As a parent, it’s our job, our responsibility, to show our kids how to be responsible.
They don’t want to be responsible.
Shoot, let’s be honest…
*I* don’t want to be responsible sometimes. I just don’t.
The responsibility doens’t only fall on us, as parents, although I do feel that it starts here. But teachers, youth leaders, pastors, coaches, mentors, etc. are also responsible for passing that responsibility on.
And whereas I feel that you can’t complain about the country, the economy, or those in political office if you don’t vote, I don’t think you can complain about the “unruly” children of the times unless you’re attempting to do something about it.
I’m impressed that Liberty Mutual is stepping up and doing something about it.
Liberty Mutual launched The Responsibility Project, after a huge response to one of their TV commercials where people do nice things for strangers, in an effort to provide parents with tools to share with their children on what it means to be responsible.
Somehow, over time, we’ve lost that. We’ve become a WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?) society.
It’s time to bring it back to doing unto to others what you would have them do unto you.
It’s not called the Golden Rule for nothing.
At the Responsibility Project website, you’ll find videos, resources, and a question poised to make you think: What’s your policy?
I shared this website with Matthew and Samara. While I do try to instill the values that were taught to me, times are different. What worked when parenting me, won’t work when parenting them.
So in an effort to try to speak to them on their level, with what they are interested in, I’ve used the Responsibilty Project.
Our favorite video is this one… Mandy & Lester. Poor Lester. He went through alot. He could’ve given up at any time. He could’ve eaily done the WRONG thing, but he didn’t. He continued, time and time again, to do the RIGHT thing.
That’s the message that I want my children to hear.
Take a minute and check out the Responsibility Project. Watch the videos with your children and take a moment to see what other parents think, what stance others are taking.
As the website states, and I wholeheartedly agree with, “We believe that the more people think and talk about responsibility, and even debate what it means, the more it can affect how we live our daily lives. And perhaps, in this small way, together, we can make the world just a little better.”
It’s no secret that I want another baby. I don’t know where that desire came from. I convinced myself 9 years ago, at the age of 22 that if I didn’t have another baby by the time I was 27 that I wouldn’t have any more. In January of that year, when I turned 27, I upped the anti to 28. However, that only left me 3 months to find a man, marry him, and get pregnant, and I’m good… but I’m not stupid.
Looking back, the age of 28 was not a good time to have a baby. Neither was 27. Even 22 and 20 weren’t, but I did, and look at what I have now.
Two healthy, beautiful children in both the male and female variety.
I had put the thought of another baby out of my head until I turned 30. It’s like I celebrated a birthday at a surprise Tasteful Treasures party surrounded by tons of sex toys and immediately I wanted a baby.
It’s never gone away.
A few months later, I discovered the mom blogging community and all of a sudden I was surrounded by women having babies, parenting, nuturing, and doing all these things that at 20 and 22, I was too dumb to know about, let alone do.
And now? The thoughts of carrying a child, nursing a child and witnessing all the first sometimes consumes me.
And please don’t put me near a baby. I go nuts. Because as I mentioned when I met Heather, I want to steal them… although I never would. I have no room in this house for another baby. Hence needing the husband, not only for his sperm, but for a second income for a slightly bigger house that would accommodate at least 4 children.
But, with all of those things comes alot of other things… like, oh, I don’t know… not sleeping through the night, having to feed the child myself, teething, diapers and diaper rash.
If you are fortunate to have children and never really had to deal with diaper rash, I want to be you. Samara was forever with the rash and it seemed like nothing I could do could change that, dimish it, or keep it under control.
I’m also someone who didn’t know that you could take a baby to the doctor for uncontrollable diaper rash. I assumed that it was something that I was doing wrong and that I was a horrible mother.
And through the mommy blogging community, I’ve learned of lots of things that I want when the new baby comes. Like slings? Yes, I think it would be so cool to wear my baby. And cloth diapering? This lazy woman actually WANTS to try that.
