What a fantastic weekend my son and husband had together. They spent the weekend camping in the Georgia mountains with the Cub Scouts. They returned home yesterday, both smelling of a campfire and God knows what else!

They did the things boys should do with their dads (or moms for that matter)…fished, hiked, ate s’mores, sang songs and performed skits. And at the end of the day they fell into their tent and slept like a rock. Actually my husband almost didn’t sleep like a rock! He forgot his sleeping bag and had the nerve to call me and ask me if I’d packed it! No, I didn’t pack it or anything else for him for that matter!! (He had to drive 25 miles to a WalMart to buy one!)

Last night as I tucked in my newly washed Cub Scout I asked him who he had the most fun with over the weekend and “Daddy” was his reply. In this fast paced world, thank goodness for Cub Scouts!

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It's that time of year again.  Although, I realized this year that my youngest is getting older.  I knew this because he didn't mention his Halloween costume until October 15th and even then he was willing to wear a hand me down costume his brother had worn. 

However, we have one tradition that is the same year in and year out.  It's called ghosting and we basically make a goodie bag full of candy, surprises, or pencils. Then the kids head out in the dark, leave the goodies by someone's door, ring the bell and run like crazy!   The person who has been ghosted hangs a white ghost on their front door to show that they've been ghosted and the next night they do the same thing to another family!  It's a fun tradition. 

What are your Halloween traditions?    

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How do you cure the "why?" syndrome?  My eight yr. old, third grade son is about to send me over the edge!!  His response to 90% of what I ask him to do  is "why?  I am pretty sure it has become an automatic response!  At first I thought I would engage in an explanation of why I asked him to do something.  This was surely not the answer and I told him I was his parent and he just need to do it.  Now I just keep my mouth shut and stare at him to make him realize what he is saying.  What would be the correct and most effective way of handling this situation?  Thanks in advance for your responses!!

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I am a single mom of a 10 year old daughter. She gets extremely jealous whenever i pay any attention to anyone other than her. For example, when i'm playing with my nieces and my nephew and laughing with them she gets this really upset look on her face and comes over and and gets really clingy to me. Another example is when i'm spending time with my little sister and we want to go shopping, my daughter throws a total fit, SCREAMS and CRIES because she wants to go to. She doesn't want me to do anything with anyone else unless she is there too. She'll even tell me when we talk about it later that the reason she threw a tantrum and a fit was because she was jealous. And that she gets jealous when i play with my niece and nephew or pay attention to anyone else.

So, what do I do? I spend Every other moment with my daughter. I don't date. While she is at shool i work then i pick her up at school, spend the rest of the evening with her.A lot of days we go to my parents house where we enjoy going. But rarely do I ever hang out or spend time with anyone else. And it's Family when i do. Actually i think it's family that makes her jealous. But that is so selfish of her and no matter how many talks about it we have, nothing changes. My parents even try talking to her.

Here is going to be the biggest struggle of all. This month we are moving into my brothers basement apartment. She is very excited, because then she will have her cousins to play with (my niece and nephew). The ones she is always so jealous of. So, needless to say they play and get along about 30% of the time and fight and tattle and cant stand eachother about 70% of the time. A good chunk of the time because of my daughter and these issues.

                    Any advise? I'm all ears!!!!

 

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