Happy birthday, Parentin.tv!

Long before I became a parent, having my own kids that is — I have been a “parent” — being the panganay to my sister Charmaigne and brother Nino whom I sent to school. I think we don’t really need to bear biological children to become a “parent.” I think we get to experience being “parents” at varying stages in our lives.

I’ve always embraced the advocacy of being a parent. This strong desire led me to an idea strongly supported by my partner for life, Julius, my family and mentors.

In 2009, in between shows, while working on our second baby (now six-month old Baby Nio!) I took the leap of faith and pursued this lifelong dream that was pioneering, fulfilling and empowering.

Together with a handful of long-time friends and partners led by Estelle Piencenaves and Dina Brugada (both of whom I’ve known and worked with during my morning show days), and new friends who are all extremely creative (Ric Gindap, editor-in-chief of Monday Magazine, Ivy and Eric Cortes and Reine Gagno) our team launched the website www.parentin.tv of which I am executive creative director and host of the first Philippine on-line Parenting Webshow.

Unlike any other hosting stints, www.ParenTIN.tv is as close to me as my own baby. Its future lies in my hands and I know I can nurture it for as long as I want.

Like any other advocacy — with business as its flipside — this new endeavour requires much work. It has its share of never-ending challenges. But, as they say, do something you love and it will never feel like you’re working for a day.

With ParenTIN, I always discover something new from other parents, experts and our members. And so I am inspired to always do better. The months rolled by so fast and before we knew it, here we are celebrating a milestone: Our first birthday!

Last July 3, we partied with our community of parents and parenting partners in an event co-presented by Baby Company at the Events Center of SM Megamall.

The whole afternoon was filled with fun and freebies. The audience, especially members of our website, enjoyed different booths on the ground.

Little kids ran around the Little Tikes play area and enjoyed scrapbooking at the All About Scrapbooking booth. They listened to nutrition counselling at the Anchor Milk booth and sampled the learning program for Math and English at the Galileo Enrichment area.

Little babies’ mommies and those expecting a child checked out the Ainon Baby and Baby Company merchandise in their respective booths.

Of course, everybody enjoyed the samples of free pancakes from Magnolia Pancake Plus, free pasta and salad from El Real and Josiah’s Catering’s chocolate fountain.

No wonder, everybody stayed with us until the end of the show! Thanks for making it such a special treat!

Host Mark Mangalima, also known as the man with a hundred voices, kicked off the event with a special audio-visual presentation commemorating the special moments in our first year, back-to-back with the energizing opening dance number of crowd favorite Ainon Baby mascots.

Also present were VIP guests, Dr. Becky Singson, head of the OB-GYNE department at the St. Luke’s Medical Center Global City, Suzanne Salindong and Angel Castelo of Cordlife Philippines, Agnes Caguntas, marketing manager of Ainon Baby and Clair Alinio, marketing manager of Baby Company.

Clair gamely co-hosted the Baby Company Bring Me and Pass the Stuffed Toy games, which greatly delighted the mommies who joined.

Hourly raffle prizes thrilled families as lucky winners brought home a table set, see-saw, kitchen center and art center courtesy of Little Tikes and tabletop burners from Rinnai.

Performances from Nikki Valdez, Rhap Salazar and Talentadong Pinoy finalist, ventriloquist extraordinaire WanLu kept the audience glued to their seats.

One of the major highlights and most special part of our celebration was the launch of the first Parentin.tv Awards.

Awarding couples and individuals who have consistently modelled good parenting and passionately pursued parenting advocacies gave us an opportunity to honor their accomplishments.

Our awardees are Anthony and Maricel Pangilinan, and Paolo and Suzi Abrera for the Two-of-a-Kind award, Maribel Dionisio for the Educator Award, Dr. Elvira Lichauco Henares-Esguerra and Nona Andaya Castillo for the I ª Nature Award and Mayor Jejomar “Junjun” Binay for the Alternative Parent Award.

Congratulations once again to you and our loyal members who brought home unforgettable prizes. And as I end this article, my excitement swells as Parentin.tv looks forward to yet another year of better parenting! Have a nice day!

Be a member of my website and be part of our fun loving parentin.tv community. Register for free by logging on at www.parenTin.tv. See you in our next event, our Parentin.tv Talkseries on Sept. 11 at St. Luke’s in Taguig City. Stay tuned for further announcements on how you can get invites to the talk series.

Happy parenting!