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August 31, 2010
 January 1? Nope.
September 2nd, 2010.
Yes, the official year starts after all the Christmas wrapping paper is stuffed into the recycle bin, but for me, and, I suspect, for many other moms and dads, the first day of school is the REAL start of the year.
This year in Canada, it’s early. Usually they wait until after Labour Day, but something to do with the Canada Games (yes, I know. There was a memo. If I could find the memo I’d read it and explain it here, but I have no idea where anything is.) means they start earlier this year, have shorter Christmas and Easter breaks and a VERY long February holiday (2 weeks). Anyway, that means I have one more day of holidays with my kids before I pack ‘em on the bus again.
This is, for me, a day of mixed emotions. Back in June, they ran screaming off the bus, hooting and hollering about Freedom! while I watched mine disappear with the dust of the bus. Gone were my daytime hours of uninterrupted writing time. Continue reading Happy New Year!
August 24, 2010
Posted by Carla René in: Accountability, Advice, African-American, Attitude, Biography & Memoir, Book Marketing Online, Book Review, Books, Business, Business Management, Cancer, Cap and Trade, Children, China, Climate Change, Commentary, Comments & Discussion, Communications, Communism, Community, Computers, Congress, Contributor's Audio/Video, Creative Writing, Current Events, Democracy, Democrat, Diet, Economic Crisis, Economics, Education, Energy, Entertainment, Environment, Environmental Issues, Faith, Family, Fiction, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations, Freedom, Freelance Author, General Topics, Geopolitical Events, Global Warming, Governance, Habit Change, Health & Fitness, Healthcare, Heroes, History, Homeland Security, Humor, Inspiration & Motivation, Internet, Internet Advice, Interview, Islam, Journalism, Latino & Hispanic, Legal, Life Experiences, Lifestyle, Literature, Marketing, Marriage, Medical, Men's Issues, Mental Health, Mexico, Military, Minorities, Morality, Motivation, Music, Native American, Nature/Wildlife, Non-Fiction, Nutrition, Opinion, Personal Experiences, Philosophical Genres, Poetry, Politics, Publishing, Question of the Day, Recovery, Relationships, Religion, Republican, Rhyme, Satire, Self-Help, Sex, Short Stories, Social Aspects, Social Classes, Social Issues, Sociology, Spirituality, Sports, Technology, Television, Terrorism, The Economy, The Media, The Pundit's Corner, The Writer's Corner, Travel, Uncategorized, Website Instructions, Weight loss, Wellness, Women's Perspective, Women's Rights, Working Women, Workplace, World Issues, Writing Essentials
 Begun back sometime in 2001, this book was originally a fluke of an idea… [...]
August 18, 2010
The study suggested that we not only need to encourage healthy eating habits for young children, but also need to set a good example by refraining from making negative comments about people who are overweight. Children of course, are mirrors of us and they pick up our attitude, which results in bullying behavior. In effect, we indirectly teach our children to bully. However, there is a bigger picture. We need to remember that each and every person has habits about which he or she is not proud. The difference is that if over-eating is the habit, it cannot be hidden. It is on display for all to view. [...]
August 2, 2010
Charlotte Castle: Simon’s Choice. Night Publishing, July 2010.
If you enjoy good stories, you will want to read Charlotte Castle’s Simon’s Choice. It is one of the best novels I have read.
One of the most tragic things in life is to have a child diagnosed with a life-threatening illness like cancer. The dreams you’ve had as parents, the life you’ve built as a couple, even the meaning of life itself begin to slide off their foundation and crumble. You are horrified, angry and scared. Everything, it seems, is beyond your control. You begin to look for someone to blame. Frequently that is your spouse.
Such is the story of Simon and Melissa, a British physician and his wife, their beloved seven year old daughter Sarah, their dog Porridge, and Sara’s grandparents. Sarah has a particularly aggressive form of leukemia. All her parents can do is love her, watch, wait and hope. Emotionally it is killing them. Having spent forty-plus years in the counseling profession, Simon and Melissa’s story is a familiar one. Continue reading If you love a good book, Charlotte Castle’s “Simon’s Choice” is one of the best
July 21, 2010
So I’m sitting here in Spicewood Texas at a nice little place. There are plenty of trees, and a magnificent natural swimming hole with waterfalls and springs. My boss was calling and I didn’t want to talk to him, so I didn’t. I emailed him instead. It was a pretty lousy thing to do, but this is my once a year visit with my family, and it is only for a few days. I love my job, and will go back to working my six or seven days a week soon enough. There comes a time when you just have to decide what is most important to you. I chose to enjoy my family. I’ll deal with the consequences later. I did leave a few hours early, but I had tended to the needs of the company. If I had just said nothing, I would have been better off. I could still do the job by phone, and enjoy the time. My absence would hardly go noticed.
