We did binge at Tramway Garden Buffet for lunch first. I don't know, I was craving their sweet and sour pork last yesterday. Then we went to NIA for the parenting talk. Pastor Clem was engaging and Pappie dug his wit and humor.
One very significant part of the talk was the results of a recent McCann Erickson study that basically suggest that a lot of fathers in our society are still absentee fathers, regardless of whether these fathers are with the mothers of the kids or not. Filipino kids are still not growing up with a good father figure and this spells disaster usually, for both girls and boys alike. The fathers may be providing more materially, but that also usually means that they are working longer. It may also be that their pastimes do not include their kids at all so a really good relationship with each child is not established.
Hubs said it really gave him food for thought. I also tried explaining that, not to glorify mothers, even working moms just really spend more time with their kids. They prepare things, they nose around, they holler and snoop and do all their best to get involved. Maybe it's that instinctive guilt of being away, but mothers just simply cannot tune out of what's happening in the family like the fathers can.
So Pappie Jojo is challenged to be a more visible, intentional father (and we strive to be more responsible parents). And we really love dates like this because we learn new things as well as get to gauge how far we've come, and how much farther still we have to go.
We capped our date by having dinner at Casa Reyes and coming home to our hyper son.
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