Hello, World! My name is Michelle and I’m a 47-year old wife and mom from the suburbs of Seattle with three kids, ages 14, 11, and 8 years old. I started this blog because my philosophy on parenting, and my experience raising 3 gifted kids, are so different from those parents around me. I am not a parenting expert, but a parent with a different point of view sharing my journey. My husband and I believe that we need to prepare our kids for success in the future, one that means our kids have mastery over technology, are comfortable with change and innovation, and they embrace globalization. I spend much time reading up on the latest research on educating students, and learning about innovative ideas about raising kids. We also believe that two timeless ingredients of success come from good character and enduring family values. In short, our goal is to raise “World Ready Kids.”
Furthermore, this blog is about sharing what I learned in raising kids who are identified as gifted. Raising gifted kids means being an advocate for my children at their schools so that they are challenged academically, and that their social-emotional needs are met. If you have a gifted child, you know that the gifted traits that bring the blessings, also bring the challenges.
My parenting choices are informed by my background, upbringing, experiences, values, and, of course, the needs of each individual child. My background is that I am a Filipino-American who immigrated to the US when I was 5 years old. My parents were both physicians, and I grew up in New York City, then later in Upstate New York. I attended the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy league university, where I met my husband, who also graduated from UPenn. My husband is a Canadian-American of Scottish descent, and we have been married for 23 years. He currently works in the technology sector. Several years ago, I earned my Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Washington and started a technology and apparel company. After our third child was born, my focused shifted to raising our kids. We have a son, 14 years old, and two daughters who are 11 and 8 years old. We currently reside in a suburb of Seattle.
My 3 children are very different from each other, and they have taught me that there is no one “right” answer or one way to raise kids. The “right” way was determined by the personality and needs of each child. I am sharing my ideas because I benefited from the insights shared by other parents, so I hope by sharing my experience that I can help others have choices in parenting approaches and find the solutions that work best for their families. I invite you to join the journey with me, muddling our way to raising World Ready Kids.