So why am I sitting here writing about it? Because this is a pleasure! I am surrounded by my loved ones, in a marvelous natural environment, and just enjoying some personal thoughts. I am sharing a few with you now… because I want to! Continue reading Healing Dose of Happiness
June 23, 2010
One
One morning when grandfather and grandmother were visiting his younger brother on the family farm, grandfather looked out the window and said:
“Look, brother, there is a deer in the yard.”
And grandfather’s younger brother, Yojiro replied; “There are often deer in the yard, brother. Have you been gone so long that you’ve forgotten?”
“No,” said grandfather, “but this deer is different. This deer is leaning against that tree.” Continue reading Grandfather and the Deer
June 23, 2010
1
One bright sunny day, a grandfather sat eating his lunch on a long bench when a group of about twelve young wolves came up, sat down on both sides of him and began talking, laughing and enjoying themselves. Since there was not enough room on the bench for all of them, one young wolf remained standing a short distance away, eyeballing the grand-father.
“Grandfather!” the young wolf said, looking sharply at the old man who sat peacefully eating his lunch.
“Yes, I am a grandfather,” replied the old man. Since the young wolf didn’t say anything back, the grandfather went on enjoying his lunch in the sun and ignored the young wolf, who stared at him from where he stood nearby, shifting from one foot to another. Continue reading Grandfather and the Wolves
June 17, 2010
That night you lay with him because you wanted to be close and got closer still produced an offspring. A child that you were or maybe weren’t planning on. Once the shock wore off and you decided that it was time for you to become a parent, for the first or the tenth time, you smiled and rubbed the belly that would soon grow and laughed at the job the new baby would bring. Then somewhere between the first diaper and catching her sneaking out the house or him guzzling beer you couldn’t wait until they turned 18 or 21 or 22 and left.
They leave but they do not leave you alone. You are a parent forever. Continue reading Being a Parent is Forever
June 13, 2010
We mostly have the same script about how childhood should be.
A baby enters as a warm bundle into a sometimes wet world. Especially in Britain, we know that that the sun doesn’t always shine. We are realists.
The growing child should be loved and cherished, and allowed to run free (and safely).
At a certain point, school, friendships and romance flow through to a young adult’s triumphal entry onto the world stage as a happy, balanced and generous human being ready to contribute fully towards society, not least by repeating this cycle.
Sometimes this happens.
Sometimes it doesn’t. Continue reading Suffer the children
June 8, 2010
Sometimes I just want to strangle the parents who have decided that their little darling can do whatever he or she wants. They do not take into consideration the world around them. Little Jane or Jimmy can act the fool, hold up traffic or pee on the floor. We adults must witness this stupidity while a patient parent smiles and thinks their kid’s crap of acting out is a Kodak moment. People need to learn to teach their kids manners or at least control them. Continue reading Lady, Do Something About Your Children
May 20, 2010
I’m from the generation that grew up learning to read by following the adventures of Dick, Jane, Sally, Spot and Fluff. Dick and Jane were a brother and sister duo featured in the Basal reading textbooks used to teach elementary school students how to read from the 1930s through to the 1970s in the United States. I am also from an era when American households had a big monstrosity in the guise of an elaborate piece of furniture on display, the television. It was never in the kitchen or in the den; it was never in the bedroom, it was almost always in the living room.
