The panel of judges who selected the winning families in the country

Jollibee through its flagship product Chickenjoy launched in August its Jollibee Family Values Awards in honor of Filipino families whose strong and joyful ties help and inspire their communities in unique ways. “These are the families whose exceptional bonds enrich not just their own lives but also that of their respective communities. Through their examples and collective deeds while embodying respect, optimism and generosity, they show the many joys that close family ties bring and how these positively affect society,” shares Albert Cuadrante, Jollibee VP for Marketing.

Recently, Jollibee awarded the winning families during the Gabi ng Parangal para sa Pamilyang Pilipino held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ortigas. “It was a nationwide search and we invited everyone to join as a family or nominate other fun and outstanding families who have touched their lives and their community one way or another.” Out of 1,400 entries, the list was shortened down to 25 families until the panel of judges came up with the 5 families.

The judges were comprised of TV/radio personalities Julius Babao and Christine Bersola-Babao, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Undersecretary Alicia Bala, parenting columnist Cathy Babao-Guballa, Center for Family Ministries Director Fr. Allan Abuan, Jollibee vice president for Marketing Albert Cuadrante, Jollibee vice president for human resources Theresa Jotie and Jollibee marketing manager Kent Mariano.

Five winning families from Mega Manila, Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will each get P100,000 in cash (tax-free), a trophy specially designed by Michael Cacnio, and P10,000 worth of Jollibee Gift Certificates. The families were judged based on the following criteria: family values (40%), impact outside the family (40%), degree of participation of the family (10%) and uniqueness of story (10%). Of the shortlist of 25 families, everyone was personally interviewed and were required to submit supporting documents.

Named most outstanding families were: Ireneo and Flordeliza Depleo and family from Sta. Maria Bulacan (North Luzon); Emmanuel and Mila Mercado and family from Quezon City (Mega Manila); Edonis and Christine Francisco from Lucena City (South Luzon); Ernesto and Remedios Suplido and family from Silay City (Visayas); and Rey and Marjorie Cartojano from General Santos City (Mindanao).

Sources: Manila Standard Today | Jollibee Buzz Room

Photo by Jollibee

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Hugh Jackman horses around with his kids at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia

The 43-year-old Hollywood celebrity icon of the X-Men fame admits that his family usually picks his movie role. Though fame and fortune usually conflicts with parenthood, he and his wife Deb always try never to be apart from their children more than two weeks, regardless if Jackman needs to fly long-haul flights or long drives. He says that he discovered a wonderful ability to carry on for months without sleep while being with his kids on and off the set.

Jackman started his career in an Australian TV called Correlli and from then on went to become the famous Wolverine in the X-Men movie series, Kate and Leopold where he was nominated a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, Van Helsing and the recent box-office hit Real Steel, to name a few.

The Australian-born Jackman met his Australian wife Deborra-Lee Furness in an Australian TV show and has been married to her for 15 years. After two miscarriages, the couple decided to adopt two children, son Oscar (born 2000) and daughter Ava (born 2005). Furness is also an actress but devotes more of her time to causes and organizations like The Rafiki Society in Vancouver which she co-founded, National Adoption Awareness Week in Australia, the Lighthouse Foundation for displaced children in Melbourne Australia, and many others.

Sources: Daily Record | Wikipedia 1, 2

Photo by hollywoodkids at Flickr.com

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Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) Head Office

The Philippine government recently allocated thrice the usual allocation to subsidize the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) premiums for indigent Filipino families under the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction. This totals 13.9 billion Pesos as part of the 1.8 trillion Pesos General Appropriations Act of 2012.

The fresh funds should increase access of more marginalized families to health care services, which includes reduced health care costs for underprivileged families so that they can also meet their other basic necessities in life.

House Assistant Majority Leader Congressman Eduardo Gullas also said another 1.9 billion Pesos will provide vaccination (next year) to 2.6 million children aged 0-15 months as part of the Expanded Immunization Program which is expected to further reduce infant mortality and morbidity due to diseases.

Source: The Mindanao Examiner

Photo from PhilHealth.gov.ph

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Mother and son walking in the rain

Don’t we know it that boys despise being labeled a “Mama’s Boy?” Yet a research conducted in Pittsburgh shows that “boys who have had lots of conflict with their mothers were more likely to engage in delinquent behavior as teens, while boys who had a close relationship with their mothers were more likely to have a good relationship with their best friends when they became teens.”

This study was made on more than 250 mother-son pairs, from when the son was five years old up to his adolescence. Besides the mother-son relationship, it also looked at other aspects like temperament, behavior, relationship of mother and her husband or partner, and even parenting style.

Another study conducted by Dr Pasco Fearon, from the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, looked at 69 studies involving almost 6,000 children aged 12 and younger. This research from the University of Reading says a similar thing: children, especially boys, who have insecure attachments to their mothers in the early years have more behaviour problems later in childhood.

