Hello Guys!
I’ve been trying to finish this personal project since summer. I noticed that ever since Riley started learning, I became more concerned about things like our education system: how kids learn things and the like. On some days, I find myself giving speeches to my friends about how maybe we can put more fun in learning and less pressure? 😀
I grew up having to endure so much pressure while learning. There’s memorization, multiple assignments on weekends and quizzes on Mondays. I know how to please the grading system but it’s not necessarily fun. It looks like eventually, kids have to be subjected to a certain kind of discipline and pressure so that they’ll know what to do later in life. However, I just thought too that perhaps we also need to make learning fun for them especially early in life since it’s a life-long process? Learning is essential beyond quizzes and grades and perhaps by just pointing out to them the WHY of learning, we can make them appreciate it. For example, perhaps the only reason why Riley loves numbers is because he gets to see them in the elevator every day. He sees that he won’t be able to find his way home if he doesn’t know which numbers to press. *Don’t worry. We never leave Riley in the elevator alone. Hehe.* Also, he loves rockets so he gets excited about counting down from 10 to 1. I mean, no one is grading him, giving him quizzes or reprimanding him but maybe for him, numbers are just fun and essential for every day life.
(There I go about my monologue about the educational system again. Hahahaha.)
Well, of course, who am I to comment? I’ve only been a mom for 2 years. Also, I am aware I am commenting on the educational system of x years ago and I’m pretty sure some changes have been made.
*So so sorry to my friends who had to endure these monologues. So sorry too if you just wanted to download and you had to read through this. Hahahahaha.*
So far, I’ve been enjoying buying kids’ books so far for Riley & for myself as illustration references & inspiration. 
However, I noticed there’s an opportunity to make more simple illustrations for toddlers where the focus is more on familiarization and exposure.
Meanwhile, I just turned 36 years old a few days ago and I don’t know why but I feel like it’s been drilled to my brain that the average life expectancy is 70 and so technically, I’m already playing something like the third quarter of this basketball game called life. I’m on my way to the finish line. *I’m so dramatic. Oh well.*
Having said that, I just feel like I need to re-evaluate my life. I can’t be doing things for myself anymore. Well, I guess, that was the big message when I had my son Riley. Also, It’s either my birthday / age or I’ve just watched way too much Elon Musk interviews and every single time I hear him talk he always says, “I’m just trying to be useful”. So maybe, my life will only have purpose & meaning if I try my best to do something beyond the day-to-day deliverables. At least a little something before I perish.
Gahhh…Why am I so morbid?
I just feel that perhaps as an illustrator and a mom, this is something that I can put out there for fellow Filipinos. 🙂 When we did our mural at Ayala Malls Cloverleaf and they were asking for local elements of nearby cities, I was so happy because I just wanted to do more visuals about the Philippines. I saw that there are stickers of Mt. Fuji and I just thought, why can’t we have stickers of Mt. Mayon, Taal or Pinatubo? I’m so happy too to see more and more of my friends and fellow illustrators such as Kenny & Yas work on visuals about the Philippines too! That is, of course, aside from all the amazing artists over at Ilustrador ng Kabataan who are working on Filipino books as well. Anyway, I just wanted to share from my little space of the internet.
Pechay Vs. Repolyo Vs. Cabbage
Oh, by the way, ever since I posted this on our social media sites, I’ve been getting comments about Pechay & Cabbage. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention. Perhaps the best solution is to come up with another flashcard or the round cabbage too.
Meanwhile, Pechay & Repolyo are two variants of cabbage & they actually tell us so much about our history. Pechay is the Tagalized version of its Chinese name. In English, it is called Snow Cabbage or White Chinese Cabbage. Repolyo on the other hand came from the Spanish word Repollo. In English, it’s Round Cabbage. ?
Since a lot of you guys enjoyed the Filipino-English flash cards (thank you so much), we decided to make more and this time we translated them into Cebuano/Bisaya!
I hope you find these Filipino-English Flash Cards and Cebuano/Bisaya-English Flash Cards useful and fun. Enjoy!
Please note: the visuals are for personal use only. Please do not sell, revise or re-upload (but you can always refer back and link to this post if you want to share them). Thank you. ?
XOXO,
Mommy Tippy
