an additional exemption of P8,000 per qualified dependent (not exceeding four). A solo parent is not entitled to the above additional exemption if he/she takes care of a person with disability who is not his/her child, unless he/she legally adopts the same.


Flexible work schedule

A solo parent employee has the right to vary his/her arrival and departure time without affecting the core work hours as defined by the employer. The employer shall provide for a flexible working schedule for solo parents, as long as it shall not affect individual and company productivity. In case of certain meritorious grounds, the employer may request exemption from DOLE.


No work discrimination

Employer are prohibited from discriminating against any solo parent employee with respect to terms and conditions of employment on account of his/her status.


Parental leave

The parental leave of seven (7) days shall be granted to any Solo Parent employee subject to the following conditions:

1. The solo parent must have rendered government service for a least one (1) year, whether continuous or broken, reckoned at the time of the effectivity of the law on September 22, 2002, regardless of the employment status.

2. The parental leave shall be availed of every year and shall not be convertible to cash. If not availed within the calendar year, said privilege shall be forfeited within the same year.

3. The parental leave shall be availed of on a continuous or staggered basis, subject to the approval of the Administrator. In this regard, the solo parent shall submit the application for parental leave at least one (1) week prior to availing the solo parent leave, except on emergency cases.

4. The solo parent employee may avail of parental leave under any of the following circumstances:

a. Attend to personal milestones of a child such as birthday, communion, graduation and other similar events;

b. Perform parental obligations such as enrollment and attendance in school programs, PTA meetings and the like;

c. Attend to medical social, spiritual and recreational needs of the child;

d. Other similar circumstances necessary in the performance of parental duties and responsibilities, where physical presence of the parent is required.

5. The head of agency/office concerned may determine whether granting of parental leave is proper or may conduct the necessary investigation to ascertain if grounds for termination and withdrawal of the privilege exist.



How To Apply:

1. The applicants for the solo parent ID must bring the following documents to the City/Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office:
• Barangay certification certifying Solo Parent’s residency in the barangay for the last six months
• Certificates e.g., birth certificates of children, death certificate of spouse and other appropriate documentary support
• Income tax return or any document that will establish the income level of the solo parent

2. The social worker receives and ensures that all documents are complete and registers the applications with an appropriate case number in the log-book Registry of Solo Parents.

Note: The ID will be issued after 30 days from filing. The validity of the ID is one year and is renewable.

If you were born before the rise of gadgets, you probably have a haul of amazing childhood memories like playing hide and seek, climbing trees, or maybe wading in the rain puddles. Feels good to reminisce, right? Would have been better if we can turn back the clock and do it all again even just for a day.



One of the most talk about topics online is the screen time rules for kids. How much screen time will you allow your children to have? Are you one of the parents who would like to have their kids experience the fun and adventures of outdoor activities and keep them away from phones and gaming consoles or are you happy to see your little ones safe inside your house, entertained by the gadgets in their hands?

During your childhood days, your parents were most likely concerned with: where you've been, who were you with, what kind of games you and your friends doing, how did you get your knees bruised, and such. But today, things have changed. Our technologies have evolved and so as our kids. You may have noticed what makes most millennial kids, if not all, busy and what interests them most - anything with backlights, screens, and buttons.



The debate as to whether parents should let their kids have some "fun" time or even have their own phones has been long heated and has accumulated different viewpoints. It is true that you can find a lot of education apps for your mobile phone or tablets, but it is also true that social media can easily influence a child's behavior and way of thinking, especially now that cyber-bullying is becoming common in primary schools.

So, what's the best thing to do? In topics like this, we do not want to give our own opinion; rather, we encourage every mom and dad to weigh the pros and cons. What are the factors to consider? Is 1-2 hours screen time for kids 3 years and up good enough? Do you have time to monitor your kids' downloaded apps? Do you plan to join your kids during TV time? Or would you like to have your kids be involved in physical activities instead? Do you prefer to have your kid participate in outdoor sports like basketball instead of being hooked in mobile shooting games?



Always remember that every decision you make for your child will greatly affect their personality and overall well-being. Only you, as their parent, can decide what's best for your child and we trust every parent's instinct to be at their children's best interest.

Share us your views and opinions and Get a Chance to Win a Pair of Marikina Flat Shoes from Shoes Colored!



Check out their latest collections at:
Fb.com/shoescolored.marikinashoes
Instagram: @shoescolored

Winner will be announced on September 30

Good Luck!

