TV not that bad, after all

Mothers all over the world regardless of creed, color and race love their children. We pay tribute to all the mothers for the life that they have given us, for the joy they bring and for their unconditional love.

Losing a child is devastating for a mother. I have seen a friend almost go crazy when she lost her daughter. She was inconsolable. "The pain does not go away. You just get used to it." The iconic Celia Rodriguez once mentioned this to me in a private conversation. Manay Celia lost her daughter a few years ago.

Sen. Pia Cayetano has a different story. In 2001, she gave birth to a boy she named Gabriel Rene. But he had a fatal disease called trisomy. The boy had a hole in his heart, enlarged kidneys, deaf and perhaps blind. He was also born with a cleft lip and palate. Gabriel had to be fed through a tube and needed oxygen most of the time. After nine months, Gabriel Rene died. Pia, instead of wallowing in grief, set up the Gabriel Symphony Foundation to help other children with the same affliction as Gabriel’s.

Mothers know what’s best for their children. Nanay does, believe me. I regret I didn’t always listen to her. And in this day and age when technology is now at your fingertips, and where there is information overflow, TV has become a "second parent" to children. Mothers know TV is immensely powerful. Some allow their kids to watch TV for many hours a day. Others regulate TV viewing. According to a recent study, watching TV among children isn’t bad as long as the shows they watch are constantly monitored and are kid-friendly, promoting education and values.

In the channel line-up of SkyCable Platinum, one of the channels available is Playhouse Disney Channel. This cable channel is the first pre-school learning channel in Asia, designed to engage and simulate the imagination and learning of children in a fun, creative environment. The commercial-free channel combines award-winning programs and locally produced and hosted activity segments that help develop early childhood skills, helping moms (and dads, too) raise happy and well-rounded kids. Among the programs available in Playhouse Disney Channel are Barney, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Jojo’s Circus, Little Einstein and many more – all guaranteed to entertain and educate kids.

For moms who want to bond with their teenaged kids, SkyCable has in its line-up Asia’s favorite music and lifestyle channel, Channel V. It showcases the hottest, newest music videos and cool classics moms would appreciate. It also features different programs on the latest in movies, fashion and pop culture.

Meanwhile, SkyCable Platinum also offers exclusive channels for moms who want to take a break from a busy day at work or hectic hours of taking care of their kids. Moms would certainly appreciate Discovery Home and Health and Discovery Travel and Living, two of the four Discovery channels available in SkyCable Platinum. Discovery Home and Health is a unique, female-focused lifestyle network that celebrates women’s lives through entertainment and encouragement. The channel boasts of practical and aspirational programming that is refreshing, honest, uplifting and features real-life experiences of diverse women. Meanwhile, Discovery Travel and Living is a lifestyle channel that features programs about the fascinating world of jetsetters.

Also, moms will enjoy Wine TV, another exclusive channel to SkyCable Platinum. Wine TV is the world’s first and only TV channel dedicated to the theme of wine, the lifestyle of wine lovers and related subjects like food, travel, fashion, health, arts, culture and entertainment.

All existing and new SkyCable Platinum subscribers are entitled to join the ongoing raffle promo up to June 17 and have the chance to win one unit of HP Pavilion Media Center. The number of raffle entries depends on the pay scheme availed of: Monthly = one entry, quarterly = two entries, semi-annual = three entries, annual = four entries.

The winner will be drawn on June 23 and notified by phone call and registered mail. To claim the prize, the winner must present his/her latest valid ID, official receipt of payment and the registered mail received.

SkyCable Platinum is the country’s first digital cable TV package and consists of first-rate, never-before-seen channels. For details, call 631-0000.

Television, if you think very carefully, should not be considered inimical to mothers (and dads, too) in the context of raising children. It is inescapable in today’s real world. Parents should instead manage TV and use it to the family’s advantage. There are creative ways TV can be regulated for growing up children.

This is also to say that TV, on the other hand, has to continually remind itself of its enormous responsibility particularly to children. The balance is not always easy but can be done. We just have to work together parents, TV practitioners, teachers and society as a whole.