Juggling Parental Responsibilities

Being a wife of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) is no big joke. As the hubby is working in another country, this means I'm left on my own to raise the children, keep the house and earn a living at the same time. Tough job it sure is but when you have adjusted to life like this, you'll learn to manage everything with ease. Attitude counts a lot.

It's a good thing that I have a home-based job (actually two jobs) which allows me to attend to the children's needs and keep the house neat and clean without the time constraints. I also credit my parents for raising me to be a responsible and independent person because if not, I would have depended on them all the time especially as I live far away from them. I thank my young and trusted helper or I'd rather call her my personal assistant for assisting me in watching over the kids and helping in the household chores.

Literally, I'm a single parent in this situation. But I can't complain because I know that God has reasons for everything. I'm grateful for what I have right now, for making me a mother and wife, for giving me a good job and a good assistant in the house. Sometimes, my patience may be short when it comes to instilling discipline among my two kids but always, I try to remind myself to keep my cool. And above all, I never lose my faith in God because it is with His grace that I am able to fulfill my parental responsibilities every day to the best that I can even in the absence of my partner.

The Amazing PSP

I am really amazed at this PSP or the Play Station Portable that has swept the world. Kids and adults alike have been magnetized by this handy electronic gadget from Sony. My 11-year-old son JP was gifted by his Dad with one in 2008 and since then has been so engrossed with it.

I didn't realize the gadget can be so addictive especially to the children who love to play their computer games with it until I saw my son using it with gusto. He would start playing upon waking up in the morning and if only he had his way, he could go on using the PSP until the end of the day. Children, especially the males, can go on playing for hours without getting bored. My son and his friends in the neighborhood would hop from our house to his friend's house just to play their PSP games. What's funny is that when they do their house hopping, they would bring along their chargers to let them continue playing after their batteries have run out of power. Sometimes, their moms would personally fetch them from our house after long hours of absence in their own homes. I would do the same when JP doesn't come back on time.

The PSP can actually do other things apart from playing games stored in the Memory Stick or content in a disc (UMD). Being wifi ready, it is capable of connecting to the internet. It can also copy images, music and videos from the computer and can be connected to the TV to view videos stored in the Memory Stick Duo.

I like the PSP better than the GameBoy because it has a wider screen and therefore friendly to the eyes. An advantage is its storage capacity which means, it can save several games in the Memory Stick plus you can purchase discs containing games and still use it in the PSP. Whereas with the GameBoy, you only have one choice and that is to buy separate cartridges to play games. Since one cartridge only has one game, it can be quite costly to buy several pieces.

With its current popularity among the young and old alike, it looks like this amazing PSP is here to stay. Let's wait and see then whether Sony will come up with an upgrade in the near future.