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The arrival of Memorial Day weekend reminds me of the days when me and my friends would start working on the ultimate tan. We used baby oil, iodine, even tin foil to help the sun reflect on our bodies. Boy, did we think we looked good!! If we had only known then what we know now about the damage we were doing to our skin, I wonder if we would have listened to our parents or even cared. I have to believe that this generation is wiser than mine was in many ways. I hope this generation will realize what their skin could look like in 20 years and the great risk of skin cancer. I found a few articles on sunscreen and skin cancer that should be read by all. Share these links with people you care about!! Have a great holiday and summer!!!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,275339,00.html

http://www.health.com/health/article/0,23414,1612568,00.html

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Graduation....there I said it!!!!  I feel like it's a 4 letter word! 

My 11 year old daughter finishes her life as an elementary schooler this week!  Thursday is her last day of 5th grade and next year she'll go to middle school.  Her school has always had a little graduation ceremony and a party the next day.  This year however, the event has fallen prey to political correctness and is being called a "celebration" and not a "graduation."  Why?

Apparently there was some concern that some kids wouldn't pass the state standardized tests required for promotion to 6th grade.  They'd be required to take summer school classes and wouldn't officially be graduating. 

Give me a break!!  So the kids who did pass the state mandated test cannot be proud of their accomplishment and consider themselves "graduates" of 5th grade?!   I know it's just a word choice, but is this dumbing down yet again? 

PS-All the kids ended up passing the state test so they are all actually graduating....just don't call it that!!

 

 

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What do you do when your 14 year old becomes defiant and disrespectful,,,you take his phone away.  This is what happened yesterday in our house.  I asked my son to try on some of his clothes so that we could put together a graduation outfit for him to wear.  Now, you'd think this would be an easy request and one that wouldn't cause a lot of frustration, but no!  He got very upset and started mouthing off about how he did not want to try on clothes and it didn't matter what he wore.  After he threw a pair of pants to the floor in disgust, I told him to hand over the phone.  What I didn't realize, until later, was the power I held while the phone was in my possession!  Then I remembered what a wise friend of older children once told me, it's all about communication and transportation during the teen years!  So, for the rest of the day, my darling son was very kind to me and didn't give me an ounce of trouble--all in hopes that I'd give in and he'd get the phone back.  I held to my threat and kept it overnight and then when it was returned this morning, I made it clear that his behavior was unacceptable and that I expected to be treated with respect or the phone would be mine alot more often.  We'll see how long that will last!

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My children both have cell phones and for the most part, I never hear them talk on them, ever!  It appears that the main function of them is for texting their friends.  I wish someone would explain this concept to me.  Why do kids choose to use their fingers to communicate instead of their mouths?  Wasn't the whole concept of a "phone" made for talking?  It's funny, too, that kids have developed their own form of shorthand while texting.  There is even a wireless commercial about it.  I guess this is how it will be, but, just as my parents were concerned about the lost art of letter writing, I am concerned that our children's ability to have meaningful conversations is also in jeapordy!  Any comments?

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I am a mother of a 4 year old boy who is potty trained all the way for the day time, however, at night time he still needs to wear a pull up. In the morning he will take off the pull up and put on his underwear. So I'm wondering if anyone know if he should be wearing a pullup at night.  No my son doesnt wake up at night to go to the bathroom, he sleeps all night. What can I do to stop the night pull ups and he can wear the underwear??

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I just finished reading this article in Newsweek, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17770831/site/newsweek/ and was struck by the absolute truth in it.  I can't put my finger on it, but it just seems like this generation of parents is not willing to let their kids naturally navigate the world as we did as children.  Now, I know the argument is that the world today is much more dangerous than the one we grew up in, but I really feel like we are doing our kids a big injustice by ordering their live so much that they never get the chance to pick themselves up from a fall. 

I hope that parents everywhere will begin to relax a bit and give our kids room to grow and experience life naturally, through good and bad times.  I'm afraid that we are raising a generation of kids who won't be capable of caring for themselves much less furture generations.

 

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