EDITS:
We do apologize for we have misinterpreted the reward points system. It's NOT going to be 50 points per review; you are going to get back the equal amount of points you spent for every item. Example, if you requested for a product with a point value of 30 and your review was approved, you will get 1 point for submission and 30 points for the approval.

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Like we've promised, we're going to share a secret on how to get free items online. We stumbled upon this site and got curious if we are really going to get the items or not. Let's face it. Most people would likely to ask: "what's the catch" and some may feel skeptical if the site will soon ask for credit card information and such.

The good, no I must say, the great news about this "paandar" is you will not be required to pay for the items or typed in bank information, unless of course, you want to make a purchase. You  will only be asked to write a review on the product(s) you will receive.

How it works?
Upon signing up to Sample Room PH, you will be given 100 points, which you will need to Get Free Samples. You can browse over their website for available samples. Each item/product has an equivalent number of points to redeem. Categories are: Skin Care, Hair Care, Body Care, Fragrance, Cosmetics, Tools, Health, Slimming, Lifestyle, Baby, and Living.

You can either use all your available points before you check out or save some for another time. We suggest you use them all up at once because you will shoulder the shipping fee. Shipping cost for Metro Manila areas is 110.00 pesos and 150.00 for provinces. You may send your payment for SF via Globe GCash or Smart Money. They also accept Bank Deposits and Online Money Transfers.

How to Earn More Points?
You can earn back 1 point for every review you submit and an additional 50 points will be awarded once they approved your feedback. Easy right? But I have another secret to share. You can have more chances of getting points if you have several products to review. For example, you have an initial points of 100 and you were able to request 4 sample products. Say after several days you received your items, tested them, and you submitted reviews for all 4, that's going to be plus 4 points on your account. As soon as othey get approved, you will have 50 points for every item and you will have a total of 204 points!



Available sample products may from time to time and the required points to redeem an item may also change, so you might want to bookmark and visit the site more often. Product reviews approval may also take several days and depends on their availability. We suggest that you browse around and list down all the items you wish to get while waiting for your reviews to get approved. Yes, let's all be positive on that! Just make sure you are going to submit valuable and informative reviews! :)

A total of 10,000 will be given away starting this coming Thursday, August 17! The Empire Fashion Cafe will draw 10 Lucky Winners of 1,000-worth of exciting pre-packed accessories and apparels every week!

Here's how to join:
1. Follow @empirefashioncafe on Instagram
2. Like as much photos as you can
3. Leave a comment where you want their next branch to be
4. Like them on Facebook Page (link here)

Good Luck! :)

Here's how we get ours...

Me and my husband had a quick grocery shopping the other night at around 8AM and we passed by this "Freebie Machine" (as we call it). As usual, he took out his Advantage Card, swiped it, and waited for our coupon to come out.

Our coupon for that night was...


You can always ask for assistance in case you get confused how the machine works. Some SM Supermarket/Hypermarket deploy aide(s) beside the machine, you just need to hand them your card.

Since we're always together whenever we shop, we agreed to share one card, so we can easily monitor our earned points.

Once you get your coupon, it will give you two chances of getting freebie (on some days, they push out even more!). You have to purchase particular items to redeem your rewards. For us, we could get a Free SM Bonus Facial Tissue 2Ply 70pulls Travel Pack if we purchase Close Up Toothpaste Red Hot 145ml 2pcs at 119php and/or 3pcs of 50ml Colgate Toothpaste Great Regular Flavor.

Both brands are OK but Close Up offered a better deal. Should you wish to double your freebie, you may, for as long as you purchase all the required items on your voucher/coupon.

Here's the Close Up deal:


2pcs of 95ml each was 99php while 2pcs of 145ml each was just 119php. 10php difference for each toothpaste for additional 50ml is totally not bad at all! Right? 😊 Yes, that's how you should do it, calculate everything that matters, 'coz every cent counts!

As soon as we reach the counter, husband took out his rewards card again and handed over to the cashier on duty. He informed the cashier that we would like to get a Free Facial Tissue and gave her the toothpaste and the coupon. She validated it and gave us our free item. Yay!

Try it too! You'll never know what freebie awaits you the next time you do your grocery shopping chore!

Here's your chance to Win one of these 2 Weide Watches!

To Join:
1. Follow @weidephilippines and Like them on Facebook.
2. Look for the similar photo and repost with a hashtag: #WearWEIDE
3. On the comment box (Weide's IG Post), tag 3 of your friends.

There will be 2 Winners!
Deadline of entries is on 8/31
Make sure your account is set to public.

Good luck and let us know if you're one of the lucky winners!