The Gift: Nikki Prieto-Teodoro

The joy of mothering is in believing that a child is a gift from God. Nikki Prieto-Teodoro knows that only too well. "Jaime, our only child, is our precious gift from Him," she says.

Nikki and her husband, Tarlac Rep. Gilbert Teodoro, waited for this gift for six years. Jaime, now seven years old, came into their lives when they were already settled; just when they were ready to celebrate the most precious gift of their lives.

"My son completed me," says Nikki, whose love for children is evident in her advocacies. She is active in the Haven for Children, a home and livelihood center for street children. The Haven for Children is a project of the Congressional Spouses Foundation Inc., where Nikki is an active member of the board. She is also very active in many an undertaking of the Elsie Gaches, a village for orphans.

The well-being of children is Nikki’s passion because she believes children are innocent and defenseless. "Children are not bad. Circumstances make them bad."

And Nikki is making sure that she will not allow any circumstance to make her Jaime go astray. This early, Humility 101 is the basic course of life she imparts to her son. Humility, she observes, is almost alien among children in America and Europe. Nikki spent her childhood abroad. She lived in the States for 15 years and stayed for six years in Europe, where she finished a degree in International Marketing at the Webster University in Leysin in Geneva, Switzerland.

"I teach my son not to be a show-off. I tell him his parents may have it but if he himself does not work for it, everything will be gone. I want him to value everything that he has. I don’t want him to have superficial friendships that come with the territory," adds Nikki who, despite her mounting responsibilities in their family real estate companies, finds it both a breeze and a blessing to take care of her own family.

Because she is a hands-on mother, Nikki gets to show by example the values she grew up with. "It may sound simple but I always make sure Jaime knows how to say ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you.’ I want him to have good moral values. I want him to be fair and sensitive to the needs of others," she says.

This early, Jaime is proving how good a student of life he is. When his mother has a headache, Jaime is the first one to attend to his mom, giving her medicines and wrapping her up in his little arms in an attempt to assuage her pain. Jaime even asks his mother: "Who gave you the headache, Mom? I have to talk to them." Once, Jaime even asked his mother if he should call an ambulance to bring her to the hospital so she would feel better.

These gestures may be small things in the eyes of others but in Nikki’s heart, everything Jaime does to her is a great sign of love. Nikki is right – a child is a blessing, a gift from God.