Today is Palm Sunday, and most of us Catholics will surely have a palaspas or palmera to wave at the King during mass. This traditional way of greeting the Lord Jesus as He enters Jerusalem is very Filipino.
The palmera, which can be bought from the churchyard, was also traditionally kept at home to dry, but now many parishes ask for them and later burn them to be made into holy ashes. This is better way, which is also why you hardly see dried palmeras pinned on front doors or windows anymore.
Do start your Holy Week practices before venturing out on family getaways! Keep safe. The weather is sizzling, so bring lots of potable water jugs and wear loose clothes, especially the younger children. Keep your lotion, anti-allergy pills, and such in your bag and bring protective anti-sunburn creams.
I am sharing with my readers a piece written by my daughter in law, Margaret Tipton, for summer moms and grandmas, as I am, the proud “wowa” of her and AJ’s son Disney.” I thought it would be soothing to lolas and moms, who want to see their little ones enjoy summer by learning how to swim!
I confess I never properly learned how to swim and just enjoyed paddling around the pool watching my kids do their strokes. I have a champion swimmer in my apo Monchu in Vancouver! My role in this was to call up Zenas Lozada, a concert pianist and mother of swimming coaches Angelo and Anthony. She is the widow of Bert Lozada, founder of the swim school in his name and my good friend. After touching base with her sons, viola! My five-year-old apo is now enrolled in their swim class at Celebrity Sports!
Thanks, Zenas!
Disney with his coach and classmates
Here’s Margaret Tipton’s piece.
“Summer is here and with it, everybody wants to get cool. Most people, especially during this weeklong holiday, head to bodies of water like a pool or the beach. Does everybody know how to swim? No. But everyone wants to soak in water to get cool out of the scorching sun.
Typically, swimming is considered a recreational sport or exercise. I, on the other hand, consider it as an essential life skill. As the world slowly sinks (a.k.a. flood season), it is imperative that you know how to survive.
I learned how to swim at seven when my sister’s best friend taught me how to float. From there, I took swim lessons at Ateneo during summers and went on to compete in the then Milo Olympics. As an adult, I became part of the Ateneo Faculty swim team and when Ondoy hit, I used this skill to survive by swimming back and forth over our street, escorting my family and neighbors to safety.
So as soon as the pandemic allowed it, we enrolled our five-year-old in swim classes with the Bert Lozada Swim School. Because, to us, it is not just a summer activity or sport, it is—and I cannot emphasize this enough—an essential life skill.
Weeks before we enrolled Diz, we were already mentally preparing him for classes, telling him to listen to his coach and why it’s important for him to learn how to swim and to behave in the water. But for our little kiddo, swim classes means just one thing: fun in the water.
We’ve only done three classes and he already knows how to float and propel himself through in the pool. I am confident he will be able to swim on his own by the end of the 10 lessons, enough that he’d be able to hone his skills through practice, with adult supervision of course. I have been highly entertained watching him listen to the coaches and fearlessly jump in and push himself to learn what is being taught.
Is one enrollment season enough? It depends on what you mean by “enough.” Will he be able to do the different kind of strokes? No. Will he be able to learn how to float? Yes. The most important thing he will learn is confidence, to remove the fear of going into water and learn the ability to keep himself afloat and moving at the same time.
He is only five years old but with a summer sport like swimming, he will grow more confident, increase his self-esteem, learn to follow directions and respect authority, and, as he is in a group class, develop social skills.
I am very, very impressed with the coaches at the Bert Lozada Swim School. Everything they do is step by step. They explain things patiently. As is normal with kids, when they frolic and want to play, the coaches laughingly guide them back to focus on the lesson.
Each class is an hour and always ends with a few minutes of fun…i.e. cannonballs and somersaults. It’s no wonder that Diz looks forward to Saturday mornings. He is already gaining the discipline of prepping for class. He wakes up early, eats breakfast, waits patiently for class to start, and quickly jumps up and heads toward the pool when the coaches say it’s his turn to start.
Disney ready for swimming lessons
Instead of enrolling your kiddos in play school or some other sport, as an educator, I highly recommend you give them a chance to learn the life skill of swimming before anything else. Besides, it’s such a hot summer. Make it cool for your kiddos.”