What's Da Buzz?

There is one aspect of living in the USA that I am not a fan of. Because of how the pursuit of careers takes people away from where their main family lives, the parents as they age often get placed into a nursing home.

This is one of those topics that I will always side for how it is done in the Philippines. We take care of our elderly as it is the responsibility of the children and grandchildren to do so. At least that is the norm for General Santos. There is a House for the Aged but that was a government run for those elderly who had no one to look out for them.

What has me turned off of the nursing home option is Illinois nursing home neglect and what happens in other states as well. As always in the USA, the primary answer is to call in Chicago nursing home abuse attorneys or get an Illinois nursing home negligence lawyer to force matters at least in Illinois.

I love my parents and my in-laws. I will not let them go to a nursing home even if I have to get an LPN degree to take care of them. The USA can become great again when its children once again take care of their parents with love and respect as they should out of gratitude for all their parents have sacrificed for them.

Anah

Okay, I need to give a little bit of a back story on this entry before diving into the main focus of it.

Ever since we got married, we have slowly been replacing my hubby’s bachelor furniture. The living room is good enough for now. But it is time to turn to the bedroom as our bed is slowly sinking to the ground. Goryo bought his bedroom set used so he has no idea how old it is when he bought it about a decade ago. The pillows are even older.

There have been plenty of nights where the pillows just could not prevent that morning neck ache. Additionally, my work has become a pain in the neck as getting yelled at by 70 people a day gets stressful after a bit. So today after a particularly stressful day, I wasn’t in a good mood.

Goryo opted to change my mood with a surprise he ever so smoothly slid into our evening. He knew he was getting a bit of a tampo that wasn’t fully his fault so he acted to complete the phrase “Happy Wife, Happy Life.”

How did he do it this time? He did it with a pillow. We went to a company that specializes in the sale of bedroom furniture to shop for the future but he insisted that I get the exact pillow for me. Trust me when I say that I will have a much improved night of sleep now. However, I also have to deal with matters of a bit of guilt.

The sleeping pillow cost $104 or 4264 Php. I have a tough time with this as I know someone very close to my heart is trying to survive on $1 a day. However, the pillow serves as another example of life here and there. To get a quality product here, it costs quite a bit. Will I get over that it cost the equivalent of three months wages in the Philippines for a pillow? Eventually it might.

As my hubby points out, the pillow can help to melt away a bit of the stress that I go through. If I am sharper, more focused and rested, then we can achieve far more income generation to help my pamilya out in the long run.

Since this post is going up rather late at night, I will return you to your regularly scheduled pillow talk.

Anah

Perhaps even more challenging than the bilingual aspect of raising a Fil-Am child is keeping a balance on the multicultural side.

How do you strike a balance between the positive values of the Philippine culture, the positive values of the USA culture and try to guard your child (ren) against the negative of the USA culture?

That is a very delicate balance to try and do. You have to balance between what media such as TV, movies, the Internet and more that your child is exposed to. Then do you want the values of a daycare to be taught to your young child while you pursue money or do you want your values set in your young children?

Do you want those who control setting the values of the public school to try and force their brand of ‘education’ down your child’s throat or do you do parochial, private or homeschooling options?

How do you balance between picking the good kids for your child to associate with and maybe crossing the line on being overprotective?

All of these things each of us parents or future parents have to decide and act on. None of them have a clear cut answer. But I can tell you what we chose for our daughter.

Because of our exposure and my hubby’s knowledge of the public schools and other factors, we have opted to homeschool our daughter. Additionally, we involve her with other children who are homeschooled with similar values and have her enrolled in other things such as dance to increase her exposure to others her age level.

TV – This is an unnecessary luxury when that $60 or so can be better spent on medical debt reduction, savings or Filipino foods.

Internet – Yes, we do control her exposure and what she gets to read and look at. When she can demonstrate proper judgment, then she’ll get more and more opportunities.

But the best way we can think of are the periodic trips back to the Philippines and visiting the relatives in the provinces. Then our daughter will learn of what life is like for her numerous relatives so she can better appreciate the numerous luxuries that are ‘normal’ in the USA.

I do not know if any of that will help but at least the questions are something to think about.

Anah