Watching TV was a family affair back then. We watched it in groups; it was hardly ever a solo activity. My sisters and I and occasionally a few friends would huddle in front the TV watching the Mickey Mouse Club, My Friend Flicker, Roy Rogers, December Bride, Father Knows Best, Leave It To Beaver or The Loretta Young Show. On weekend evenings the whole family gathered in the living room with popcorn on Saturdays and hand packed ice cream on Sundays to watch The Jack Gleason Show, Lassie, Disney and The Ed Sullivan Show. Weekday evenings after homework, dinner and Huntley & Brinkley we take our baths get into our pajamas to sit perfectly still and quiet with our dad viewing Maverick, Gun Smoke, Sugarfoot, Wagon Train, Have Gun We’ll Travel, Peter Gun or Perry Mason before we were sent off to bed. Watching TV was truly a family affair back then. Continue reading The Value of Family and Time
May 7, 2010
Yesterday was my granddaughter Alicia’s fourth birthday. She had a party at school with a big cake and a tiara that her Auntie G (my youngest daughter Giselle) bought for her. Her parents were there with big smiles while I was at the dentist. But last night I got to see the remains of the birthday on the little confused face that beamed every time someone said “Happy Birthday.” Continue reading Being Four
April 21, 2010
I sat next to my father in the counselor’s office at west mesa high school embarrassed and staring at my feet.
“This is Joe’s last chance Mr. Pahn-cee.” The counselor said, mispronouncing our last name as everyone had done our whole lives. I had been named after St. Joseph the Worker; patron saint of laborers who’s feast day it was on May 1st, the day I was born.,. When I got to the first grade, the nuns renamed me because we already had a Jose in class, Jose Hernandez. By virtue of the alphabet, I became Joe Ponce.
“Your son has failed his second year of algebra and is lacking full credits in English and Science because of unexcused absences. At this rate, he will not graduate with his class.” he continued. I could feel my father looking at me. “We believe that he is a good candidate for a new non-traditional program recently started at APS. That’s what Mr. Nuzzo is here to talk to you about.”
The counselor gestured toward the older man sitting in the corner of his traditionally spartan, traditionally institutional office. He looked a little like my father. Slightly graying hair combed back, black frame glasses and a simple collared shirt and slacks. A pen in his pocket, just like my dad.
“My name is Don Nuzzo,” he said extending his hand “from Freedom High. I’d like to talk to you, but first I’d like to ask your son something. Why do you want to come to Freedom High?”
“I’m not sure that I do.” I mumbled. My father made an angry noise. Continue reading Your Mother and Me
April 21, 2010
My son asked me this strange question in the car this morning. “Have I ever seen a pig?”
In some moods, as a father with a lot on his mind, I would simply have dismissed the question as ridiculous, as in “Of course, you have”.
However, he caught me in a more ruminative state today and, when I had considered the question increasingly carefully and even started to rack my brains, I realised that the actual answer is probably stranger than the question. “Quite possibly not.”
In my childhood, I saw pigs rooting around in mud enclosures as part of the countryside environment I went to school in. I suspect that in many lesser industrialised countries they turn up and snuffle and snort right next to you.
However, in the industrialised West, they are usually hidden away in factory farm sheds. We have all smelled pigs from time to time, but I am trying to remember the last time I actually saw one myself.
A wild boar conveniently dropped dead on the beach outside our house in France a few years back, and some even wandered around our garden in another house in France, so maybe it is easier to catch a glimpse of a wild boar nowadays than that of a domestic pig. Continue reading Have I ever seen a pig?
April 19, 2010
Stella Evelyne Tesha: “A Journey Into Life”, Author House (UK), 2010.
In “A Journey Into Life”, Stella Tesha takes us on a journey of life from Europe to the villages of Africa and back again. Nothing hidden here; these are straightforward poems written from the heart.
A young woman asks her lover “Would [...]
April 6, 2010
High school sucked for me, there’s no better way to put it. The funny thing is I didn’t realize it until after graduation. Maybe it wasn’t high school specifically, maybe it was more like adolescence sucked for me. But looking back on it now I have also realized that it could have been much worse. At least most of the time it felt like I had someone to talk to.
When you’re sixteen years old, the most important thing in the world is to feel included, especially if you’re a girl. I read an article this afternoon– printed in the New York Times on March 29th– about a teenage girl who had committed suicide because of bullies at her high school. Most of the parents who’s children attend that high school are clamoring for the superintendents removal and very strict anti-bullying measures to be put into effect. Those teens who where guilty of the harassment are being charged with felonies, but I feel like some people are missing the point. Yes, the school is responsible for every student within its walls, but how can parents expect the staff to catch every act of discrimination? In my experience, most teenagers are pretty intelligent when it comes to getting away with stuff they shouldn’t. They’re intelligent enough to know how not to get caught, even after repeated offense, and smart enough to completely understand what they’re doing. The high school in question is partially at fault, but I blame the students themselves. By the age of sixteen a person is old enough to know better. What I cannot understand is how those teens could think that treating a fellow student in such a way would ever be okay or acceptable. Frankly, it is disturbing. But they learned that behavior from somewhere. I’m not saying it was television or video games or books (if they even read them) that taught them that was a cool thing to do, but they got the idea from somewhere. Continue reading Sometimes That’s All it Takes
March 26, 2010
I find myself in a quandary and am hoping for advice.
