January 08 Update: What’s New at Kids Ahoy?

Posted on January 23, 2008 by kidsahoy.
Categories: Announcements.

From the beginning, we’ve always envisioned an exciting adventure and true enough, we’re getting exactly (even more!) than what we’ve bargained for. Inspired by our very own CJ, our family has grown in numbers to include many of you and forging ahead is the only way to go from this point.  Aside from CJ, we now have found 1001 more reasons to get up in the morning and work (or in Kids Ahoy-speak, Work is PLAY!)

EXCITEMENT & FUN: CHECK!
HANDS-ON & CREATIVE LEARNING: CHECK!
NEW ONLINE FAMILY AND FRIENDS: CHECK!
FAMILY & BUSINESS COMBINATION & BIGGER AND BETTER EVENTS: WE’RE WORKING ON THAT!

Why on earth do we want to make our online family bigger and better?
Simply because we believe building an online resource for families and kids in the Philippines is worth the hardwork and effort. IT’S ABOUT TIME!

Creating an environment that will help unleash our children’s creative powers is worth it!     AND WHY CAN’T WE PARENTS HAVE A SAY IN THAT?

We believe that every child deserves a happy, creative and healthy childhood and it is our dream that we will be able to help pave a way towards a brighter future for Filipino children!  WE FIGURE TODAY IS THE BEST TIME TO START.

We continue to be energized by your enthusiasm in everything that we have done thus far. Some of you may not yet fully understand what it is exactly we want to do or happen. That’s understandable. Possibilities unfolding at Kids Ahoy daily overwhelm us, too. But in a good way! The beauty of Kids Ahoy is that we all can have a part in defining its future and what it can become—if we choose to get actively involved.  If we can create a community where our kids can flourish while at the same we, as parents can grow our personal & business networks, why not right? We envision a busy, productive and creative two-way street leading to and from Kids Ahoy community where all members benefit somehow, someway. Why not take the initiative to find out how it can benefit you and let’s explore the ways.

We are inspired by many of you who see the reason and vision of Kids Ahoy and willing to support us all the way!  We remain steadfast in our commitment to involve other parents, schools, community leaders, companies, businesses and kid-lovers out there in doing our part in painting our children’s world with infinite possibilities.

ONE MOM MAY HAVE STARTED KIDS AHOY BUT MORE SUPER MOMS (DADS plus other kid-lovers!) CAN TAKE THIS DREAM TO A DIFFERENT LEVEL! WE NEED YOU! Consider your expertise, interests & availability.  There’s an opportunity for everyone here and we are open to discuss with anyone who has ideas on how we can work together. Where the road will lead us—it will be up to us all :)

We’d like to share with you the following updates:

January 2008: Our physical storefront located in Malate Manila is now officially open for hands-on fun & creative play

Jan 12: Our very first privately-hosted PlayDate Birthday Party!  We hope to do more of these so we can reach more families and children and spread the benefits of membership to Kids Ahoy to a wider audience. Contact us to inquire about details.

Jan 12, 2008:  A NEW TEAM PLAYER JOINS KIDS AHOY!!! WAHOOOOOOOOOOO! (We’re so happy to have her on-board, this news truly deserves a separate blog entry!!! Thank you to the mighty powers of Multiply for giving us a chance to meet wonderful kid-lovers out there)

Feb 10, 2008: COLOR MY WORLD WITH…LOVE. Alabang Town Center Activity Area or Festival Mall. (sorry! will post final venue asap as soon as our event Partner Kidsters, Inc informs us) We will be able to meet our South-based community members thru a Pre-valentine event. Various fun activities are in store during this free afternoon of creative fun & play.

