A time to hold on

TV footage shown early this week of children crying their hearts out as they were separated from their mothers on the first day of class brought back bittersweet memories.

To a child, his mother is his world and to tear him apart from her is like losing a limb. At this point in a pre-schooler’s life, Mom’s the word. Mom is the sun, the moon and the stars. If you are a mother of such a child, and if your wrist now bears marks of a child’s vise-like grip, wear the marks like a badge.

It is also almost egoistic to actually revel in the thought that you mean everything to someone that the thought of you being away for a second drives him crazy. He bawls till you see his tonsils. That’s how a child feels toward his mother before he starts adjusting to school life.

And the look on his child’s eyes when he sees his mother again after being "exiled" in the classroom for an hour is a look that makes one’s heart leap.

If you’re the mother of a pre-schooler now, and your problem is how to get him again inside that classroom tomorrow without another tear-jerking performance by the gate, I say, sleep tight. Worry no more. Sleep with a smile in your eyes. Enjoy the moment.

For there will be times in your life later on when you will feel insecure about a number of things. Anything. During those times when you feel dispensable, look back at that day once upon a time when someone loved and needed you so much he would not let you go till the teacher, the manangs or the security guard firmly led him away.

The memory will be chicken soup for your soul and your ego.

Believe me, one day, memories of your child’s opening school blues and how you drove those blues away will drive your own blues away.

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Anyway, it is important that your child is not traumatized by this milestone in his life. I know of some kids who have had to miss an entire year of nursery school because they could not take that first step – that giant leap – into the classroom.

So mothers, choose your child’s pre-schools well. My son (who’s now 16) went to a pre-school where yayas where allowed to stay in the playground in the first few days of class. The children were allowed to go out to go to yaya whenever they were hungry or thirsty. Anyway, at the end of the week, my son’s teacher said, "Your son is always hungry! Always going out to eat!"

Of course, I knew right away that going out to eat was just his excuse to see yaya’s familiar face. But he did gain quite a few pounds with his ruse.

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I recently got to swap stories about school and schoolchildren with Dina Lomongo Paterno, one of the trustees of The Beacon School, a private international school in the tree-lined grounds of the Philippine Center for Population and Development on Pasong Tamo Extension in Taguig, Metro Manila.

The school, says Dina, is a "cross between the International School and a private school."

Dina lived as an expat’s wife in Hong Kong for many years, and her children went to an international school that catered to the "locals."

She herself taught for a while in the school, and got her first taste of bullying from a Korean student who haughtily told her in front of the entire Asian Literature class: "So, you’re Filipino. Do you know that my amah is also Filipino?"

Dina, who knew the question wasn’t innocent, answered: "Is that so? Why, my children’s amah is also Filipino! Now if you have no further questions related to my class, maybe we can proceed with today’s lesson?"

Because she had children to raise, Dina later on quit teaching and just accepted private tutoring sessions at home.

The product of a private Catholic School in Manila, Dina realized that international schools (those whose curriculum is based upon the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program) have several advantages.

"They’re not regimented, not structured," she discloses. "This atmosphere encourages students to ask more questions."

When Dina and her family returned to the Philippines in 1998, she found out, much to her dismay, that her children could not fit in Metro Manila’s private schools. Dina and a group of friends who were staunch believers of the international school system decided to set up their own school in Manila. They decided it would be in the mold of an international school, but "with a Filipino flavor." Thus was born Beacon.

"Our approach to learning is built on the belief that all children can learn, but not in the same way, nor equally well, from the same sources. We recognize that children are variously gifted," says Dina.

The school’s main building was designed by the late Leandro Locsin, and is air-conditioned. The school enjoys an enviable adult to student ratio of approximately 1:7. This is made possible by class sizes of 14-15 children with one teacher plus one teacher’s aide per class.

Among its trustees/advisers are former Sen. Vicente Paterno, former Education Secretary Armand Fabella, Maria Elena Paterno Locsin, Elizabeth Bengzon, Rosario Felicia Colet, Robert Suntay, Leandro Locsin Jr., Joel Binamira, Marga Binamira, Christopher Lim, Regina Lim, Roberto Benares, Paz Benares, Rafael Ongpin, Karla Yulo and Ramon Cojuangco Jr.

Cory Aquino to tour churches

Former President Cory Aquino will tour churches around Metro Manila, Laguna and Bulacan to encourage the youth to go to Mass and pray the Holy Rosary. She will lead youth prayer rallies in selected big churches from June to December this year. The first will be held in Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City on June 20, from 3 to 5 p.m.

The youth prayer rallies are part of Cory’s Prayer Power Campaign 2002. The theme of the campaign is Peace for Our Families, Peace for Our Nation. It is supported by the nation’s Marian movements. Its spiritual adviser is Bishop Ramon Arguelles.

This prayer campaign is in preparation for the January 2003 visit of Pope John Paul II to the Philippines for the Fourth World Meeting of Families. It seeks to promote the Mass and the Holy Rosary, to consecrate at least a million families to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and to nurture devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Philippines. The list of consecrated families will be collected on a CD-ROM and will be given to the Pope.