I would say that overall, I am a very relaxed sort of mom. We live in a very remote area, so when my kids have friends over, they often stay overnight. And of course, my girls stay in other children’s homes as well. It’s something we didn’t do much of when we lived close to our neighbours, but here, where everything is at least a ten minute drive away, it is the norm. We have all relaxed into the routine, and have gotten to know the kids around here very well. It’s been an educational experience, and a fun one.
We live in an area in which it is not uncommon to drive past a mansion, then drive past a neighbouring trailer decorated with rabbit ear antenna. We have people who work in offices, people who fish for a living, artists and writers, and lots of retired folk. A pot pourri of incomes, if you will. It makes for even more education on my side, since I grew up in a position of financial comfort. Continue reading Smokey Sleepovers – looking for advice!
March 23, 2010
Yesterday, my daughter bounced off the bus, grinning. She ran to grab the dog and smother him with kisses, then looked up and said,
“Oh, hi, Mom. Guess what? I had the best day. We did math.”
What???
My elder daughter has ADD (yes, a label, but one that helped us learn how to understand her better) and has always had a paralyzing fear of math. She used to burst into tears at the word. Anything to do with math was overwhelming. I was never a mathematician by any stretch of the imagination. I never really cared how well she did in it, so long as she was trying. But to see her so torn up was horrible. It started in kindergarten/primary and continues today, now that she is twelve years old. She and I have spent hours together, working out the little figures, fitting them where they should go, with me constantly hoping to see the light of discovery brighten her eyes. And, usually, by the end of our session, she’s laughing. I’m exhausted, granted, but she’s happy. However, by the time she gets to her class the next day, she has forgotten everything and is miserable again. Continue reading Math CAN be fun!
March 19, 2010
The title is self-explanatory. Most of us come here with complaints about everything from the weather to the government to the dog down the street. The problem is most of us just complain and don’t have suggestions. Recently I wrote about obesity because it has become a major topic of discussion in New York at this time. There is a desire to add a tax to sugary drinks in hopes that the increase in price while deter people, especially young people from consuming these empty calories. At the same time there is a campaign to not do this because of the hardship it would cause families when they shop. There have to be other alternatives and instead of just complaining I am suggesting one.
If we want our children to be healthy change the school lunches and give them more recess time outdoors in the form of controlled exercise. Continue reading Posting Solutions, Not Just Complaints
March 11, 2010
Posted by Kaye in: Accountability, Attitude, Children, Commentary, Economic Crisis, Education, Family, Governance, Habit Change, Homeland Security, Legal, Opinion, Politics, Social Issues, The Economy
Today, like every weekday, I got in my car, after work, and head for home listening to NPR. I’ve been thinking about this for some time now and today, after hearing a piece on NPR about Kansas City, Missouri’s school board approving a plan to close 26 schools in one district and Cleveland, Ohio’s school board approving a plan to close or move 16 schools, I had to give voice to my thought which is, Our country is broken and bleeding. We are loosing our safety, loosing our jobs, our homes, our way of life and even our schools. Not only can’t we house and feed our children we can’t educate them either. I’m at a loss. I’m lost because I can’t see a fix.
This week, here in South Carolina, a Columbia city council member who has held office representing the same district (The City of Columbia’s District 2) for 27 years, resigned after pleading guilty to federal tax evasion. According to reports, the man failed to pay more than $25,000 in federal income taxes in 2004. Before this revelation we learned that two convicted felons were trying to run for mayor of the city of Columbia and we have a governor that was hiking the Appalachian Trail in Argentina. Continue reading s it just me or, is there something wrong with this picture?
