What to Give Dad for Father’s Day

It’s only a couple of days before Father’s Day, and you’ve probably ran out of ideas on what to give your dad for this very special day. It’s not like he’s picky. After all, this is a man who will wear pajamas 24/7 if he could. Truth be told, it’s harder to shop for mom or your significant other because, well, for all the reasons that you already know. But with dad, you know that you can buy a random tie from any department store, plunk it in a box, wrap it hastily, and give it to him, and you know that he’ll be pleased and that he’ll wear it ‘til it frays. But this year, you want to do things differently, but so far, all you’ve thought about is getting another generic greeting card to go with the, um, red tie that you picked out. C’mon, you can do better than that!

Give your dad extra special on Father’s day!

This is the man who taught you how to ride a bike, and when you were older, he taught you how to drive. And this is the man (almost all Pinoy boys can relate to this) who gave you a taste of your very first alcoholic drink, while telling you that it’s ok to drink every now and then, but it’s not ok to be a sloppy drunk. He’s the man who referees when mom gets on your case, and who sneaks you an extra cup of ice cream when you really need it. He’s the one who gave you so many piggyback rides and the one who carried you when you were too tired to walk. So doesn’t your dad deserve some TLC and a well-thought out gift?

To help you out, here’s a guide on what to give your dad for Father’s Day.

1. For the hipster dad

Laid back and free spirited, this dad is effortlessly cool. He’s got the hipster essentials down—the thick rimmed glasses, the old-school sneakers, the vintage t-shirt. He’s got an enviable collection of CDs of obscure but totally cool bands, and he knows all the best places to go to for a rocking good time.

Give you hipster dad a cool G-Shock Digital Watch

For the hipster dad, get him any of the following: a G-Shock Digital Watch, a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor All Star Hi Tops in his favorite color, or a pair of really cool sunglasses. For an additional treat, take him to the Cowrie Grill Greenhills for lunch or dinner. A 30 percent discount awaits dad’s meal, and diners also receive another discount voucher that can be used on the next visit.

2. For the Old-School Dad

He taught his sons to open doors for ladies, and he believes in good, old-fashioned values. He treasures his daughters and thinks the world of them, and makes sure to let his presence be known to all gentlemen callers who would like to get to know his babies a little better. His hobbies include classic dad activities such as golf, bowling, or enjoying the occasional cigar while sipping some brandy or whiskey.

Give your dad a DVD box of The Godfather movies

For the old-school dad, get him the complete DVD box set of The Godfather movies, a Timex watch, or a nice flask for his whiskey. Then take the entire family to The Legend Villas in Mandaluyong for lunch. On Father’s Day, your dad gets to eat for free at the lunch buffet, but be sure to get there by 11AM because this offer is only good until 2PM. There has to be at least five people for this offer, so bring mom and your siblings too.

3. For the Army Sergeant Dad

Army Sergeant Dad is probably the strictest dad ever. He’s got you home for curfew by 22:00 or else your phone privileges will be revoked. He tells his daughters that they’re not allowed to date until they reach the age of 30—and they’re not sure if he’s kidding about that. But he’s also the one who will teach you important life skills, like changing a tire. He’ll also take you camping or fishing and will build you the most epic tree house you have ever seen in your entire life.

Give your dad a new jacket from Patagonia

For the Army Sergeant dad, give him a new tool kit to replace the busted one that he has been using forever; a nice shaving kit from Kiehls, or a new jacket from Patagonia or Nautica to wear on his fishing or camping trips. Army Sergeant dad is almost always a fan of red meat, so take him to B & P restaurant at Shaw Boulevard for the Eat with Dad Unlimited Ribs Promo. For only 599 pesos, your dad can fill up on juicy ribs served just the way he likes it.

4. For the Intellectual Dad

He’s the walking encyclopedia in the family. He has an answer for any question and he has an appropriate response for every situation. He plays chess like a pro and he’ll win at all sorts of trivia games. He walks around looking like a rumpled college professor, but he scores cool points for reading all the books from the Song of Fire and Ice books (that’s Game of Thrones to you) and can participate in a lively argument about all the characters in it. He eagerly awaits the latest installment from the Star Wars series and has an awesome collection of Star Wars memorabilia that will make fanboys swoon.

Buy your geeky dad a pair of cool eyeglass

Give the intellectual dad any of the following: a bag of gourmet coffee beans; a Nook e-book reader so he can take digital copies of his favorite books wherever he goes; a new pair of geek-chic glasses from EO Optical. Then take him to The Coffee Beanery for the Unlimited Cakes and Coffee promo. It’s the perfect way to cap off a great day.