And then I learned about Vusion for diaper rashes. No, I didn’t try it.. for two reasons… (a) I don’t have a baby and (b) it’s by prescription only and I’m pretty sure Dr. Payne would look at me strange if I came in and asked him for a scrip for diaper rash cream when my youngest child is 9.
But he’s a pediatrician, so maybe it wouldn’t be the strangest request that he’s gotten.
I wish the internet was around when I had my children. A new mommy in today’s age has so much more information. They have a website that outline the symptoms and how to treat and manage it as well as a symptom checklist. I would’ve been to the doc in a heartbeat had I been able to read any of this.
And, yes, the internet was there and I was online but it was dial-up? By the time I would’ve found what I was looking for, she would’ve been 9.
And so, I’ve bookmarked this site as well. Because if I do have another baby, I’m going to hope that if he or she has the same problem that Sam did that the $25 rebate offer is still available. Because, all the other cool things that I want for my new baby are going to cost alot of money.
Thanks Mom Central for letting me know about this…I’ll make sure you get a birth announcement…
My children have outgrown the typical kids programs. Blue’s Clues and Dragon Tales was all the rage with both of my children. Samara was infatuated with Maisy. We hit the tail end of Dora, but we never watched Barney. (I just couldn’t do it.)
We’ve moved into Hannah Montanna, That’s So Raven, and well, Matthew rarely veers from the History or Science Channel (I now know more about the history of sneakers than most other moms, just so you know.)
However, there are occasions when I watch a four year old and I always find myself wondering what to do with her. My kids are self-sufficient. I don’t have to sit there with them and watch TV, although I do sometimes. Secretly, I love to watch Hannah and my favorite episode is when she comes up with the Bone Dance. (A side note to how dense I am… it took me awhile to figure out that the tune was actually one of her real songs.)
Jessica likes Sponge Bob. I take that back. Jessica loves Sponge Bob, but as with any other cartoon, there’s only so much Sponge Bob that I can take. And so, I look for new things that I can share with her. Shows that she would enjoy and I wouldn’t have the uncontrollable urge to gouge my eye out with a pencil while we watch and websites that she can peruse while she’s sitting next to me in the office.
I think I finally found a new one. To the point that I can’t wait until I watch her again, because I’ve found myself sitting here humming the tunes all morning.
Apparently, there was a costumed rock band in the ’60s called the Banana Splits. I have to assume this is true, because that was way before my time but, regardless, they’re making a comeback and will star in brand new comedy shorts and music videos on Cartoon Network beginning September 2nd.
They are called the Fab Four and they consist of a dog, a lion, a gorilla, and an elephant. I know that Jessica will fall in love with them.
The website is so colorful and offers so much for a child to do including the ability to call in (an 800 number no less) their favorite joke, great music (seriously. It’s good.), secret codes that they can check in daily to decipher a code, then solve a word puzzle to reveal a silly joke, fan mail, and the ability to join the Banana Splits club.
Watch for the Banana Splits on Cartoon Network beginning September 2nd, but you can check out the website now. And don’t lose track of time playing the Pie Toss. (Can you beat my high score of 7500?)
School starts in two weeks. Want to know how many books my kids have read?
Not the required two.
Not that they are going to be tested or required to write a report on them, but still.
Matthew chose two books from his list. The Hobbit and White Fang. Neither of them were comprehendable for him. He was frustrated.
So I told him, “Look, I don’t care what you read, but you need to read two books.”
And then The Dangerous Days of Daniel X appeared on our doorstep. I was excited as it’s by James Patterson, my absolute FAVORITE author. I mean, FAVORITE. I leafed through it before handing it to Matthew and sure enough, it was in true Patterson format… short chapters.
I’m a fan of short chapters because I’m anal when it comes to stopping reading. I can’t stop in the middle of a chapter, so if I’m nodding off, it’s hard. I’m funny like that I know.
But I think for kids, long chapters are daunting as well. So, I was excited to tell Matthew that they were short and told him about my experiences with James Patterson books… that, for the most part, they were quick reads. Only because they are so good that you can’t put them down.