February 25, 2010
I don’t want to say that I live in a bizarre world but you see I reside in a town called Topsy Turvy in the country of Before. My name is Todd and I live on a small farm with my parents and my grandfather. I go to school and am proud to be at the bottom of my class. I reside in a small town with just a few neighbors way back in the country of Before. In my small town we do things a bit different than most. You see, when we plant corn, it grows underground. We have to pull it up with corn pickers when it is time to harvest. The carrots grow above ground and the watermelons are red on the outside and green on the inside. All of the people in our little town walk on their hands and when they meet on the street, they shake feet. Even our babies scoot on their backs rather than crawl on their knees. Our faucets point up and our drinking fountains down. Our school desks are on the ceilings, which of course makes seeing that much better since the lights are there.
On this wonderfully rainy morning, I stopped by the butchers on my way to school to give my mother’s shopping list to Mr. Fritz.
“Hello Todd. On your way to school I see,” greeted Mr. Fritz as he stood at the counter loading it with fresh bacon. “Is that your mother’s list for me?”
“Yes sir. Mom will be by later after she finishes making the pineapple right-side-up cake for the county bake sale.”
As I was about to leave, gabby Mrs. Gray walked in snooping for gossip. Continue reading The World Turned Upside Down
February 17, 2010
Posted by scottqmarcus in: Attitude, Children, Family, Habit Change, Health & Fitness, Inspiration & Motivation, Life Experiences, Mental Health, Motivation, Personal Experiences, Recovery, Relationships, Travel, Wellness
As I watched the drama, it dawned on me that this process of learning does not end when we move away from our parents. It is a sequence that presents itself continually: Frustration. Lesson. Acceptance. Progress. Repeat cycle as necessary until learned. [...]
February 15, 2010
I am a Servant of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
With a message that could make a difference in your children’s life
To all whom God has blessed with children
Do not harden your heart, please take heed, and listen
The Bible tells you not to spare the rod of correction
Many of you don’t obey and your children lives without direction
The world has come up with reasons not to spank your children
If you listen to the world, in the end your children will be destroyed
I haven’t read in the Bible where God says to put your children in time out Continue reading Do Not Spare The Rod
February 8, 2010
Chapter 7 – Dealing with Schools
For most of us dealing with the teachers and administration at our child’s school can be a difficult process. Many of us approach this important task with needless trepidation or false conceptions.
We were once students ourselves and may have built up a habit of obeying or even expecting punishment or derision from teachers and administrators.
This is a non productive attitude for parents. Teachers are not gods, many of them are hardly even human. Before engaging in any discourse with your child’s teacher, ask yourself these questions:
- Did this person find teaching as a calling in kindergarten, dedicating the rest of their lives to the education of children? Or was this the only job they could find after graduating with a useless degree in Grecian philosophy?
- Is this person a master educator or a product of “if you can’t do, teach.”
- Does this slimy wanker think they’re in charge? Or do they recognize that theirs is to serve in a difficult task as best they can. Parents, always ask yourself, are they “the boss of me?” Continue reading How to get your child through school successfully – a parents guide
February 7, 2010
I can already see the shock on your faces, the blood leeching from your veins, the rolling of your eyes.
Such a dysfunctional attitude might be catching. It might be socially and irresistibly viral. As parents, we spend every day combating even the hint of its symptoms, like ‘flu and cancer. “But you must go to school,” we glare, “and there is an end on it.”
He certainly has bad educational genes. I hated school, although I was quite good at it (I have four university degrees). My wife loathed it too, as did many in my immediate family.
But one of our sons is worse than that.
He gets asthma every night. He actually stopped breathing last week during his exams. School makes him miserable and it even risks killing him.
Universal education is an extraordinary achievement, driven for the mass of the population to feed the new industrial bureaucracy that was emerging in the 19th century which required factory and office workers, and driven at higher levels of society to develop colonial administrators and government officials. Continue reading We have a son who hates school
February 5, 2010
Today one of my brothers-in-law buries his mother. I am not even sure if I ever met her for I don’t remember her from the wedding. But today as he lays her to rest my family will be there to support him. Not a family he was born into but a family he got when he married my sister. Of all the things my mother and late father gave us the gift of creating family and making new members feel like old has been the best. Continue reading Creating Family
January 19, 2010
I laid upon the grass one day
And dreamed of places far away
Of palace gates and carpet rides
Of dragon scales and moonbeam slides
Where butterflies were spun of gold
And Unicorns with fairies told
The tales of selkies and magic wands
Where rainbows dipped to drink from ponds
I rode the clouds amongst the trees
Catching rides on wings of bee’s
I danced a jig in clovers four
With elves and sprites from times of yore Continue reading Day Dreams and Magic
December 11, 2009
More rapid than an eagle, his Ford truck flew [...]
