Life Blog

  My 10-year-old boy will not immediately answer back when you ask him a question. Most of the time I have to ask him twice or thrice before he actually answers back. In one instance, I was caught off-guard. He shouted at me after asking him a question a third time! We were in the car on the way to school. It was boy-scout day, so he was wearing the scout uniform, the brown buttoned shirt with patches – boy scout logo and the Philippine flag. I thought the air-conditioning can be cold inside their classroom because he didn’t bring his school jacket, so I asked him, “Gab, are you wearing a sando?” A sando is a Filipino word for the sleeveless undershirt. In a very soft voice he muttered, “No, I don’t have it.” I didn’t hear what he actually said so I asked him a second time, “Are you wearing sando?” He replied a bit louder, “I’m not wearing it.” I heard him alright and I got worried he could get cold. But I couldn’t believe what he said, so I asked him a third time, raising my voice...