Paving the road to her success

All our 3 daughters were born prematurely. Our eldest, Nisi, was born at 32 weeks gestation with her weight just 4.10 lbs. She was so tiny and looked like an old woman because of her wrinkled skin. She had to stay in the neonatal ICU for about 3 weeks, inside an incubator. Everyday, my hubby and I would visit her and deliver to her my breastmilk. Almost everyday then, I would go out of the neonatal ICU room with tears in my eyes. She was our first baby and I was just longing to hold her and bring her home with us. That was 10 years ago.

Today, our first baby is all grown-up, healthy and cannot be mistaken for someone born prematurely. She loves sports. She took up soccer lessons two summers ago and did good in that sport.

Now, she's into swimming and I couldn't believe that she would excel in swimming just as well. In fact, I myself, couldn't believe how good she was until I watched her in one of her swiming lessons. We decided to let her continue with her swimming lessons for the whole year because her coach says she definitely has potential to be a champion swimmer someday.

As parents, we want all our children to be God-loving and well-rounded individuals. When it comes to academics, we only have few conditions -- that she will maintain good grades and be a responsible student. By being responsible we mean that she should know her duties as a student and a daughter. At a young age, we taught her that her grades are her "own". Her grades are not for us, but for her. We DO NOT pressure her to study her lessons. What we are teaching her is to make correct decisions and face the consequences of her decisions, whether good or bad.

Nisi has also a passion for reading. One of our favorite family-bonding moments is going to bookstores and spend so much of our time inside just browsing over books. I remember that at a very tender age of 5, she had been reading pocketbooks already. Now, she has the complete series of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and is slowly building up her "39 Clues" collection. She's also fascinated with Kid's Almanac.

When she was in first grade up until she reached grade three, her study routine had too much of my involvement. By that I mean, before she would do her assignment, she would, most of the time, wait for me to come home first and teach her whatever assignments she would have. Now that she's in grade four, she's much much more independent in terms of studying her lessons and doing her homework. We're glad she maintains good grades in school despite the many distractions kids have nowadays, i.e. internet, computer games, etc. I have kept her certificates of recognition given every quarter to students with grades above 95% since she was in pre-school until now that she's in grade four and they were plenty. But what we love most about her school life is the fact that she has many friends and is well-liked by others in school.

From a very shy little girl, she's now blooming to be an active, healthy and well-rounded individual who happens to love God. And I'm proud of her.