November 24, 2009
In our city, like a lot of other places, we have a recycle bin that we put out every week with our trash. Using this as an idea – my daughter who is a teacher for the 7th grade gifted program in her middle school – gave her students a project. They were to collect the [...]
November 19, 2009
Like most artists I would prefer making a living from my art. For the majority of us that never happens and we have to make do with professions outside of the creative. Sometimes we get lucky and land a job we enjoy. Sometimes we land a position that is beyond rewarding. I know I am one of the lucky ones since I get to play Santa 52 weeks a year. Continue reading The Coolest Job
November 15, 2009
My wife and I decided it was time to educate our 4-month old granddaughter to the pleasures of our local mall – here is how she started the day and her thoughts on her experience:
 Wanting to keep my “Girlish Figure” I started the day with aerobics on the Mat.
After a quick “liquid breakfast” – I am ready to get started on my adventure to the Mall.
 Just in case I already have some fans – I went in “Under Cover.”
Continue reading The First Trip to the Mall
November 9, 2009
Sometimes life is all about family even though we are not aware of it. Thanksgiving dinner is usually one of those times when family and friends we consider family gather together to give thanks and to just be together. Being a real family unit is something modern families don’t always find time for. Work, school and activity schedules collide and children eat at one time and parents eat on the one. Meals aren’t nutritious, homework is corrected by the Internet and exhaustion sets in before you realize your child’s bedtime prayers include the hope that mommie and daddy still love them because they never have time for them. When you become aware of that happening you need some quality time with your family. You need to make some cupcakes. Continue reading Making Cupcakes
November 5, 2009
When my children were eight and five, they used to love listening to a couple of Barefoot Books CDs in the car and as they settled down to sleep – ‘Tales of Wisdom & Wonder’ narrated by Hugh Lupton and ‘Grandmothers’ Stories’ narrated by Olympia Dukakis.
Coming from Barefoot Books, these were charming multicultural tales suffused with wry observations on the world – the monkey who asked God to give him more misery, thinking that ‘misery’ meant honey; the blind man who was always one step ahead of his sighted companion who was trying to cheat him; the animals who helped two children escape a witch who wanted to eat them; the beautiful crone who drew a raven and a basket on her cell wall and had them come to life and carry her away.
There is a great deal of outstanding entertainment around for children nowadays, especially on TV and DVD and in computer games, which parents often candidly resent but which set the bar very high for more traditional literature-based competitors to jump over. However, speaking as a parent, it is always a delight when something I would regard as more wholesome than constant Japanese-based cartoon battling succeeds in entrancing my children as well. Continue reading Review of ‘Grandfather & The Raven’ by George Polley
November 2, 2009
The man sat on the train between the two girls with a big smile on his face. “His” girls, he called them and they gave a required half earnest smile. His arms hung over their shoulders safely above the breasts so no one could say that he was touching them inappropriately. His smile was all you needed to know that things weren’t right at home for his girls. They were too quiet and too well mannered for modern pre-teens. But maybe they were the results of girls who had never had a childhood and didn’t know how to tell anyone that daddy was too close at night, too present in their lives in the day. Daddy picked them up from school because he worked little and mama, well where was mama when they needed her but lost in a job doing overtime trying to care for them all . Continue reading Touching Our Children
October 30, 2009
April 2007
She bagged 5 Gold Medals and 6 Certificates. She received gold medals for being the Class Valedictorian, Academic Citation for Science – RIPRISA Champion, Loyalty Award, Hon. Ramon Ilagan Academic Excellence Award, and the BEST of all awards: the President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Academic Excellence and Leadership Award.
She received certificates for [...]
October 21, 2009
When I’m bored, I want to eat. When I’m sad, I eat. When I’m angry — you got it. You know, there are people who, when they’re bored, they read a book? When they’re sad, they call a friend; and when they’re angry, they take a walk. There’s a clinical term for that kind of personality: it’s called “skinny.” [...]
