Philippines--Culture Smart! by Culture Smart!

Author:Culture Smart!
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kuperard
Published: 2021-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Don’t Leave Him Alone!

One day a woman entered our house by the back door, searched the bedrooms, and found my wife’s jewelry. On her way downstairs she met our son’s yaya. She said “I’m Doctora Abad. Why have you left the baby alone in his room?” Our yaya ran to the bedroom, and the con woman disappeared with the jewelry.

In most families, parents begin to discipline their children when they reach school age. The children are then required to help with household chores, including looking after younger siblings. Since education is regarded as vital for future success, schoolwork is taken seriously.

Children are taught respect for their elders, politeness, social sensitivity, patience, and obedience. Aggression between siblings is dealt with strictly, to maintain harmony and cooperation within the family. A common way of disciplining children is to tease them, because this conveys one’s views on their behavior while avoiding direct criticism. As a result of their upbringing, Filipino children are generally well-behaved and polite; but in some wealthy families the overindulgence of babyhood continues, resulting in spoiled children who order the staff around and never do anything for themselves.

Teenagers go around with their barkada (peer group), and although boy–girl relationships may develop, the focus is generally on the group. A girl’s eighteenth birthday is a special occasion. If her family is wealthy, she has a debutante ball at a hotel—a formal affair, with tuxedos and ball gowns, to which family and friends are invited.

A young Filipina would not lightly marry against the wishes of her family. A marriage is the joining of two families rather than just two individuals, and a couple will ask parents and grandparents for advice on difficult issues, although this is rapidly changing in big cities.

Respect and appreciation for older people is such that time will be spent with them by younger family members, even when minds and bodies are no longer alert. It is the responsibility of the family to look after its older members, and this is endorsed by the 1987 Constitution: “The family has the duty to care for its elderly members but the State may also do so through just programs of social justice.”

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