5. For the Fun Dad

You know you’ve got a Fun Dad when everyone looks to him to lighten things up at family gatherings. He’s the one who will take you ziplining, and who will come up with funny experiments involving water balloons, hot air balloons, and plenty of soda, much to his spouse’s consternation. He will spend a random Saturday morning flipping pancakes just because he feels like it, and he won’t think twice about wearing a Batman cape out in public. He also has the funniest Facebook posts and Tweets ever, and all your friends agree that he’s the coolest dad ever.

Buy your dad a smartphone

Treat your fun dad to any of the following: a Batman apron from The Clutter Shop; a Pocket Pint from Debenhams at Shangri-la Plaza so that he can have a perfect pint of beer anywhere; a new smartphone so he can post his hilarious take on fatherhood online wherever he is and whenever inspiration strikes. For fun-loving dads, a trip to Enchanted Kingdom in Sta. Rosa, Laguna is the best treat for Father’s Day that doubles as family bonding. Have fun going on all the rides and sampling all the carnival treats that is sure to get your dad giddy as a four year old kid.

On June 15, let’s all show our dads how much we love and appreciate them. Nix the tie-and-card routine and show him how much he means to you with a gift that truly matches his personality and unique tastes.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there, and I hope that you’ll enjoy your special day!

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Dear People From Buzzfeed Who Sampled Food From Jollibee…

Hi Buzzfeed people. Congratulations on getting more than a million hits on your Youtube video, you know, the one where you sampled food from Jollibee? No, don’t worry, I’m not gonna get mad at you. This isn’t even a rant. Far from it guys, it’s all good. I just wanted to get that out of the way before I go on.

Jollibee

For the record, yes, I’m Filipino. I love Jollibee just like any other red-blooded Pinoy. And how can I not, when my kids won’t eat anything else when we’re out? Jollibee to Pinoys is what Mickey D’s is to you guys—it might not have the most sophisticated cuisine, but it’s an institution, a tradition that spans back several generations. Just like most of you guys who were practically raised on the Quarter Pounder, we’ve grown up eating the Yumburgers, the spaghetti with hotdogs, and the Chicken Joy, among others. In the Philippines, every city and province has a Jollibee, with some branches just about a kilometer away from each other.

We’re pretty sentimental about Jollibee. See, it’s a place that smells, sounds, and tastes like home to us. It’s where we would go to after school, and it usually is one of the first places we go to after church on Sundays. It’s where some of us celebrated a birthday party when we were younger, and when we grew up and had our own kids, that’s also where their first birthday party will be, you can bet on it.

You’re probably still getting some vitriol for the negative comments you made about the food, and it’s possible that you don’t understand where all the hate is coming from. I hear you. But let me tell you one thing about my people: we are a sensitive bunch that is awfully nationalistic, sometimes, to a fault. If anyone from other parts of the world would say anything negative about our country, our food, our athletes, or our celebrities, we are quick to bristle. Like a porcupine, we can go from smiley to prickly in a second (do porcupines smile? I don’t know either, but you see my point here?). Here’s another thing that you should know: we can make it through typhoons and the worst calamities with a smile on our faces, and we can work in extremely harsh conditions, but even the slightest negative mention of anything Filipino-related will make us howl in outrage. You wonder, how can a seemingly tough race be so touchy about seemingly little things?

Chalk it up to Filipino pride, or to an involuntary reaction to years and years of being under colonial rule, but my people won’t take that sort of thing. Take for instance when one Hollywood actress’s (ahem, Teri Hatcher) character uttered a racial slur against Pinoys in a Desperate Housewives episode. In a scene that had her character questioning a doctor’s credentials, she quipped, “Before we go any further, can I check those diplomas? I just want to make sure that they’re not from some med school in the Philippines.” That line caused a lot of incensed Filipinos to demand an apology from the show. Eventually, the producers of Desperate Housewives issued a statement offering their most sincere apologies for any offense caused by the brief reference to the medical community in the Philippines. Personally, I thought that was an overreaction on our part—I mean, it wasn’t like this was said at a UN Summit or anything like that. It was a line from a show, for crying out loud.

