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| GOOD ANSWER TO A CATHOLIC QUESTION FROM A RABBI [Rachel Watkins] |
| 5/24/2010 |
Receiving communion when you are not a Catholic or no longer believe -
http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20100522/LIFESTYLE/5220301
Couldn't say it better myself! Glad to have this when family and/or friends question why they can't received Communion when they come to Church |
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| THANKS TO BUFFALO - QUESTION ABOUT CONFERENCES IN GENERAL [Rachel Watkins] |
| 5/24/2010 |
Small but excellent conference - It was wonderful with good people, great talks - mine included :-).
No, it was really good but the small numbers has me asking (again), why don't more people attend conferences anymore.
Some of the blame might be: cost, gas $$, babysitting, the internet, all or some of the above or something totally different.
If you have once been an conference and no longer attend - why?
If you have never attended one - why?
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| I AGREE! [Rachel Watkins] |
| 5/25/2010 |
Check out this article on competitive parenting - the urge we have to tell others what to do and how to do it when it comes to parenting.
NOW - you may think that this article comes directly in opposition of what HMS stands for. After all, isn't that what we do every day - tell you what to do??
I hope not. What I hope we are doing is offering you good advice from Greg's expertise, my experience (along with others) and a balanced view of what experts are saying out there in regard to family life, parenting, faith and more.
We don't ever want to make anyone feel bad about the decisions they are making when it comes to parenting - we just want you to MAKE some decisions.
Look at the advice, studies and more that we put forth and then prayerfully and carefully make a decision. Purposeful parenting based on your family's vocation and God's will are our goals.
I hope we are filling a need -
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-05-25-mommywars25_CV_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip |
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| OOPS! [Rachel Watkins] |
| 5/26/2010 |
In my last post, I was just so angry I really mistyped.
I meant to type - we can all agree -
Sorry! :-) I was letting my rage at seeing the little guy smoke that I wasn't being careful as I typed.
Watch it, you'll get angry as well. |
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| OKAY, OKAY - I THINK WE CALL AGREE ON THIS AS BAD PARENTING! [Rachel Watkins] |
| 5/26/2010 |
We can get into some heated conversations about what is good parenting and what is not. I'll allow for some disagreement in some areas BUT I think we can all agree that this upcoming story and video shows lousy parenting -
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/37358499#37358499
How's this for the title of the video - Tot Smokes 40 cigarettes a day!
Yes, a toddler smoking. The parents lament not being able to get him to quit because he gets angry and dizzy!
How about not buying him any? How about never giving him any?
Where did he get his first one? And, please don't try to tell me he took it right away. Having tried to be a 'cool smoker' in my college years the first cigarette is the absolute worst - as is the third, fourth and fifth.
I don't know about the sixth and subsequent ones as I didn't get that far!
I'll be praying that St. Michael comes and helps this little boy as he needs a serious warrior at his side - his parents have stopped. |
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| SAD STUDY ON SO MANY LEVELS - [Rachel Watkins] |
| 5/26/2010 |
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37344482/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/
Another reason to tackle any weight issues w/ your teen daughter.
This is NOT a push for having every young girl be model thin and strive for an impossibly perfect body but the realization that for many young girls for whom food is a comfort and physical activity is limited (or non-existent) there are real risks beyond the weight issues.
Take a moment to assess you (and your daughter's) relationship with food, activity and being healthy.
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| DON'T BE SURPRISED BUT I AM NOT A SEX IN THE CITY GIRL [Rachel Watkins] |
| 5/26/2010 |
Not - never been - never will be.
Is not solely due to the fact that I don't have cable and have never really seen the show outside of one episode seen at a hotel stay several years ago (it was syndicated). I turned it off after 15 minutes
Why - it was not about my life at all, and not a life I wanted.
I am unlike many women apparently as I do not have a group of girlfriends (married or otherwise) with whom I share my life, shop, attend movies or anything.
My circle of girlfriends consists of other moms who are trying to juggle kids, husbands, some of homeschooling, some not but all of us wondering about stretching the dollars for shopping and family life.
Beyond the fact that I find their clothes truly hideous - is anyone really doing to wrap a scarf around their heads? I find their lifestyle offensive. Some might not - okay. But truly, is my life better if I strive to find some common ground with women who are fictional? |
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| I MARRIED YOUNG - PERHAPS 'TOO YOUNG'. DID I MISS ANYTHING BY NOT DATING A LOT? [Rachel Watkins] |
| 5/27/2010 |
I know this and readily admit it. Matt and I got married against everyone's best wishes and endured to the joy and love we have now only by God's grace and boundless mercy.
