Driving Ambitions | 2007

The Ferrari F50 was made to celebrate Ferrari's 50th anniversary. It was a monster of a car in it's time.

You could say it was one of Jakjak's first cars (He was one year old when he rode this). Of course, it was coin operated rather than petrol powered. It was made fiber glass instead of carbon fiber. But we all remember our firsts.

I have always been fascinated by cars. In fact, I love them. You would see me turn my head more often when I see a good looking car than a good looking girl. And because I was very open to this even when Jakjak is around, I think it has trickled down to the little fellow. 

I have always believed that toy cars are a boys first set of toys. Well, this becomes a slight fact only after the educational toys have come to pass. And even then, you can't force your child with toys that you want rather than what he wants. Because even with his toy cars (hand picked by his dad, of course), Jakjak plays with a doll house. Yep, a doll house. Probably because two of his older cousins were girls and this was one of their old toys. But yep, we let him play with his doll house. Of course, instead of dolls, he was using his hotwheels cars to sit on the couch, open the doors, peak through the windows and have tea parties. Go figure.

Still, parents will influence their child a great deal as they are growing up. This is because children only know three people in his world. His mum, his dad and himself. And at the tender age of one, his mum and his dad are his 'ultimates'. It will show in a few years time what influences you have, as a parent, given to your child. I know this because at four years old, Jakjak had carried on his dad's love for cars and has decided he wanted to be a Ferrari race car driver when he grows up! (There goes dad's bank account)

Pets | 2007

We were not exactly dog lovers in the sense that we never dressed them up like dolls.

But we love our dogs, even if they were locals (read: askal or asong kalye). Jakjak loved them too. Unfortunately, our dogs were a bit too big for him and they literally mug him with licks. That is until Muffet came along.

Muffet was a breed dog that came from my brother-in-law, Willie. He found the poor girl lost in the urban jungle and took her home. Jakjak immediately loved her because: 1.) She was smaller than he was. 2.) She was a friendly and playful little dog. Of course, she did need a lot of TLC to get her back in shape, being lost for some time. So a dozen baths, three haircuts and two lice removal sessions later, she was ready to romp.

Jakjak fed her. Jakjak walked her. Jakjak gave her more baths. Jakjak petted her. They were pretty good together, of course, Jakjak being Jakjak, it was not quite a perfect man's best friend relationship. You see, Jakjak fed her ... with his own ice cream that was melting in his hands. Jakjak walked her ... but she runs and drags Jakjak to follow her. Jakjak gave her baths ... while he was taking his own bath. Well, you get the picture.

But it was a good experience for him. In time he learned to be more responsible for his pet. That was what we really wanted him to learn. Love and respect for others. And I'd like to believe that having his own pet had taught him some of this.

Frustrating an Indie | 2007

As soon as Jakjak had learned how to walk properly, he took it as a sign of independence. For what it was worth, independence to him was just that, independently walking. 

He would shrug off our hands when we offered to guide him, and he would even run off at full speed trying to evade us. Which is fine, we thought, as kids probably wanted or even got frustrated at the things they are not able to do. So we give him the little pleasure of some independence.

At the end of the day, he still comes around and asks us to come with him. He still gets to come around and hold our hands when he feels wobbly on uneven terrain. He still comes back to ask us to open doors for him (but he insists that he should be closing them). Soon he's going to be riding his own bike (he's still using pedal cars at the moment) and driving his own car and getting married (ok, maybe that's looking too far ahead).


But the one thing that I have learned is that no matter how frustrating it becomes for a parent to watch his child fumble while he insists on being independent, being patient and reassuring (that you are just there) helps to make them understand the things that they lack. In turn, it builds up trust. And it's important to build up trust between parent and child. And this trust is not as simple as say, keeping a secret kind of trust. This is a trust that builds the bonds between parent and child. It is a thin line between being someone a child looks up to, and someone that a child will avoid from time to time. So look at balance, a balance between being over-protective and neglect. And above all else, show your love to your child. He learns from it and it will reap rewards in your relationship with him. I know ours have.