Feb 2, 16 & 23, Saturdays, 2-5pm : COME TO OUR OPEN HOUSE! PILOT CLASSES NEED PIONEER STUDENTS!  8-10 KIDS PER SESSION MAX ONLY. FREE TRIAL CREATIVE PLAY SESSION. PRE-REGISTRATION A MUST.  We’d love to meet the parents too for some FGD (focus group discussions).  Ideal groupings will be as follows: Group 1 (Ages 2-5yrs old) Group 2 (Ages 6-9) Group 3 (Ages 10-13)

Email us at kidsahoy@yahoo.com with the ff details:

Name of Child:
Age of Child:
Name of Parent/Guardian:
Contact Info:
Preferred Date (Feb 2, 16 or 23?):

ALL OF FEBRUARY: We will be meeting to plan the launch of our Kids Ahoy online magazine (amongst other exciting things up our sleeves)  We have already invited several of you to contribute an article to said e-publication and we are too excited to roll this out ASAP—ready or not, here we come!

FEBRUARY: Pre-enrollment for Summer programs and activities will begin!  Early bird discounts will be given!

March 2008:
Actual Launch of PlayDate & Party in-a-box and Hosted PlayDate/Party Packages with Accredited Event & Party Suppliers Showcase. Suppliers: pls contact us so we can discuss how you can participate in detail. kidsahoy@yahoo.com

OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF OUR ONLINE KIDS AHOY MAGAZINE!

Other event tie-ups are in the works for March. Will post details as soon as they are available

April 2008: CARAVAN OF FUN: AN EVENT LIKE NO OTHER! Join THE VERY FIRST EVER BIG BAZAAR AND PLAYDATE IN-ONE! Details to be posted ASAP.

APRIL-MAY 08: SUMMER FUN AND CREATIVE PLAY ACTIVITIES ALL THROUGHOUT!!! DETAILS, PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES WILL BE POSTED ASAP!

OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF OUR ONLINE & INTERACTIVE COMMUNITY WEBSITE

OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF OUR KIDS AHOY TRAILBLAZERS CLUB!

From hereon, we would like to open our playshop to meetings with individuals or businesses who are interested to creatively collaborate with us. Pls contact us with your interest ASAP so we can mark our calendars for our sit-down meetings with you.

Just like in the Disney commercial…"WE ARE TOO EXCITED TO GO TO SLEEP" *grin* and we can’t wait to do all of the above plus more!

ARE YOU GAME???? LET’S ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Check out this link for the team players we are looking for:  http://kidsahoy.multiply.com/journal/item/58/

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Teaching young children to resist bias - What parents can do

Posted on January 15, 2008 by kidsahoy.
Categories: Weblogs.

I am re-posting this post in its entirety with Mommy Razzielle’s permission because I believe that it touches on a very important issue and the challenge we parents face in resisting the development of "gender-bias" (or any other biases for that matter) in our children at a young age. 

I hope that you will take the time to read this thought-provoking supplementary reading at: http://www.teachingforchange.org/DC_Projects/ECEI/teachingyoungchildren.pdf  and come back to this post and share with us your insight.

I myself am guilty at times to take the easy way out in choosing "toys for boys".  How many times do I have to reply to comments such as "but that’s only for girls Mama", or "let’s go to the boys section", or "pink is a girl color" etc.  I’m sure you’ve also had experiences in falling prey to this "convenience" at one point.  Society’s "pull" is sometimes too strong to resist but we have to do our best each day not to give in.

Why didn’t I insist that my son get to have his pretend play kitchen at 3yrs old when I knew HE LOVED TO PRETEND COOK?  As soon as he was old enough to say "I want to be a…when I grow up" he first wanted to be a "CHEFT" with a capital T in the end.  Why did I hesitate when we would always be very acutely aware of toy appropriateness and bought toys and materials considering his skills, interests, capabilities and inclinations? Why was hubby not so enthusiastic about the idea when Toys R Us weekend trips (at least twice a month) was one of our most-loved itineraries? Today, he wants to be a Robotics engineer naman. Tomorrow, who knows?

Here’s a theoretical question I’d like to throw out there to start the discussion : Is it pure inclination for our kids to want one or the other type of toy or is it part our influence and exposure?  It’s reflection time and I hope you’ll share your experiences as a reply to this post.

