Guest Post
Yours truly has a guest post, posted today over at DiscoveringDad.net. The guest post it titled “You Are Your Child’s Favorite Toy” — Go check it out!
McCain Hates Me!
I don’t even know where to begin…
Hat tip to Huffington Post
Independence Day
There is a lot that I could write about today. Certainly, there is a lot I want to write. Unfortunately, my heart and soul is awash with emotions that run from one end of the spectrum to the other.
I’m eternally proud, thankful and honored to be an American.
But I’m also absolutely embarrassed for the things our representative bodies have done - to America and to the world - in the name of peace, freedom and prosperity.
Our Bill of Rights has all but been damn near been stripped away from us.
Our schools have been closed in record numbers due to low test scores, when the real problem was lack of proper management of the allotted funding.
Our selfless men and women in uniform have answered the call of their country, only to return to the same conceited administration that, at best, demonstrates a complete lack of responsibility and accountability for their actions.
When our country was attacked, we pretended to play hardball with the “evildoers” yet behind the scenes we were selling warplanes to both sides of a rivalry.
Afterwards we cooperated with a country that had been buying U.S. high-technology components for use in its nuclear weapons program in defiance of American law for the previous two years.
I think you get the picture. Instead of ranting and raving for pages and pages, I’ll leave you with words that inspired a group of people to rise up and say “No More!” and the best piece of guitar work Jimi Hendrix ever performed.
How Much Do You Control Your Kids?
Photo: Capt Kodak
Steve Olson wrote a great post entitled “Giving Children Freedom and Self-Control“. As a father of a 7-year-old and a 3-year-old I could relate very closely with the subject matter of Steve’s post.
I have to admit, I sometimes have difficulty acknowledging the line between controlling my children and letting them control themselves. As each long day drags on, that line gets blurrier and fuzzier and I’ll usually find myself getting irritated with my oldest when, for example, I ask her to do her nighttime routine — which includes picking out clothes for the next day, brushing her teeth, picking out her night-time music, getting into her PJs and getting her book ready to be read.
The nights when I feel I have extra patience and ask her to do it with a general request, such as “do the usual bedtime stuff,” without initially cracking the parental whip. It more often than not ends up with me regretting the attempt to allow her to manage herself. So what usually ends up happening is I get irritated and have to micromanage her time.
“Why aren’t your teeth brushed yet?”
“Have come you still have not picked out your jammies?”
“I’ve asked you three times already to pick out your book and music! Please just go do it!”
Steve Olson’s post was a great reminder that this is all part of parenting.
So the only real control is self-control, and that is what I believe parenting is about, instilling self-control and helping them understand that they own their decisions. There is no one to blame. I will teach them that you control your destiny through your decisions. If you are afraid a friend will call you a pussy unless you steal, the decision to steal is still yours. If your teacher tells says you will fail unless you turn in your assignments, the decision to turn in the assignment is yours.
I agree with Steve and my hope is that I’ll be more fluid and realize that a big part of parenting is being persistent in teaching your children that “…the only legitimate form of control, self-control.” When you think of it, none of us want to live in a totalitarian environment, so what makes us think our children could thrive in that same type of environment?
I highly recommend you go and read Steve’s post. Let him know what you think!
R.I.P. George Carlin
This evening, comedian George Carlin died due to heart-related illness.
There’s not a whole lot to say. I’m actually very, very bummed out about this. George Carlin was one of those guys that always made you laugh, but was never really on the forefront of your mind.
Here’s a link to one of my favorite George Carlin routines.
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