The Return of the PIOdigal Son

I have always treated Pio as my own son.  He is 8 years old.

He is the adopted son of my partner, Dori, and we have met since the time that he was as little as 5. Just like any other little boy, he loves cars, Spongebob and hates going to school. He has his own terrible tantrums to the point that he even hits his head on the walls and destroys all his toys when he is not in a good mood. For a year from finishing kinder, he rested for a year from going to school and just had the time of his life – playing every day and watching television – while we both struggle to teach him slowly how to read better and count with homeschooling books for his age.

But now things have changed. With God’s mercy, grace and miracle, Pio is a changed kid. You can compare him to an adult who may have lost his way at one point in his life, but has now gotten to take a good shift of priorities and perspectives. With the help of our dear families’ support and love for him, he has decided to go back to school. He now lives with my mother during weekdays for school and we pick him up over the weekends. He may have been the youngest ‘repeater’ I have known, since he had to finish the preparatory level still. 

Now, he ranks second in his class. He may be the oldest in his class for being a Prep student, but he has earned respect from his classmates and teachers as the ‘Kuya’ in class. Recently, my mother has told us about all of Pio’s special awards in school including Best in Science, Most Respectful, Best in English, Most Neat, Best in Attendance and many more. He has also gotten over being a social disaster as he now looks forward to social events in school like parties and field trips. He listens now and answers with utmost courtesy when there is a problem about his attitude that needs to be confronted and resolved. In short, there is apparent improvement in his EQ level. 

Our whole family wishes nothing but the best for Pio. We look forward to seeing him grow to be a responsible and prosperous person filled with wisdom coming from God. We always tell him that it is not the awards that we are all after, but for him to benefit from the real fruits of education and that is the right set of values that he needs to plant in his heart and reap for a lifetime.

We want him to remain as bubbly and as good looking as he is now. 

We need him to be the person that God wishes him to be as he grows older from now. 

I personally wish that he would drink more milk that his bones need without hesitation so that his height would grow along his age. Until now, he cannot ride the bump car in Enchanted Kingdom alone and the race cart in Festival Mall. :p