But there were other instances when I too was irked over something that was said about us. In 1992, Howard Stern said that “I think they eat their young over there”, basically referring to us as cannibals. But he didn’t stop there. Oh no. Stern added, “The Philippines is a country where fathers sell their daughters for sex”, and by saying so, he basically lumped all the fathers in the country in the pimp category. In case you were wondering how old I was at that time, I was 12. I was outraged, because it wasn’t fair. Filipinos aren’t cannibals—ok, sure, some of our hard-core drunks will eat barbecued dog, but no one would eat another human being no matter how drunk or stoned he is. And daughters here are cherished by their fathers, and most of us are protected fiercely, not just by our fathers, but by all the males in our respective clans. It’s a wonder how some of us girls even manage to get a date! It was ridiculous. Now what Stern said, that, for me, was out of line.

So, you may ask, why the hullabaloo about your comments regarding Jollibee food? It’s not like you said anything that was as demeaning as what Stern said (or Claire Danes. Or HK columnist Chip Tsao. Look up what they said and you’ll see what I mean). Like I said, Jollibee is a Filipino institution. But of course, nothing as big as this place was expected to limit its reach to its local market. We knew that it would only take a while before Jollibee will go global, and it happened. We also knew that one of the first places where the Bee would land is in the United States, specifically in California, as there are a lot of Filipino workers, expats, and immigrants over there. And we knew that the general public and the media will catch on to what the fuss is all about.

Jollibee in New York

Take for instance when Jollibee opened in New York. There was a line outside the store, which piqued the curiosity of the non-Pinoys who were in the area. They too joined the queue, and some of them have become fans of the fast food. I’m not saying that they liked everything that was on the menu, but preference for a certain food is personal. What’s disgusting for one person could be delicious for another.

Now let’s talk about what you thought about the food. Let’s start with the Little Big Bites, and what you had was a slice of Spam inside mayonnaise-slathered local bread called pan de sal. You know, that thing isn’t even available in the Philippines, but I could pretty much make that at home and form an honest opinion about it. It might have been underwhelming, but I doubt if the spread was like moisturizer, as one of you put it. You know, spam with bread or rice is a favorite local breakfast here, the same as in Hawaii, where they make so many dishes out of the canned meat. Though the Jollibee version may not be anything to crow about, it couldn’t have been that bad, yeah?

Delicious Chicken Joy Meal

Ok, let’s move on to the chicken. Yes, you’re right, it’s basic fried chicken, and this dish is pretty much universal so no one would be grossed out with it. Those little flags on it, you ask? Yeah, that’s meant to warn you that what you’re about to eat is really spicy, which is how we like some of our food. Maybe you should have tried the classic version first before biting into the spicy chicken? Most people seem to like the Chicken Joy, and you definitely have to try it with the gravy. Any fried food is better with gravy.

You guys seemed to have mixed reactions with the Burger Steak. I can honestly tell you that what you have in that container is a real beef patty, smothered in mushroom gravy, and studded with slices of real mushroom. One of you said that it looked disgusting. Huh. Well, that’s actually a fair observation, as some of our food can be extremely brown, without even a smidgen of green parsley or cubes of carrot to brighten things up. That could have made it more appetizing. But looks can be deceiving, so to the lady who was turned off by how it looks, please give the Burger Steak a second chance. Oh, and here’s a tip: ask for some extra gravy. I know, I know, that will make it even more brown, but take a chance, will you? At least one of you seemed to like it.

Delectable Halo-Halo

The one thing that I couldn’t get out of my mind was how surprised you all were by the halo halo. You, the guy who said, and I quote, “How stoned are the Jollibee people when making this stuff up?” You were particularly hilarious, man. In retrospect, it does seem like the halo halo was the brainchild of a couple of stoners, cause, let’s be honest, who would ever think about putting together beans, bananas, gelatin, crushed ice, milk, flan, and ice cream to create a desert? Only in the Philippines, like one of you said. But when I watched your review again, I noticed that there was something wrong there. I’m talking about the way you guys were eating it. Some were delicately running their spoons over the top layer, while some of you were dipping the spoon towards the bottom of the glass. No wonder you guys didn’t like it!

See, there’s a technique to eating this stuff. What you do is this: you firmly hold your glass to anchor it, and with your other hand, make a stabbing motion with your spoon to churn and mix all the stuff up in the glass. That’s right, stab the halo halo like it did something heinous! Then when the halo halo is more or less blended, mix it up, making sure to have some of the ingredients that were previously at the bottom somewhere in the middle and the top of the ice. By now, you should have a thick, lovely purple mixture in the glass. Now, dip your spoon in and eat it. There…now wasn’t that good?