The Dangerous Days of Daniel X was no different.
Matthew came in the room with me in the evenings to read. He would stop every so often to ask me a word, or what something meant, and I continually asked him if it was a good book.
I don’t know about your boy (specifically) but most don’t like to read. Matthew goes in spurts, but the #1 reason boys don’t like to read?
They find it boring.
Ask most MEN and short of the “articles” in Playb*y, they’ll tell you the same thing. ::grin::
On the whole, Matthew and I both liked this book. He told me as things were happening. There were a few nights that I made him put the book away because it’s bed time and Matthew is typically very methodical with his reading. If he says he’s going to read for 30 minutes, he reads for 30 minutes and then stops. Regardless of where he is on the page.
“One more chapter, Mom?” he would ask. Of course, I said yes. They were short.
And then he turned to me and said, “Mom, I don’t know how he does it. The chapters are short but at the end of every single one of them, he leaves you wanting to know more.”
And he does. He does it not only in this book, but with all of this books.
Now, take a look at this trailer and let me know if you don’t think your son would enjoy this?
Cool, right?
Majorly.
And I don’t even like that genre of books. But I, also, liked this one.
The only thing that I could recommend that might make it a little better is that there were certain things that I don’t think most 10 year olds know about. For example, early in the book Daniel is traveling, via Greyhound with an Atlas with him. Matthew wasn’t sure what an Atlas was, however, after I pointed out to him that an Atlas was a hard copy of MapQuest, and pulled one out to show him, he understood.
Maybe that’s just my kid because we do every thing on line.
Over all though, I highly recommend the Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson whether you’re 10 or 31 one, male or female. You’ll fall in love with Daniel and your emotions will rise and fall as you turn each page following his journey on closing in on his parents’ murderer before the Earth is destroyed for good.
If you’re interested in reading more about the Dangerous Days of Daniel X you can find more information here. Or pick up your own copy here.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get on my son to read another book in the next two weeks before school starts!
The flight from DC to San Francisco was over 5 hours. I had a window seat and I’m not sure that I liked it. Typically, I’m a window seat kinda gal. I like to look out the window.
But on a ride that long, I knew I would have to use the facilities and I hate asking people to move on my behalf. Additionally, because I’m nosey, I didn’t like that I was unaware of what I was flying over. Like, I think I saw the Rockies but I’m not sure and I think that people should know what they are looking at. It gives me the chance to say “I’ve seen the Rockies” or “I flew over the Grand Canyon.”
I did happen to find the Flight Deck line on the built in radio on the plane and instead of watching the documentary on China or listening to music, I listened to the Flight Deck Channel. Sometimes, if you listened closely, you could hear our pilot mention where he was. But not often.
Regardless, it was interesting. Especially when another pilot said, “I can wait to turn a little bit later, but it’s going to put me at a lower fuel level than I’m comfortable with, so if you could turn me as soon as possible, that would be great.”
Thanked God repeatedly that I was not on that plane.
And when I did go to the bathroom, as all of us were congregating outside of the bathroom in the “kitchen” area of the plane, there was a little small talk going on between the passengers and the flight attendants.
Before I knew it, the words “How much longer until we’re there?” escaped my lips. I felt like a complete child.
But not as childish as when the flight attendant (who very much resembled the comic, Ant) replied “about two hours” and I wanted to stomp and scream. I wanted out of there. I wanted to be there. I was highly impatient.
And bored.
And for the first time in a long time, I could understand how my children feel when they are carted all over the country.
This summer, we logged 2431 miles in the car. That was just our trip to Mississippi. They were in the car more than that traveling to camp and then to Pennsylvania from Tennessee with my parents.
That’s alot of time in the car.
My parents and I are both of the “we don’t need a DVD player in the car” mentality. There are so many things to look at on long trips and so many car games that you can play to pass the time. However, my bosses, whom I love to death (how many people can say that?) surprised the kids with a portable DVD player a day before we left.