But having married young, I can sometimes wonder if I missed out on dating (not really, as I am very happy I was spared that).
But - if you are someone who does wonders - please check out this article and accompanying hysterical stories about bad dates. I am considering getting the book from my library just for the laugh and the reassurance that getting out of the dating pool early is sometimes the best thing -
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/29145970/ |
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| YOU GOTTA LOVE THIS - [Rachel Watkins] |
| 5/27/2010 |
Last night my 9 yr. old got sick, so at 3:30 in the morning I am setting him up on the couch to sleep as his bed was a mess, throwing a load in the washer (including his favorite stuffed dog) and generally worrying all night if it is a 'freak' thing or the beginning of something worse.
This morning, at 6:00 a.m., I check on him as I make Matt's breakfast. He's fine, feels better and moves into our room for some extra sleep.
Later this morning as he is watching some TV (yes, in our room, yes, I am a hypocrite as I have a TV in my room - but we don't even have cable and in our rancher style house it seems our bedroom is more of a family room that happens to have a king-sized bed in it).
He stretches a bit and says, "I love my life." This from a kid who only hours before was throwing up and spent the night on the living room couch without his favorite toy since he was born.
I want his outlook on life! |
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| OTHER THINGS PARENTS SHOULD NEVER DO - [Rachel Watkins] |
| 5/27/2010 |
I wrote yesterday about the chain-smoking toddler. As impossible as it seems to me (and you, I am sure), there are parents out there who will make the stupidest decisions when it comes to parenting.
Again, these are those decisions which every parent, regardless of parenting styles or expectations, SHOULD readily admit are wrong.
In my years of blogging, cruising the internet for your education, illumination and amusement I've come across some amazing stories of dumb parent stories. Now, I am not going to list the truly awful stupid, evil things that too many parents do to their innocent children but rather those borderline criminal but always stupid ideas. Here's my top 5 stupid parent decisions:
-leaving a child alone while going on vacation - without them. Done by several parents, all later charged with abandonment. The youngest I've noted was 8 years old, expected to take of themselves for the weekend while Mom and Dad were in Mexico
-driving with your children in the trunk (because they asked).
-driving while nursing your baby. This story from a few years back involved a woman so under the thumb of her controlling husband that she said she was not 'allowed' to stop.
-offering your children anything they are not legally allowed to buy for themselves. I am not a sip of champagne at Aunt Amy's wedding but handing them a beer at the barbeque or worse yet, buying it for them and their friends with the reasoning that since they are going to drink anyways, better they drink under your watchful eye!
-asking your child to buy anything for you that they are not legally capable of buying - be it cigarettes, alcohol or drugs. Don't do it.
Then comes those ideas that I believe are harmful and stupid, but in that I see it regularly, I am wondering if perhaps I might be wrong-
-driving with children without benefit of a safety seat or seatbelt. Still seeing kids (some of them quite young) bouncing in the back seat of a car with nothing to keep them safe if the car should suddenly stop much less be involved in an accident.
-taking young children to many PG movies and any PG-13 movies. Okay, so your 4 yr. old LOVES IronMan, I get it. But to take them to a movie theater where the sound is thundering and the images larger than their house, is too much for little kids (and some older ones). It is also unkind to the people old enough to be there. There was a story on-line where the bloger complained about this. He went to see IronMan II and endured a 4-5 yr. old little kid crying at some parts, screaming during others and talking through the rest. Attempts to get the parents to leave resulted in arguments. Granted the theater staff didn't do their job, but don't put a teenage usher in charge of parenting for you!! If you want to let your little one see a big kid movie wait until it comes out on DVD.
-letting little girls dress as if they are big girls, in outfits even big girls shouldn't wear. You know exactly what I am talking about.
-letting any child have a TV in their room - especially if it has CABLE!!! Okay, I'll admit to be a 'grump' when it comes to TV's in rooms but I really, really don't like that but the # of parents who let their kids do it - with full cable??!! I have yet to hear a real argument in favor of this behavior so all I can think is lazy parents who refuse to say 'no'.
-same goes with computers - any computers, filters or not. Keep the rooms for sleeping.
There - now, I feel better.
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