The next time you go to a Jollibee store or if you want to grab some takeout, I suggest getting the Peach Mango Pie, which is hot, crusty and incredibly fruity, kind of like your pies from Georgia. Or the very Filipino rice noodle dish Palabok. Or how about a serving of the spaghetti, which is meaty, sweet, and tomatoey, all at the same time, and redolent with hotdogs? If one of you has a kid, get him or her to try it—it’s the perfect kid food, trust me on this.

Or if ever you find yourself in the country, feel free to ask any Filipino what’s the best thing to get. Hey, for all you know, I could be that person in front of you in the queue. The Peach Mango Pie’s on me, ok?

PS: I don’t work for Jollibee, and no, they didn’t pay me to write this. I and my kids just happen to like their food. J

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A Guide to Bargain Shopping in Manila

Tourists who have made multiple trips to Southeast Asia know the drill: sunbathe and frolic in the beaches, sample the street food, mingle with the locals, and shop. Though people will swear by the great shopping in Europe or the US, when it comes to bargain finds, nothing beats Asia.

Go bargain hunting in Manila

In the Philippines, Manila is a place that every tourist should check out for amazing bargain finds. Here, you’ll find the latest fashionable clothes and accessories that will make girls (and sartorially-savvy guys) come back for more. There are a lot of malls, bazaars (or tiangge, as known in the country) and markets that are simply overflowing with the hottest trends of the season, and you can go and stock up on shoes and bags without causing massive damage to your wallet.

Here are a few things to remember when shopping in Manila:

• Always carry cash with you in different denominations. Having smaller bills will help since most tiangge stall minders don’t have enough change for, say, a 1000 peso bill.


• Bring some reusable bags or eco bags with you. Some parts of Metro Manila have banned the use of plastic bags, and purchased items are usually placed in flimsy paper bags.


• Wear comfortable clothes and slip on shoes, especially if you’re gonna be trying on clothes. Most tiangges don’t have a dressing room, and to try on clothes you’ll be asked to duck behind an opaque curtain to change. The saleslady who’ll be waiting on you will make sure that the curtain doesn’t accidentally fall down or open, so rest assured that you won’t be accidentally flashing anyone. Just be prepared to change in a real tight space though.


• Bargain like mad. There is such a thing as a “tourist price” in tiangges, so if you can bring along a Filipino friend, have that friend bargain for you. If you’re shopping alone, aim to pay at least 30 to 40 percent lower than the price that was mentioned.


• Be alert and aware of your surroundings. Pickpockets and snatchers could try to get your belongings. To be safe, don’t wear any jewelry, and carry your cash in a small sling bag. Wear the bag’s strap across your body, and keep the bag in front of your person at all times.


• Bring an umbrella to shield you from the strong rays of the sun or to protect you from sudden downpours.

Here are the places to go to for shopping:

1. Greenhills Shopping Center

Located within the affluent parts of San Juan, Manila, Greenhills is a favorite of many tourists, fashionable teens and yuppies, cool moms and celebrities. Here, you’ll find all sorts of things, from clothes, shoes, bags and luggage, watches, and accessories, to flowering plants, mobile phones, tablets, and handicrafts. This place is pretty much a one-stop-shop for everything you need. There’s even a grocery nearby, as well as local and international food chains and restaurants.

Shop at Greenhills Shopping Center

On a recent trip to Greenhills, I wanted to see how much stuff I could get for 5,000 pesos, or roughly about $113. My goal was to get a few clothing items, a pair of shoes, a bag, and maybe some accessories if I have anything left over. Knowing that I needed to buy the big ticket items first, I went to the lanes selling bags and shoes.

The bag lanes are just crazy! Here, you’ll find all sorts of brands, from Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Prada, and Gucci to Burberry, Michael Kors, Hermes, and Balenciaga, among others. Bags are classified as Class A, triple Class A, and Quadruple A. The grading system is based on how good a copy a bag is. The Class A ones will be the cheapest among the bunch. They are decent looking replicas, but the mark of a good copy of an item is all in the small details. The triple and quadruple A bags are the best bags, quality-wise, and if you’ll look at them closely, it is quite impossible to tell whether you’re looking at a fake or the real thing. The Quadruple A Hermes Birkin bag was priced at 25,000 pesos, which is definitely out of my budget. But upon checking out the other stalls, I saw a triple A Louis Vuitton Speedy bag at only 2,000 pesos. I haggled and managed to bring down the price to 1,700. Score!