October 21, 2009
This is an open invitation to both our contributors – and our viewers – to post articles and brag about their children. If you don’t have children – please feel free to brag about any one of your relatives. For our contributors – they can post directly to our site. For our viewers – [...]
October 19, 2009
Last week most of us were attached to the news hoping that a six year old boy was in the runaway balloon and he was safe. When it touched down and there was no child inside I am sure many people believed he had fallen out. But there were pessimist among us who knew it was a publicity hoax. Children do get into mischief, especially energetic six year old boys, and parents who try hard to observe them and kept them in tow gain our trust and sympathy when something like this happens to them. On the other hand parents who cry wolf just to gain recognition and status are almost as bad as mothers with Munchhausen Syndrome and fathers who abuse children. After living through the media blitzes of Jon and Kate and Octomom I can probably say most of us have had enough. Continue reading Using Children
September 29, 2009
Thank you, Bob, for the opportunity to brag. I think that’s what grandparents do best.
I have two grandsons: Jonathan, who is three, and Elijah, who is ten and a half weeks old. They are, of course, my pride and joy.
I don’t have much to tell about Elijah, except that he’s already wearing nine-month clothes and he is a very good baby. I’m not just saying that because he’s my grandson. I keep telling my daughter how blessed she is to have such a good firstborn. Oh, and his eyes light up when I come into the room. They really do!
I have enough stories about Jonathan to talk all day. But I’ll keep this short and tell only two things.
I thought Jonathan would never call me anything. I tried all the grandmotherly names. I even tried “Ma,” thinking it would be easy enough for him to say. I tried it so often, in fact, that when I would say it to him, he would put his hands on his chest like I had put mine on my chest when I was telling him I was Ma. Eventually, he came up with a name for me on his own. After months of waiting, I was rewarded with my own special name: Dum Dum. He eventually shortened it to Dum and then he settled on Dummi (which I spell with an “i” for obvious reasons). Continue reading My Pride and Joy
September 14, 2009
I used to start cycling at the back of the house, wobble unsteadily around the tight Oil Storage Tank corner with its faint but persistent petroleum whiff, build up speed down the crackling side path against the wooden weave fence, emerge into the daylight beyond the rose garden to complete a celebratory and triumphant sweep of the upper lawn before crossing the gravel driveway to the tarmac path on the other side of the house, past the basket ball hoop, over the slippery moss and back to my starting point.
Unbeknownst to me, I was tracing an infinity of infinity symbols – a ‘meta-infinity’, I suppose. How cool was that? My own children love the concept of infinity. I must tell them.
This was the route I sprinted down, my brother Bill’s hot breath singeing my back, after I had spent most of the afternoon baiting him. Bill was the closest man to a saint I have ever met or I ever will meet, and extremely hard to provoke, but I discovered that with careful training, and after a good night’s sleep, if I focused carefully and watched out for tell-tale twitches, I could finally persuade him to chase me exhilaratingly around the house before my parents managed to net him still frothing at the mind and swearing vengeance with diminishing breath and heaving body. There was a downside to this gratifying game. I was condemned promptly to bed to watch TV. It was that TV that was cited as the reason why I was sent away to a boarding school at the age of seven as a hopeless TV-addict with an unbreakable hour-and-a half-a-day habit unless incarcerated for my own good. Continue reading My first garden
September 12, 2009
At thirteen, I was sent away to public school which meant that it was a private school anybody could attend whose parents were very, very rich. It was called ‘public’ because it was open to anyone (whose parents were very, very rich), not closed (in favour of whom exactly?). What is ever closed to the very, very rich?
I had been prepared. I had spent six years in a ‘preparatory’ school. Preparing me for what? Preparing me for life? No, preparing me for hell.