A mother and son relationship is a very unique one, writes suite101.com. Boys generally look up and to their fathers or a father-figure for counsel, advise and companionship. However, a mother’s guidance is warmth, patience and compassion, to name a few, that provide boys their natural abilities to interact with girls properly and correctly. This helps boys have better relationships with women when they grow up as men.

However, when boys and teens grow up to be adults or “men,” they are more likely to confess to a predilection for pornography than admit to a close relationship with their mother. Geographic culture and courtships dispell manlihood and marital bliss, that is, women may run a thousand miles away from a man who loves his mother just too much.

It’s a different story when a man becomes a father. His mother is now a grandmother and everything about their relationship is transformed. If there has been any separation, this is now reversed. The mother who lost his boy and teenager to becoming a man is now getting back her boy as the grandmother to his son or daughter.

Sources: suite101 | Science Daily | The Times UK

Photo by clintonbellizzi at Flickr.com

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Kids playing video games

Amy Dickinson is a columnist for The Washington Post and was recently asked by parents of two sons, ages 9 and 12, if they should hold their ground in buying their children video games that are rated T and M, all combat-type, shoot-em-up, kill-em-all, violent versions. It may matter in the house but once the boys visit their friends where parents allows these types of violent video games, they have no control over that.

Should these parents just give in?

Read the entire Q&A at The Washington Post

Photo by halfcaucazn at Flickr.com

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A long time ago, our parents used to study in a school that’s nearest to their house. Today, city life forces us to ride cars, school buses and public transportation to reach the school our kids go to. Not that it’s too far but crime has gone up considerably since and the penchant of parents to think of their children’s safety is paramount to providing them food, shelter and education.

CBC News recently wrote that researchers in Canada decided to analyze the characteristics of youngsters making their way to school under their own steam, described as “active transportation” — as opposed to getting a ride or taking a bus — to see what patterns emerged. Their study showed that children from lower socio-economic backgrounds, those with a single parent and those with an older sibling were more likely to fall into this category, they discovered. It also says that active transportation peaks at ages 10 to 11, and then declines after that. However, only 35 percent of that age category use active transportation.

Though schools have physical education classes every week, it isn’t much to garner for the amount of bodily activity they need. The thought that comes into mind is for parents to find creative means of allowing their kids to do active transportation on a routine basis. One could be dropping them off at their classmate’s house which is a few hundred meters away from school; pick them up at the restaurant or mall nearest to their school.

If you don’t live in a gated subdivision, find a way to create a routine where the daily activity of walking becomes a norm. The study also revealed that children who used active transportation over the course of three years had fewer weight issues, and consistently had a lower body mass index growth curve. One idea is to park your car near your kids school and walk with them. This way, you, too, get the much needed exercise.

Source: CBC News

Photo by zinkwazi at Flickr.com

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Colin Farrell with his son James

Celebrity dad Colin Farrell has been opening up recently in interviews about his 7-year-old son, who has Angelman syndrome, and how he has a new respect for finding balance between his film career and family life.

After going to rehab in 2005 and putting an end to his partying days, Colin now has quit smoking, works out and puts his focus on his two sons. The Fright Night star’s sons, James, 7, and Henry, almost 2, are from separate relationships, but both live in L.A. where Colin does. James has Angelman syndrome, a neuro-developmental disorder. He started walking at the age of four and cannot speak, but Colin is “crazy” about him.

Read more at OK! Magazine

Photo by hollywoodkids at Flickr.com

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My kids and me

I’ve been a subscriber of “Marriage Gems” and would recommend Lori’s blog for your habitual reading on parenting and parenthood. For today, it’s a topic us men can relate, to wit, “Are Husbands under More Pressure than Ever?“

Here are a few quips to her newest article:

Experts are now saying working fathers are experiencing the most pressure in families, even families in which both spouses work.

This is the final discussion of the research coming out of Time Magazine’s August issue. It shares a report by the Families and Work Institute, which surveyed 1,298 men.

Men who are experiencing overwhelming stresses should discuss their feelings with their wives in a way that is not accusatory.

Read more at Marriage Gems

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John Levy, a 6-year-old boy from the Philippines, ran about giving hugs and meeting new people. When it was time to eat, he settled down on the grass with his host family, including host mom Vanessa Wilson.

The Summer of Hope program places children from around the world with Montana host families for a four-week period. Tuesday evening, at the program’s last summer picnic, some of those children and families came together at Lewis and Clark Park in Belgrade to play, enjoy the summer, and share their stories.

John Levy is one of nine children in Montana, including four from the Philippines and five from Ethiopia. All are with Bozeman-area families, with the exception of two children staying in Billings.

The Summer of Hope program the Druckenmillers and others have spearheaded focuses on providing adoption opportunities for older children because they’re much less likely to be adopted than infants or toddlers. The program is now in its ninth year, and 80 percent of the children involved in it have been adopted.

Read more at Bozeman Daily Chronicle

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