Next on the list was a pair of pretty, locally-made flat shoes at a fixed price of 700. That left me with 2,600 more. I managed to get three blouses for 1,000, then a dress for 600 pesos. Finally, I got two shirts for 500 pesos, and a nice pair of “Ray Ban” triple A aviators for 500. All that for just a little above $100!

2. Divisoria

Compared to Greenhills, Divisoria is more chaotic, more crowded, and will prove to be a lot more confusing to those who aren’t used to the area.

Divisoria is composed of streets and alleyways filled with merchandise, malls, and airconditioned bazaars all together in the heart of Manila, near Chinatown. If you’re squeamish, unused to crowds, and can’t bear the idea of dodging small vehicles and horse-drawn carriages, then you probably won’t appreciate this place too much. But if you’re after a good bargain, then this is the place to be.

Haggle at Divisoria

The quality of the merchandise here may not be the same as the things you’ll find in Greenhills, but the prices are definitely cheaper. Divisoria is also a great place to go to for buying things in bulk, since you can get a cheaper price for the whole lot than if you were to buy just one or two pieces. Say you’re looking for plain cotton shirts which you’ll use for party favors or corporate giveaways. For that, you need to go to Ongpin Street, where several stores are offering shirts of all colors for wholesale prices. Imagine getting one shirt for less than $2.00! Amazing, right?

For tropical fruits such as mangoes, papayas, pineapple, watermelon, and bananas, the streets to visit are Asuncion and El Cano streets. Fruits are cheap here compared to buying them at the grocery. In fact, a kilo of the world famous Philippine mangoes cost as low as 70 pesos per kilo. Prices depend on whether the fruits are in season or not. Some of the vendors will even let you taste the fruit before you buy.

For clothes and bags, head on over to 168 Mall, New Divisoria Mall, or Juan Luna Street for the cheapest and best stuff. All over Divisoria, there are street carts that sell clothing, but don’t even think about getting your clothes there if you’re looking for good quality. At 168 Mall, class A knock-offs of Polo, Ralph Lauren or Lacoste shirts can be had for about $8.00 a pop. Class A bags are as low as $15, depending on the size and brand.

If you’re looking for toys or party favors, the best place to find these things is at New Divisoria Mall. Some loot bag items go as low as $0.11, so it’s possible to get a lot at these low prices.

Whether you like the atmosphere at Greenhills, or whether you prefer to dive in the chaos of Divisoria, remember to haggle, be polite, and watch your belongings. Indeed, shopping is more fun in the Philippines!

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Back to School Again: Tips to Get Your Kid Psyched to Start the School Year Right

As the days of summer vacation come to a close, kids start counting down the days until school officially starts with an equal mix of anticipation, and something close to regret. In the Philippines, the school year begins on the first week of June, and by the third week of May, kids begin to go crazy, going on all sorts of crazy adventures, staying up as late as they can—anything, just to prolong that summer vacation feeling. I know, because I have two school-age children and a toddler who are currently driving me crazy with their end-of-summer shenanigans.

Back to school kid

Witness Exhibit A, my 11-year-old son, who has became a rabid fan of WWE over the past two months, and can usually be seen practicing his best John Cena face in the mirror and beating the pillows into submission. He has also taken over the TV from 10PM to 1AM on a daily basis, the regular timeslot where our whole family is forced to watch Cena et al. The fact that I have watched Wrestlemania 33 times is beyond me. And also the fact that I know those wrestlers by name (The Wyatt Family, Seamus, Daniel Bryan, Cena… I could go on and on) is kind of a head-scratcher for me. Whether or not knowing all that puts me in the Cool Mom category, I’ll never know.

Or what about my five-year old daughter’s insistence on going on the Dance Central game at the arcade every single time we step out of the house? For those who have never set foot in a Timezone arcade, Dance Central is a game wherein you follow the dance moves of a dance coach onscreen, and your moves are tracked by a sensor, so you’ll know if you have moves like Jagger or if you’re as graceful as a giraffe on ice. And because my little princess refuses to dance by herself, who do you think is the hapless adult who gets dragged to shimmy and shake in front of hordes of teens and tweens? Yes, you guessed it, me.

So as I shake my money-maker to Katy Perry, Kesha, Nicki Minaj, Robin Thicke, and Lady Gaga, I try to convince myself to ignore the stares and snickers and think to myself that I’m not like a regular mom, I’m a cool mom (see Amy Poehler in Mean Girls) and that my kid will have wonderful memories of her good ol’ mom who tried her best to make twerking look dignified as much as she could. Am I a Cool Mom yet or what?

