ramblings, random musings, fascinations, rants, raves and revelations

Yesterday, in the parenting section of a local magazine, I read this short article simply entitled “Spoiling” with a teaser, “Do you find yourself giving in to your child’s demands for toys or treats? Could your kids be spoiled?”

I was immediately drawn to it as I was “naughtily” teaching my nephew the Ogie Alcasid’s “you’re such a loser Yaya… however, however..” line. I don’t intend to really make him an annoying brat. I’m just making fun of him since he responds greatly to whatever he’s hearing now.

I remember when people said my parents spoiled me when I was young. I always associated this comment with meaning that they gave me too much, and sometimes when my life’s in the deep end of the ocean, I wonder whether that’s true. Is it possible that I believed I should have everything and everything should come easily to me? No, I didn’t think that, and if I did, the world quickly schooled me otherwise.

However, this subject of spoiling children by giving them too many material possessions and letting them “have their way” seems to come up increasingly in conversation and in media. We probably all know children who have the latest video game consoles, more toys than the nearest daycare center, more clothes than they can possibly wear, and who clearly understand that throwing a royal tantrum wins whatever they wish. Sometimes these children may belong to us.

How do we determine what spoiling means? I think what we’re really saying when we say a child is spoiled is the child lacks discipline that we believe should have been instilled by the parent. However, I also think some parents are so fearful that they will raised a spoiled brat that they go overboard with denying their children enriching experiences and other pleasures.

Further research gave me Karen at Pinoy Mom Network called “Ways to Make A Spoiled Brat.” At Karen’s personal blog she has a list of ways to produce at rotten child, one of which is “Be Inconsistent” about discipline.
Bribe them, buy their love. In our society where both parents are often working, we are constantly beset with guilt: guilt that we often leave our children to caregivers or grandparents, guilt that we are not there to witness their milestones in life, guilt that there are times when we are not there for them. So how do we compensate? We shower them with expensive gifts, treat them to any toy of their choice, we give in to just about anything they ask for, after all we owe them. Here’s a newsflash, kids are extremely intelligent creatures, believe me they will catch up on what you’re doing. They will try to stir every situation to their advantage, they know that mommy and daddy will eventually give in.

Ignore the work that they’ve done. Not letting the kids know that you appreciate the extra effort they made to make their beds or bring the dishes to the sink will surely nurture the little brat in them. After all, whether they do good today or just slack off, it will all be the same with mommy and daddy. Slacking is much easier.

Be a bad example. How do we act in front of our kids? Do we also act hard to please and demanding? Do we give more importance to the monetary value of the gifts we receive, rather than the thoughtfulness of the giver? Do we constantly berate our household help for the littlest things? Perfect!

Be inconsistent. When trying to discipline our children, we often unleash a torrent of threats: don’t watch tv on a school night or you’ll be grounded for a week; if you hit your sister one more time I will not give you any cookies; if you don’t pass all your subjects this quarter you won’t be allowed to leave the house forever! And when the set rules are not met, we don’t follow through on our threats. Again, kids are really intelligent, after a while they realize that by saying that they are really, really, really, really, really sorry [plus a sad puppy look to boot], you eventually let them off the hook.

By the way, pictures here are of my pamangkin. Do you see him being that bratty? You’re such a loser yaya. Whatever, however, eeewwww…

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Sunday came once again. It was some how rainy and gloomy. To better enjoy it, Kiko and JC’s presence should be there. So after watching TV, pancit canton, tapsilog and seeing the new batch of ABS-CBN’s Star Circle, we went into our usual banters. It was a lovely and funny afternoon as everyone shared their comic sides and shared each others stories.

I have not seen them since I got back from Baguio so we thought that it’s a must to go out. Many suggestions had been considered but all agreed to just watch WALL E.

We made our way to Gateway, goofed around, took our snacks at Burger King and reserved ourselves theater seats.

Wall-E brought a desolate vision of the future that is softened by sophisticated storytelling, memorable characters and a good sense of humor — impressive, considering the film is largely lacking in dialogue. Humans have abandoned Earth for luxury liners in space following a catastrophic buying blitz that has left the surface of the planet covered in waste.

After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL•E [short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class] discovers a new purpose in life [besides collecting knick-knacks] when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL•E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet’s future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans [who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home]. Meanwhile, WALL•E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most exciting and imaginative comedy adventures ever brought to the big screen.

Joining WALL•E on his fantastic journey across a universe of never-before-imagined visions of the future, is a hilarious cast of characters including a pet cockroach, and a heroic team of malfunctioning misfit robots.

Younger audiences may squirm as the first half hour or so goes boldly without much dialogue, but Wall-E’s personality-infused whistles and squeals are executed seamlessly. I was not sure of my feelings at the earlier part of the movie. I was just there listening to people. Jc was laughing and so as the people behind me. I then thought maybe it’s the effect of too much Vodka I had the other night. So I tried to focus on understanding and feeling the movie. After few minutes, I found myself being drawn to it at last.

It is supposedly a story of robots. But Wall-E’s got the hearts [and maybe even the tear ducts] of audiences in the bag. Even though he has the company of a pet cockroach, his loneliness is heartbreakingly palpable — especially when viewers catch sight of the bot’s broken-down robobrethen, and it hits home that the tender droid has been by himself for a long, long time.

The film’s pace picks up when an egg-shaped probe called Eve arrives on Earth. She’s a sleek, white, laser-equipped fembot sent by the megacorporation that fueled the current disaster. Although Eve has an infectious digigiggle, her itchy trigger finger and cool exterior don’t radiate charisma quite as deeply as lovable Wall-E does.

Still, it’s love at first pixel for Wall-E, who does his best to woo Eve with his treasure trove of salvaged goods before a simple sprout wins her heart and simultaneously shuts her down, summoning her mothership.

From then on, the film is a wild ride through space that lands Wall-E and Eve on Axiom, the spaceship that contains what’s left of the human population. The first glimpse of humans nearly 1,000 years into the future — they’re “giant babies, completely devolved” — is not a pretty sight.

After hundreds of years aboard Axiom, humanity has turned into a sea of lazy, machine-dependent consumers content to float on plus-size hovering recliners and slurp supersize sodas. People are immobile blobs of overindulgence, but the ugly reality is deftly delivered as comedy.

The CEO of Buy ‘n Large reveals that humans are never meant to return to Earth. His revelation results in a 2001: A Space Odyssey-inspired fight scene between the ship’s captain and Axiom’s autopilot that raises lingering questions about humanity’s future and our relationship with technology.

A truly romantic film at heart, the film ends on a cheerful note — for Eve and Wall-E. The fate of humankind is left rather vague, probably wisely, since their enlarged physiques, jellied bone structure and total lack of agricultural knowledge doesn’t exactly spell promise for rebuilding Earth.

It’s a message kids might miss, but a potent, topical theme that will surely ring with adults.
At least the robots will love, and live on.

Behind Wall-E’s puppy-dog binocular eyes lies a deep-rooted message: If we don’t clean up our act, our Roombas are going to inherit the Earth.

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