Well, not exclusively me. The British public schools were set up in the mid-nineteenth century in the main (a few significantly earlier) to equip a chap to find himself administering the British Empire sitting at a makeshift trestle table in the middle of a field in the middle of a tree plantation in the middle of India or some other Fuzzywuzzyland, dispensing Christian civilisation as he faced a bunch of angry natives, without the sage solace of an honoured pater or the consoling arm of a doting mater, without even Pinkers and Chimpers and God-knows-whom, staring down the barrel of a machete or the blade of a gun. Shit, I would have been pissed too. Continue reading My first pang
September 11, 2009
 The Children of 9/11 Grow Up
College students talk about how the attack shaped their lives.
by Peggy Noonan
It is eight years since 9/11, and here is an unexpected stage of grief: fear that the ache will go away. I don’t suppose it ever will, but grieving has gradations, and “horror” becomes “absorbed sadness.” Life moves on, and wants to move on, which is painful for those who will not forget and cannot be comforted. Part of the spookiness of life, part of its power to disorient us, is not only that people die, that they slip below the waves, but that the waves close above them so quickly, the sea so quickly looks the same.
I’ve been thinking about those who were children on 9/11, not little ones who were shielded but those who were 10 and 12, old enough to understand that something dreadful had happened but young enough still to be in childhood. A young man who was 14 the day of the attacks told me recently that there’s an unspoken taboo among the young people of New York: They don’t talk about it, ever. They don’t want to say, “Oh boo hoo, it was awful.” They don’t want to dwell. They shrug it off when it comes up. They change the subject.
This week, in a conversation with college students at an eastern university, I brought it up. Seven students politely shared some of their memories. I invited them to tell me more the next morning, and was surprised when six of the seven showed up. This is what I learned: Continue reading The Children of 9/11 Grow Up
September 8, 2009
 President Obamas speech–victimized again by television
by Bill Hazelgrove
 Television may appeal to what is banal and base and it may be low art but it should not be used to hurt our democracy. We have been victimized again. Talking heads on the left and the right have hacked it out over the Presidents speech to school children. We now have parents keeping their children home, protesting against indoctrination by the Obamaites to socialism. What is going on? Where does this post McCarthyism come from?
It comes from that blue box in front of you. We take the passive act of watching television for granted but we do not register that is has been hijacked by people who do not have our best interests at heart. Television is selling. It is all about selling. Ever since RCA did field tests in 1936 they knew that this would be a sponsor based entertainment medium. Ratings. There must be ratings to sell the product. Ratings are produced by drama. Drama is produced by exaggeration. This is true in fiction as well. Continue reading President Obamas speech–victimized again by television
September 7, 2009
Saturday morning we packed a van to take our youngest daughter back to school. Although classes don’t start at her university for two weeks she had to move in because this year, her senior year, she will be working as a Resident Advisor for one floor of a very large dorm. The packing had been intense for she had to take everything she might need for at least two months, even though she is two states away. As an RA she won’t be able to come home on weekends if she is bored. She has a job and a job gives life more restrictions. In other words, she has grown up. Continue reading Growing, Growing, Gone
September 5, 2009
By Alan Caruba
So the President wants to get the school year off with a speech to all the kids from kindergarten to twelfth grade. Under normal circumstances, this would not arouse my comment although it must be said that I do not recall any previous president doing this.
I do not recall schools announcing they would not let the President’s speech be heard by the children in their care and, most certainly, I do not recall parents saying they would rather keep their children home that have them exposed to the President’s message.
I am not aware of what that message would be. There has been speculation that President Obama just wants to encourage children to stay in school, study hard, and listen to their teachers.
The real message, however, is more subtle than that and people don’t like it. They don’t like the way, in the midst of a major recession, the President began his term in office by flying off to foreign lands, apologizing for America in one fashion or another, and saying strange things like America was not a Christian nation. Continue reading Here Comes the President. Hide the Kids!
August 31, 2009
It has been a long time since I spent time with my oldest daughter that did not involve her new family or her child. Whenever she comes over to visit now that she is back in New York, she brings our granddaughter, a bright smiling three year old with lots of energy. We get lost in having time with them both, not just our child and when she leaves we are glad that she is happy with the decisions she has made in her life. But we don’t always agree with them. Thats when we sit back and let her go because she has become what she wanted to be. Continue reading What Our Children Become
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Grandma went to Vegas – I Gained a New Appreciation for Mothers Everywhere
Not Everyone is Meant to Be a Winner
This trend started some years back that baffles me. In a world dominated by fierce competition schools, sports teams, and even some youth clubs were giving awards to every child- just for being a child. There was no spirit of competition, no desire to become the best. And although it is sad when children get left back socially because they didn’t get picked for the team what is sadder is the growing number of people who think mediocrity is something be rewarded. Continue reading Not Everyone is Meant to Be a Winner