Thanks to Mommy Razz for allowing us to share this personal blog post of her future race car driver, rock star and ultimate kikay princess Nicole!  I’ve met little determined Nic and I couldn’t help but wonder at how cute she was with her little big personality hehehe She’s only two, yet she knew what she wanted (and did not hesitate one bit to make "iling" to Tita Joanne when I asked if she wanted to have her handprint made) eheheh

As long as Nicole is happy indeed and she sure will be with such great help from Mom Razz and Dad Jay!

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Playtime with Nicole (by Mommy Razz)

I was chatting online with a cousin and he asks me where Nicole is and I tell him she’s in the bedroom playing with cars. And he asks me "Bakit kotse?" So I tell him Nicole likes cars. "Pagbigyan", I tell him. He tells me he’s also chatting with another friend and she just told him her son likes to play with plush toys.  He’ll have to switch Nicole’s gift with the other kid’s gift then, he tells me.

Ever since Nicole was little she’s always been more interested in cars than dolls and it doesn’t bother me. A toy is a toy is a toy.  I don’t want her to grow up thinking she can’t do "boy things". For me there are no boy things and girl things. This is why when I was shopping for baby items when I was still pregnant I would get things in all colors- green, yellow, pink and blue even if I knew I was going to have a girl.

I have a niece who, when she was a little girl refused to wear anything other than clothes in pink, did not play with cars or balls, and asked me why Jay has long hair when he is clearly a boy.  One time, I gave her a Zashikibuta notepad and she asked me if the pig was a boy or a girl. I told her Zashikibuta is a male pig. She told me Zashikibuta must be female since he likes flowers. Kaloka that kid.

Now Nicole is in the "I am a Princess" stage but she still loves her cars.

This is her favorite toy at the moment:

Jay’s aunt gave that car to her last Christmas together with a knock-off Barbie. She races that car with a plastic Ferrari car that Jay’s dad got for free from a gasoline station. Jay used to collect matchbox cars and now all the cars are beat up because Nicole loves it when they hit the walls :)

Here she is playing with a tram when she was one:

I also got her a basketball hoop when she was little:

Here she is pretending to be Spiderman yesterday (see Hetty Spaghetti car and Ferrari toy car in the background):

And playing with her "horse":

Now she also likes to play with Barbie dolls and doll houses but not as much as she likes to play with her cars.  Another one of her favorite games is this pretend-play where she pretends to be an ice cream vendor.  She goes inside her ice cream shop (a bahay-bahayan, Jay and I made from her old crib) and shouts at her customers. "Mama, bili ice cream!!!" "Papa, ice cream!!!"  So you have no choice but to buy ice cream from her. LOL. She likes to play pretend with her dad because Jay goes with the flow (Jay says I’m too bossy; he’s heard me play lutu-lutoan with Nicole and he said I kept telling Nicole what to do–where to place the plates, what spoon to use, etc. hehehe). So pretend play is Jay’s department.

Here they are during "lunch" with Barbie, Chibi Maruko Chan, Woody and Liza Simpson (I think Nicole was about 18 months in this photo):

She also likes to pretend she’s Buzz Lightyear and that she’s flying. Again, Jay takes care of the flying part.

And because we let her play both "boy" and "girl" toys and games, I am hoping she’ll grow up well-rounded, with varied interests.

She likes music, and plays with her dad’s drums and her Ate Gabe’s piano.

And she also LOVES the outdoors:

She can also be a little quirky sometimes. Here she is mesmerized with her lola’s lamp with the lamp shade on her head:

And I already blogged about that time she insisted on wearing her swimsuit while playing with her cousins and aunts. (I don’t have a photo of that).

I guess what’s important is that Nicole is happy.

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Feel free to post your replies here or join us in a lively discussion at:

http://kidsahoy.multiply.com/journal/item/59/

Cheers, (KidsAhoyShop.com)

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