Mabuhay from Philippines!

The Little Lounge Introduce Yourself
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Hola Mommies! Im Reina, a stay-at-home mom to Zee who will turn 3 this July and will soon be a “Kuya” later this year as im pregnant with my second child. Before Zee, I was an online freelancer and a striving entrepreneur so I worked from home and still do so i took this great opportunity to be my son’s first and best teacher, but if not with BrillKids, i dont think id be successful in doing so.

When i found out I was pregnant with Zee, i read a lot of tips online for FIRST-TIME-MOMS. I went blog-hopping, started gathering useful resources that guide first time mothers to a healthy pregnancy, i basically read everything that says PREGNANCY and MOTHERHOOD in it. This is how i came across Brillkids, everything about PRENATAL EDUCATION was all in the website. I found their website impressively informative, BrillKids has been my guide since. I was fascinated with their flagship product called LITTLE READER as i continue reading about EARLY EDUCATION page in their website, but its quite pricey (just nitpicking on my part) so I never really thought about purchasing it at that time, not until Zee turned 8 months. But before purchasing Little Reader, i studied the “BrillKids strategies” and decided to make my own version, hoping to save some bucks. I spent hours preparing materials, homemade flash cards, flip charts, made use of MS PowerPoint - but none of them could hold my son’s attention long enough. Sure didn’t get my effort and money’s worth! I was at my wit’s end when I resolve to finally purchase BrillKids LITTLE READER. Probably my BEST DECISION and WISEST INVESTMENT ever!

I purchased Little Reader even before Zee can talk properly so I was really amazed that reading came naturally just like walking and talking, exactly as what their website indicated. It was FUN for both of us that it felt more like PLAYING than TEACHING. It doesnt take a genius to understand the program that i was able to teach my 50 yrs old mom how to use it! Anyone who knows how to use the mouse knows how to operate the program! It only required 5-10 minutes twice a day and at the age 16 months, Zee started reading his first words and at the age of 2, he can already decode new words! Zee will turn 3 on July and im proud to say that at this point, he can already read our favorite bedtime story books all by himself! He recently finished both Semesters but still loves to revisit the program!

I am so thrilled with LITTLE READER that I am now really excited to introduce it to my second baby earlier than i did with Zee and im now starting to introduce Brillkids with my friends here in the Philippines. Brillkids products only prove that indeed “the early years are learning years”!

I hope to meet other moms from Philippines and from other countries here. More Power BrillKids!

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Hi Reina! I’m from Muntinlupa and stumbled upon Brillkids when I was searching for black, white and red patterns for my baby. Nice to meet you.

I saw the little reader but quite apprehensive to download it (I didn’t know it requires a purchase till I read your message) since I don’t quite know how to use it but I’m considering it now because of you. My son is only 2 months old and according to our pediatrician, has a shorter attention span. We’re going to try flashcards first and counting. I’m curious, how many months do you think is appropriate to start them with the little reader?

Plus you do it from a computer right? We were also advised not to expose him to TV and gadgets until he is one.

I hope to hear more from you :slight_smile:

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Hi Reina and Jonah!

Im also Pinay but live here in Singapore. I also encountered BK when I was pregnant and purchased after giving birth. I started LR and LM when my DD was 3 months old. And then LMs and LR chinese. She’s now 2.5 yrs old and can read both in English and Chinese :yes:

Jonah, you may want to read the free ebook of BK… There’s already LR lite where you can download for free, you may want to check the discussion http://forum.brillkids.com/announcements/free-little-reader-price-changes-and-promotional-discounts!/msg104050/#msg104050 :smiley:

You will learn a lot from this forum. :slight_smile:

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Hi Reina, Jonah, and Baby Anda,

Welcome to BrillKids. :happy: Nakakatuwa naman maka-meet ng ibang Pinay dito. Pinoy rin ako, and part of the development team dito sa BrillKids.

For those of you who are asking about whether or not you should expose your children to screens: that’s an excellent question, and a frequently asked one. There are several angles or issues involved and this has been a concern of many parents too - we did a bit of research on the issue and talked to several pediatricians and electronics experts about it, and this is what we understand:

DO WE GET RADIATION FROM A COMPUTER SCREEN?

Radiation coming from computers is negligible. If it is harmful to a baby, then it’s also harmful to you and you would find many people telling YOU to stay away from computers, not just your baby. One point that isn’t mentioned much though relates to ‘positive ions.’ Unlike what it sounds like, POSITIVE ions are actually bad, and NEGATIVE ions are good. (Do a search on negative ions and you will see the difference.) Now, the old CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors, you know, those big bulky ones, do emit a lot of positive ions. People who are particularly sensitive to positive/negative ions (estimated to be about 20% of population) tend to get certain ill effects from prolonged exposure to it, like lower immune systems, moodiness, etc. Thankfully, more and more people nowadays use LCD monitors, which do not have this problem. And as for TV, where there are still many CRT TVs in use, the important thing to do is to keep a distance from it, and minimize the time spent in front of it.

WHAT ABOUT EYE STRAIN?

This is a common cause of complaint, for children and adults alike. I think the seriousness of the problem here depends on the monitor, and in particular, on its refresh rate. Old monitors (especially the CRT ones) have very low refresh rates - if you look closely at these old monitors, you will see the screen flickering. Over time, this tends to cause eye strain. Again, thankfully, modern monitors have very high refresh rates and this problem has been reduced considerably. Many people who used to have eye strain problems with old CRT screens no longer have problems with modern-day LCD/plasma screens.

One final note here is glare - make sure the lighting is adequate!

IS TV IS HARMFUL TO BABIES?

Actually, when most people talk about the problems with watching TV, they are actually referring more to the content aspect of it. This question is so important that we wrote an article on it, which you can read here:
http://www.brillbaby.com/early-learning/related-topics/babies-and-television.php

In a nutshell - make sure you accompany your baby as much as you can for all TV/computer-watching so that you have stimulation coming from you and not just the TV, and try your best to make the entire process interactive - encourage your baby to respond, ask your baby/child questions (even if they can’t talk yet), etc., instead of letting it be purely a one-way process where your baby just stares at the screen for long periods without needing to think or respond.

With our programs, we’ve created your daily lessons to last for approximately 5-10 minutes each day - this is far less the time it would take for you to watch one television show, and these lessons require interaction from the parent or caregiver while it is being presented, and not a purely sit-and-watch kind of lesson.

But of course, only YOU can decide what you think is best for your baby. :happy: The reason why we provide you with a free LITE version for our programs is so that you can see if these are programs which you think will work for you and if it’s something you can fit in your daily routine.

I hope that you feel free to download the LITE version. We do not ever ask for you to purchase our products without trying them first, and we don’t even ask you for any billing details when you download it. Our aim is to make it easier for you to see what the program can do for yourself so you can make an informed decision on whether or not you want to continue teaching with our programs.

Hope that helps, even just a little bit! And salamat sa pagjoin niyo dito sa online community namin sa BrillKids - feel free to ask any questions about early education, and we’ll be more than happy to share what we know.

:happy: