My second son went home one day with a Tupperware of banana cupcakes. Â He handed the plastic container to me. Â “I already ate some, and these are for you,” he told me.
“Where did these came from,” was my question. Â He relayed to me his classmate’s mother baked them for him.
Then I smiled and thanked my son for sharing the banana cupcakes.  But more than the food, I hope my son appreciated the lesson behind the banana cupcakes.  It would surely make him the most compassionate man.
Let me tell you the story before that banana cupcakes narrative.
The Privileged. The Humbled. The Grateful.
The life of the privileged
My mother could be real generous.  One day, she and my thirteen-year-old son went shopping. My mom bought my kid an Under Armour shoes worth about P12,000.  I was displeased.  My husband and I are teaching our children modest living.  That gesture of buying him a pair of shoes of that worth is something we do not want to tolerate.
That Under Armour purchase was followed by another shoe purchase and another. Â We are seeing in our son that he enjoys a life of a privileged kid. Â He becomes somehow arrogant and at times conceited.
Then we got a letter from his school’s Prefect of Discipline.  We later found out he bullied a classmate.  One class grouping during his English class, he removed the innersole of his shoes and brought it near a classmate’s nose.  The poor groupmate was offended.  The teacher saw the incident.  He was directed to go to the Prefect of Discipline.  Then he was given a letter for his parents.
The life of the humbled
I do not want to say I thank heaven and earth for that incident.  It caused my husband great distress.  It nearly caused me a heart attack.  And it caused my son’s name to be removed from the Honors List.
But it taught him humility and compassion. Â It made him realize life is not just about expensive shoes.
Before he left for school, he put the letter of the Prefect of Discipline on his father’s table.  And the letter is requesting for our attendance that afternoon for a short dialogue.  Husband, who was ready to go to work, then decided to attend to the invitation.  Then husband learned of the bullying incident.
When two boys met because of shoes
My son told me once he has a classmate just near our subdivision.  He commutes going to and from school.  He rides tricycle and jeepney and sometimes walks.  His uniform and shoes are tattered.  He only brings with him a string bag. He seldom eats lunch.
One evening, my son asked me if he could give his old rubber shoes to his classmate.  He is not using it anymore because of the three new shoes he got as presents from his grandmother.  I agreed.  We also included the casual shoes his kuya no longer uses.
A week passed and my son brought home a Tupperware full of banana cupcakes.  His classmate’s mother baked them for him.  It may be perhaps the mother’s way of saying “thank you” for the shoes his son got.
The life of the grateful
Bad news does happen.  Perhaps how we respond to them defines our character.
Bad news does happen. Â Maybe for us to stop and look around.
Bad news does happen. Â Possibly to teach us a lesson and keep us grounded.
Lessons of life could sometimes come in a harsh way but in your case it’s great that your kid got learned about the gift of giving and modesty. I completely agree with you that childhood is that early stage in a person’s life which would go on to decide what kind of a person s/he would become. Better to make sure that foundation is laid on good thinking, modesty and stronger values.
That is such a wonderful story. I am glad the boy learned humility finally. This will be etched in his mind for a long time to come. He will definitely be more responsible.
I truly hope so. His parents cannot give him all the luxury of the world and we do not want him to be disappointed when one time we can’t give his needs or wants. I also hope that he will remain humble and compassionate.
It’s great that this counts as one story only. It won’t be his defining moment. And along the way he will probably encounter character tests that he will both pass and fail. What’s important is that your love remained unconditional despite everything. 🙂
Yes, definitely there are still so many tests will come along his way. And I really pray to our dear Lord that He will guide me deal the problem with love and compassion.
Yes! Everything happens for a reason! And everything has a lesson that comes with it. I remember you told me about that expensive socks your mom bought for him too and you can see my eyes were big! lol! I was raised in a poor home so we never had any expensive stuff, ‘coz even if we want to, waley talaga pambili! lol. Even now that I can afford to buy myself some stuff, I’m still not used to buying branded clothes. Going back to Miguel, I’m sure his classmate told his mom how kind he is that’s why his mom baked him cupcakes. Sweet! ♥
I also appreciate the mom’s kind gesture. Sna padala pa sya. Masarap e. eheheh.
Seriously, I hope my son would really learn na and will not please please please be a brat.
Oh my this is just beautiful. And I am happy that something good came out of a bad incident. I am also amazed by you and your husband’s determination to instill good values to your kids, that’s just very admirable.
And I also admire your kid for his quick turnaround. It’s good that he learned this lesson so very early in life and I hope he grows up to be a good man.
Wow, thank you so much for sharing this heart-warming story! I agree with you because when bad things happen to us, it’s for us to learn from that experience. I’m sure God wants to teach us something and it’s for us to be better people.
Wow, this is just so inspiring. I actually speechless after reading this article. I don’t know why, but what I’m truly sure of is I learned from this. Yes, we should always be humble and grateful with things that we have and even for things that we don’t have. I truly admire what this story is trying to transmit to everyone. I’m so blessed after reading this.
Love reading your blog post here, a nice sharing. Yeah! Everything happens for a reason. Really happy that something good turned out from an unpleasant incident. Thank you for sharing. Cheers, SiennyLovesDrawing
I enjoyed how you narrated the story. Lolas will be lolas and spoil their apos. Despite the mistake your son had done, he had learned his lesson and even shared his shoe to help his classmate in need. This story is a perfect example of how experience is sometimes a better teacher than school.
I didn’t experience being spoiled by my grandparents, but I know that grandparents are tender to their grandchildren. They would do anything to please them. Anyway, what happened to your son will surely be unforgettable. At least now he knows the value of humbleness and generosity. I’m sure you’re proud of him.
Beautiful story, Momi Berlin. The best role we, parents, can play in our children’s lives is really to become their guide and conscience. At the end of the day, they make choices that can either make us proud or disappointed but we’ll always choose to be there for them to keep loving them.
Everything happens for a reason. Everybody learns from mistakes. He has done a mistake you gave time for him to realise how intense the act was and allowed him to think what should be done. And he accepted that he had made a mistake and further decided to correct himself. Lesson is- give time to realise and to correct 🙂
Beautiful story where a lot of lessons can be extracted from. You and your husband’s parenting style is inspiring. Way to go, Momi Berlin!
Reading this post, I certainly got the other side of the coin. I’m curious to know how bullies come to be and I certainly wouldn’t want my son to be bullied nor being one. Children do stuff that are really distressing to parent’s point of view. Differences in perspective is what complicates things. Commendable is your son’s humility in the end. 🙂
Yes, perhaps it was fun on his part but the classmate was offended and so was the mother of that boy. For my husband though, he thought what our son did was just part of growing up as he also studied in an exclusive school for boys. Boys, as he told me, can be real naughty and playful.
Nakakatouch naman to! As a mom of 3 kids, I always think if we’re spoiling them and we don’t want that to happen. Me and my partner, we’re from poor families pero we worked hard and we’re able to survive and provide for our kids. Sometimes we spoil them of things kase we thought we never had good things when we were younger and we don’t want our kids to experience that. Pero mali pala yun. I am happy to read this. Parenting is tough and it’s a learning process.
Parenting is indeed a learning process. Too much or too little has a consequence.
Lesson learned sa lahat ng parties… then tell grandma na din about this post hehe. Kakatuwa ung anak mo how he’s changed from the experience. You and you hubby is doing great job raising your children!
Thank you. Yes, talagang pinagsabihan ko ang lola. And I hope my son would not forget this experience to constantly remind him to be humble.
Kindness really doesn’t go unrewarded, your son has learned firsthand what it means to be humble and compassionate to others. You can’t help it if he gets spoiled with gifts but at least you know how to keep them grounded. Hope he gets more treats in the future! 😀
Hi Momi Berlin, this is a beautiful
post as usual. I love your real life inspiring posts like this the most. It is so humbling and real. As adults, I believe we also need to be reminded of these things from time to time – humility, simplicity, and gratitude. 🙂
That is a great lesson! As a teacher of elementary school children, I can tell you not to feel embarrassed that your son made a bad decision. All children make bad decisions from time to time but it is how they learn from those decisions that is important. You should be very proud that your son learned to be generous and think of others!