Today was quite different from our Sundays in recent months. A need to meet my students in a local university necessitates some adjustments in our Sunday routine; adjustments that turned a usually slow, simple day with limited things to do into a day teeming with energy and activities but restful at the same time.


Everyone in the household turned in early last night so it was no surprise that there was no trouble waking the kids up about an hour earlier than a normal Sunday. Our toddler was first to demand a bottle of milk who then cheerfully woke his older siblings up in the next room. Without much ado, they were up and inside the bathroom to shower.


The baby waited a bit for her cue, quietly looked around and listened to the activities from her crib. As my wife calls out from downstairs for a breakfast of champorado, anchovies and hotdogs, the baby also cooed to remind me to pick her up, too.


With much cooperation from everyone, we made it to church a few minutes into the mass (even though it was still on time according to my watch). It was our first time to attend service in this university chapel. Beautiful music, a serene atmosphere, and a homily about servant leadership were our immediate rewards for attendance.


In the three hours I spent fulfilling my work duties, my wife managed the needs of my father, our kids and a relative. The kids were freed to explore the university grounds, my father was taken to see my brother and his family, and a relative got a chance to see the kids.


As boredom sets in a couple of hours, a change in venue was needed. The nearby mall was a welcome solution. There was an organic produce fair to hold the kids’ attention for a few minutes and the kiddie rides took care of the remaining time that allowed my wife to leave them with their nannies to fetch me and my father from our respective appointments.


Much to her delight, we allowed our eldest child to decide which restaurant to dine in for lunch. My father also happily took care of the bill with an added incentive for him to take advantage of senior citizen discount.


After a hearty meal of chicken-based dishes, the kids and I went to the bookstore to check out children’s books, while my wife accompanied my father in buying a few clothing articles. It was then I realized how books became natural companion to our kids as our toddler eagerly feasted on various titles as did the older ones.


As we drove back home, the kids were as boisterous as they were early in the day. They were all talking and singing, including the baby who seemed to be making the loudest noise. The same degree of enthusiasm that got her booted out from the church during the homily as her “singing” started distracting elder churchgoers seated next to us.


The afternoon found most of us sleeping to later wake up to our regular Sunday game of scrabble. With much bravado, our eldest finally beat her parents after many Sundays of disappointment. It was indeed the greatest Sunday ever, she exclaimed.


As we perform our nightly gratitude ritual, everyone recognized how especially blessed this day had been. The kids enjoyed the sun as well as the modern amenities of a mall. The boys got to ride a “robot’, a “horse” and a “duckboat”.


Our nine year old showed leadership as she gave way to her younger brothers and let them enjoy the rides (and not herself) so she can stick to her “budget” and return the “emergency funds” in full to her mother. Allowing her to decide on the restaurant for lunch and winning scrabble over her parents later in the day also gave tremendous boost to her confidence.


My father got his wish to see my brother's family and to buy some new articles of clothing for himself. A relative was happy to see the kids once again. Our nannies got to see places they’ve never been.


I got to do my job and instead of ruining a Sunday, we were blessed with a great family day. Thanks to my wife who showed flexibility and turned an otherwise sticky issue to an opportunity to do something different: a Sunday with the usual activities we look forward to and a lot more.


With a wife and children like these, fatherhood is indeed a breeze…

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Losing a child is said to be the greatest tragedy of all. Many of us couldn’t stand to even think about it. It is just unnatural to outlive one’s offspring.

However, leaving our children in a world that has become more unpredictable and inhospitable than that which we grew in could be equally tragic, if not more so.

It speaks of our failure to prepare for them a better life…our failure to halt the continuing legacy of passing the bill for the next generations to foot.

The deluge that befell the Philippines in the past couple of weeks reminded us of what we have been conveniently ignoring. The signs were already recognizable for many decades and the truth already known to our generation. And yet climate change was a mere inconvenience, the existence and inevitability of which we deny or push aside to free us to continue the previous generations’ unbridled pursuit of economic prosperity above all else.

Photo by amagwili513 @ news.webshots.com

Everyone, including the government, was caught unprepared and still wonders how such a relatively weak storm as Ketsana (Philippine name is “Ondoy”) unloaded a month’s worth of rain in only six hours and how typhoon Parma (or “Pepeng” locally) strangely lingered in the northernmost part of the Philippines for about a week and making landfall thrice.

Photo by amagwili513 @ news.webshots.com

The untold suffering and damage caused by these unprecedented weather events have been reported and blogged about many times over. What needs emphasizing further is the peculiarity of these weather events, plus the human folly that exacerbated the problem (among others, deforestation, poor land use planning and implementation, mounting garbage and irresponsible disposal, not to mention poor disaster risk management that resulted to unnecessary loss of lives).

The unpredictability of recent weather events had been linked to changes in global temperature. In addition, weather extremes (heat waves, droughts, floods) had recently been experienced around the world more and more.

Worse, the brunt of climate change’s negative impact would fall on the poor people and poor nations. Their vulnerabilities would become more apparent once food production is adversely affected as productive land either become deserts or be engulfed by the rising sea levels. Food scarcity would result to food prices rising beyond the reach of many and food riots could ensue. In such a scenario, life would be risky and even the rich might not be spared from the turmoil.

We may differ in how we assign importance to climate change. But our role as parents should put us in a common ground. We do not want our children (and theirs) to face a harsher world, not if we can do something about it. And we can…yes, we can still leave the world better than how we found it.

Let's do our part. These might be helpful: 10 solutions for climate change, kids vs global warming, global warming facts & figures.

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