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Why Judy Ann taught her daughter how to ride a jeep

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Leah C. Salterio

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Photo from the Instagram page of Judy Ann Santos" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/news/08/27/judy-ann.jpg"/><figcaption>Photo from the Instagram page of Judy Ann Santos</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA -- When award-winning actress, mother and entrepreneur Judy Ann Santos was younger, she didn’t have an option but to work just to be able to study.Today, Santos, who has been happily married to Ryan Agoncillo for 15 years this December, is not going to allow her three children – Yohan, Lucho and Luna – to experience working while studying at the same time.“Wala silang kailangan problemahin na kailangan nilang magtrabaho para makapag-aral,” Santos told ABS-CBN News.“Meron kami ng daddy nila na ipasok sila sa magagandang iskuwelahan. So please, mag-aral kayo,” she added. “Kasi hindi ko mabibili ang edukasyon. English nga hirap na hirap na ko. Edukasyon pa.”Santos does not discount the possibility that one of her children might even embark on a showbiz career. But that will strictly have to happen after they finish school.“Sabihin na nilang very strict ako, pero before wala akong option noon but to work,” Santos said.Her children are not allowed to have social media accounts until they are in the right, proper or legal ages. “None that I know of even with Yohan,” the mom said. “But as much as possible, I allow them to read what they need to know on Facebook or on Instagram when there’s an agreement.“Once they are in the legal age, kaya na nilang tanggapin even the harsh comments hopefully. They can deal with their bashers. I cannot protect them there. They should be more responsible.”Her husband, Ryan Agoncillo, is a “strict” father and Santos is the same when it comes to her kids.“Pareho lang kami,” she admitted. “We are both disciplinarians. We are both spoilers, as well. But we also treat the kids as barkada. Once we said, ‘Ito ang masusunod,’ that will happen.“We try to talk to our children to make them understand what’s happening around them. Wala kaming filters when it comes to talking to them.“Let’s say Luna asks me something in English and wala ang daddy niya around, we will Google it. They need to see that I don’t act as someone intelligent. I tell them, hindi ko rin ‘to alam, anak.“It’s okay to be honest in telling your kids that you don’t know something. Not because you’re a mom, you know everything. I cannot act as someone who’s intelligent. Alam ko smart ako. Alam kong hindi ako maganda, but pretty ako.”Santos is not one to pretend how she grew up devoid of the high-end trappings that her three children are now enjoying in life.Now that her children are also endorsers, Santos makes it a point to reward her kids after they finished working.The Agoncillo kids get their rewards when they respectively endorsed something. “All of Yohan’s endorsements, eventually trickled down to Lucho’s,” Santos said. “Same thing with Lucho’s, whose endorsements trickled down to Luna’s and maybe more.”The rewards that the children get don’t always have to be material things. “We just don’t want to instill in them that for everything they do, they should get a prize,” Santos asserted.“It can also be a quality time. We can watch a movie or take a trip. So they can experience something out of the job that they did or the work that they put up.“It can’t be always material things that they get in return. The memory is much more important. We instill it to them. We can talk about it even after many years. We invest on memories.”At Luna’s age now -- she turned seven last January -- she gets product endorsements for her age. “There are story boards that are suitable for Luna,” said Santos. “I’m very grateful for that.“But I always have to ask Luna if she was okay to endorse a particular product. Do you want to try it or test it? Even shooting schedules, that has to fit their schedule in school. The shoot should be scheduled a month ahead of their calendar day.“I show them the story board and explained it to them. I want them to be aware of what they are exactly doing.”Luna recently joined her mom in the Alaska Milk TV commercial, where she is seen enjoying the dishes Santos cooked using Alaska Milk.Meanwhile, Yohan, Santos’ eldest child, is actually in college now taking up music production. She is turning 19 this November.Santos wants her children to experience her humble beginnings. Recently, she proudly taught Yohan how to ride the jeep and learned how to commute.“I didn’t just allow her to experience how to commute, I forced her to try commuting,” the actress laughed. “Yohan was actually excited. We rode the jeep around the area.“So, she knows how to go around. She will not feel helpless when our car gets stuck in a traffic jam.”“It was an ungodly hour,” the mom disclosed. “So, it turned out, there were very few vehicles on the road. For some reason, I also wondered why traffic was light.“I just showed Yohan where she could eat around the area. This is the one thing which if you don’t teach your child, she will feel helpless when she gets to college. So they need to know how to do those things.“When I was young, I rode the tricycle,” Santos shared. “That was how I grew up. So when Yohan was younger, we also made her ride the tricycle. It doesn’t make sense to me if my children don’t know these things.”Dad Ryan is proud to know that their daughter already learned how to commute. “We don’t filter these things to our children,” Santos said. “The two younger ones – Lucho and Luna – will follow. Yohan is always the template for everything since she’s the eldest.”Agoncillo is an “awesome” dad, according to Santos. “’He’s a very cool dad,” she remarked. “Kaya niyang sabayan ang energy ng mga anak niya. Kaya niyang sabayan ang pagka-kwela ng mga bagets.“Ang sarap panoorin ng pamilya ko kapag nagtatawanan sila at masaya. Hindi ko nakita ‘yan noon. Wala akong visual na ganoon. Hindi ko alam kung paano lumaki ng may tatay.“Kaya ‘pag nakikita ko ang pamilya ko, para akong nanonood ng movie. Ay ito pala ‘yung pakiramdam na may kinalakihang tatay ang mga anak mo. Napapangiti ako.”Naturally, in their 15-year marriage and 19 years together, Santos and Agoncillo also experienced petty fights.“When you reached that point in your married life na pareho na kayong confident sa pagmamahal ng isa’t isa at secure kayo pareho, that’s the part when you tell yourself that ‘I think I married the perfect person’.”She still gets conscious when Agoncillo takes her photo and posts it on his Instagram. “When he takes my picture, alam kong may naramdaman siya at may nakikita siya at that time.”

When award-winning actress, mother and entrepreneur Judy Ann Santos was younger, she didn’t have an option but to work just to be able to study.