And for the most part, it worked out well. Only once did I have to take it away because we couldn’t decide which movie to watch and were fighting.
One of the movies that we had to watch was called TripFlix. When I was asked to review it, I wasn’t sure how it was going to go over with the kids, but the kids loved it and watched it more than once while on the trip and took it to my parents’ house as well to share with them.
TripFlix is a fun-filled interactive DVD that features some of the coolest kid-friendly places to travel across the US. Designed to help famililes pick an unusual travel destination and keep the kids enteretained while en route, TripFlix was a hit in our car with trivia questions, funny banter from the teens hosts/travel guides and little known facts about the destinations as varied as “Carhenge” in Nebraska and Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama.
The best thing about this DVD, for my kids at least, was being able to see all the places that they already have been. They squealed when they saw Rock City, Tennessee had made the list and we all had fun with the trivia questions.
I never intended for the kids to watch the whole thing, let alone watch it more than once. But they would put in the DVD and when they had the choice of selecting a region of the country, they would quickly hit play all, sit back, and I would have two hours of peace and quiet in the car.
I highly recommend picking up TripFlix for your next road trip, or just to introduce your children to the various destinations around the country.
In my search for sanity, I was definitely able to find some time while they were engrossed in the movie.
I have to admit that I’m pretty clueless when it comes to finding new authors. I typically stick with my favorites or the genres that I like, but I’ve found recently that there is so much more out there.
I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this book. It’s just that simple. It’s not Patterson-esque but I was determined to read with an open mind, and I’m so glad that I did.
I’m not used to overly descriptive writing. While I realize that description is important in writing as to allow us to visualize where the events are unfolding, I often view it as overly wordy and unneccessay. Perhaps it’s because the books that I read aren’t overly descriptive, but Strauss has a way of writing so that I felt that I was right there. When he described a drive that main characters, Josh and Dori, were driving, he listed the stores that they passed. I could see the street lined with each of those eating establishments, supermarkets, and retail outlets. It’s almost as if I feel at some point in time, I will find that street and know exactly where I am.
In the beginning, I had a little trouble following the intertwining story lines. There were a few characters that needed to be introduced that were key to the story line. Once the background information was presented on each of the main and supporting characters was done, the story line really picked up.
The characters were people that I could picture in my own life. Josh, the husband, father, and tv sales person. The descriptions of the Upfronts for his network were awesome to read simply because I work in TV. I know all about the upfronts, but I’ve never actually attended one. His description was much like what I’ve heard from colleagues who have attended. His wife, Dori, wants to be the best wife and mother. But she struggles with the battle going on in her mind and I can relate to this. Darlene, the head of pediatrics, comes from a non-traditional background, single mother, and has reached much success in her life. Her confidence and strength were much admired by me the entire time that I was reading this book and very encouraging to me.
After reading More Than It Hurts You, I’ve been able to step back and look at my own parenting skills. I spent the entire book going back and forth between HATING Dori and wanting to give her a HUGE hug. That emotion could change as quickly as I could turn the page. I could identify with the feelings that she had but I could never condone the thoughts that she carried out. I was angry with her, I was sad for her. And at the same time, I could feel for Josh and Darlene as well with their struggles, although I was never angry with them. But it did make me stop and think if outsiders, looking in to my life, could also say the same thing? Am I entitled to some of the thoughts that I have if I don’t follow through with them? As mothers, I think there are times that our mind tends to stray, but I bring it back.
All in all, I highly recommend More Than It Hurts You. Not only was it a story filled with great story lines and twists, but the characters were real and I was able to challenge my mind while reading it. I’ll be adding his other books, The Real McCoy and Chang and Eng, to my summer reading list.
If you want to hear what others are saying about More Than It Hurts you, you can follow the book tour here.
And then 
. When I was asked to review it, I wasn’t sure how it was going to go over with the kids, but the kids loved it and watched it more than once while on the trip and took it to my parents’ house as well to share with them.
I just finished reading 