A few days ago, I decided to rein in the craziness and have my kids start thinking about school. The hard part was getting them psyched about it. Oh, they know what school means. It means no more staying up late to watch guys on TV hit each other inside steel cages. It means no more dance parties in arcades. It means waking up early, gulping down a quick breakfast while still half asleep, and getting rid of their comfy shirts and shorts and wearing uniforms five days a week. I’m sure parents with school-age kids everywhere can relate to what I’m saying. That’s why I’ve come up with sure-fire ways to get your children excited about going back to school.

1. Go back-to-school shopping with your kids.

While shopping for the kids’ school things will certainly be easier without them, letting them choose their school bag, notebooks, pencil cases, crayons and other supplies will help them get in the zone and psyched about going to school. Before doing this, scope out several malls, book stores, or bargain centers to do some comparison shopping at least two weeks before shopping day, then decide where to take your child. Make a list of what the child needs to avoid overspending. School supplies are certainly cuter and kitschier nowadays, and if you’re anything like me, it’s easy to get carried away and buy loads of erasers that look like miniature sushi, so consider yourself warned.

Go back-to-school shopping

For school bags, check out Landmark in Makati, SM Malls, and Market Market. At Landmark, we scored an aggressively girly book bag for my daughter for 500 pesos, and a sturdy backpack with absolutely no logos or cartoon characters for my son for only 700 pesos. Leather shoes are a must for elementary and high school kids, so we scored a pair for our son for only 400 pesos, while my daughter who’s still in preschool went with a sparkly and very pink pair of Barbie sneakers for 450 pesos.

Notebooks and other supplies can be had at National Bookstore, and branches of this family-owned bookstore/ school and office supplies chain can be found all over the Philippines. Apparently, the notebook du jour for little girls this year should be plastered with characters from the Disney movie Frozen. Those went fast, and I’m not ashamed to say that I did a bit of mild elbowing to get about a dozen of those notebooks before they were all gone. Notebooks (with or without Disney or Mattel characters) cost about 16 to 33 pesos per piece, depending on the quality of the paper.

2. Practice sleeping early, and getting up early in increments.

Doing a practice run is a must for us, so I started by making the kids go to bed at 11PM, then I woke them up at 9:30AM. The next night I made them go to bed at 10:30PM, then woke them up at 9AM. On and on it goes until they get used to waking up at 6AM. Do your own practice runs this way to ease your kids gently into a schooltime routine.

3. Get your child’s opinion regarding his or her choice of snacks for recess.

Several weeks before school starts, buy a few snack foods for your kids to try and see which ones will make it to the approved-for-recess list. This year, we have all agreed to give the cream crackers and chocolate wafers a rest, and they all wanted more ham and egg with wasabi mayo sandwiches and peanut butter and banana sandwiches for recess, plus Oreo cookies for the ride home on the school bus. Thank goodness, because I don’t think I can look at another chocolate wafer for an entire year!

Let you kid choose for his snacks

For sandwich breads, try the pandesal from Pan de Manila, or the cheese loaf from Bread Talk. For cookies and crackers, Rustan’s and Market Market both have a wide range of local and international brands that are a hit with the kids. Chips Ahoy Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies anyone?

4. Give your child a back-to-school gift.

Most school-age children often make use of the Internet to do their research, and some schools also assign homework in homework portals. Make learning fun and easy for your child by giving them a back to school gift such as a tablet or a mini laptop. Just make sure to monitor the websites that your child is visiting, and be specific about how much time they can spend online on school days. Another great gift is a cell phone. It doesn’t need to be an iPhone 5! Let’s be serious, I mean, would you give your 9-year-old a smartphone? An inexpensive, ordinary phone that allows your child to text and call will do. A phone can be good to have, especially for older kids so you can check on their whereabouts during after-school activities, and also for younger kids in case of emergencies. Make sure to top up your child’s phone with a set amount of credits every month, and let him or her know that the credits should be used wisely. If he or she uses up the cell phone load before the month is up, let them know that you’ll be topping up the phone on the following month. It’s a good way to teach your kid about budgeting and responsibility.

This summer has been fun, sure, but school days are up ahead, and letting your child know that those days can be fun too will help them look forward to going back to school. It just takes a bit of patience, a little indulgence, and some practice, and before you know it, they’ll be raring to hop on that big yellow school bus.

As for me, I’ve just spent a couple of hours covering books and notebooks in plastic. Now, excuse me while I join my daughter for Dance Central. Lady Gaga is on.

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