"There is no way to be a perfect parent; but there are a million ways to be a really good one.
Letting go is the hardest thing you can do as a parent.
You have to settle with the past, engage in the present and believe in the future.
We're always learning as parents - and the bond is for ever.
Life is a voyage that's homeward bound."
Move - "Cheaper by the Dozen 2"
BETTER PARENTING - BE PREPARED: If you fail to plan and prepare, you ARE preparing and planning to fail. I love my four children! I would have liked to parent them better. This is some of what I wish I had been able to know thirty or forty years ago! I hope this helps my younger friends.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Teach your Children
"Teach them to self-protect.
Teach them about the dangers of strangers.
Teach them about the dangers of those they know, or know well.
Teach them about the "Uh Oh..." feeling.
Teach them what to do whenever they have an "Uh Oh..." feeling.
Teach them about not allowing themselves to be taken to a second location.
Teach them to develop and use a "buddy system."
Teach them to use their voice, their arms, their teeth, their legs.
Teach them that sometimes it is VERY OK to kick, bite, scream at, shout at, poke, scratch, stomp on, really hurt another person.
Teach them to fall on their bottom, kick their legs at the person and yell "Stranger danger 911" over and over whilst they twist and turn on their bottoms - keeping their attacker in front of them - kicking and yelling at the same time until help arrives.
Teach them to have a plan.
You develop a basic plan and work out a family plan with them.
Have current photos of each of your children.
Have finger prints of each of your children.
Give them a list of phone numbers to call for help.
Have their phone numbers.
Designate safe houses.
Discuss what to do.
Play "What if..." with your children regularly.
Revise your family plan periodically.
Teach them to listen and look.
You also listen to your children. Look at them. Notice them.
Connect regularly, daily with each of your children.
Teach them to set up their world for safety.
Safe viewing, safe listening, safe reading, safe places, safe entertainment.
Safe activities, safe groups.
Safe adults, safe friends, safe advisors.
Prepare your children without fear.
Prepare your children so that they live their life without fear.
- Dr Phil
"If ye are prepared, ye need not fear."
Teach them about the dangers of strangers.
Teach them about the dangers of those they know, or know well.
Teach them about the "Uh Oh..." feeling.
Teach them what to do whenever they have an "Uh Oh..." feeling.
Teach them about not allowing themselves to be taken to a second location.
Teach them to develop and use a "buddy system."
Teach them to use their voice, their arms, their teeth, their legs.
Teach them that sometimes it is VERY OK to kick, bite, scream at, shout at, poke, scratch, stomp on, really hurt another person.
Teach them to fall on their bottom, kick their legs at the person and yell "Stranger danger 911" over and over whilst they twist and turn on their bottoms - keeping their attacker in front of them - kicking and yelling at the same time until help arrives.
Teach them to have a plan.
You develop a basic plan and work out a family plan with them.
Have current photos of each of your children.
Have finger prints of each of your children.
Give them a list of phone numbers to call for help.
Have their phone numbers.
Designate safe houses.
Discuss what to do.
Play "What if..." with your children regularly.
Revise your family plan periodically.
Teach them to listen and look.
You also listen to your children. Look at them. Notice them.
Connect regularly, daily with each of your children.
Teach them to set up their world for safety.
Safe viewing, safe listening, safe reading, safe places, safe entertainment.
Safe activities, safe groups.
Safe adults, safe friends, safe advisors.
Prepare your children without fear.
Prepare your children so that they live their life without fear.
- Dr Phil
"If ye are prepared, ye need not fear."
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Teach Me...
"If you give me a fish, you have fed me for a day.
If you teach me to fish, then you have fed me until the river is contaminated or the shoreline seized for development.
But if you teach me to organize, then whatever the challenge, I can join together with my peers and we will fashion our own solution."
http://www.barefootguide.org/
If you teach me to fish, then you have fed me until the river is contaminated or the shoreline seized for development.
But if you teach me to organize, then whatever the challenge, I can join together with my peers and we will fashion our own solution."
http://www.barefootguide.org/
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
I Wonder...
"He has an unswerving ability to remain calm, ignore the chaos around him and give all his attention to the job at hand."
Max Pemberton about Mr Butterworth (surgeon)
I wonder if I will ever be able to be a parent like that?!
Max Pemberton about Mr Butterworth (surgeon)
I wonder if I will ever be able to be a parent like that?!
Monday, September 14, 2009
I'll Be Shopping With You
I heard a story today that found a warm place in my heart. I don’t know if it is true or not, but if it isn’t then it should be. It seems a mother was recently approached by her teenage daughter who asked for a new $160 piece of electronics equipment to replace her old one. Her old one by the way was only a year old and was working fine. The wise mom said she would think about it but first could her daughter help her with some errands that afternoon.
That afternoon the mother and daughter climbed into their car and headed for the local grocery store. Once there the mom went straight to the bulk food section and started loading food in the carts. Soon two shopping carts were overflowing with bags of generic rice, sacks of potatoes, boxes of ramen noodles, cases of canned vegetables, jars of peanut butter and jelly, and loaves upon loaves of bread. Without a word the mom headed straight for the checkout lines, paid for the food, and loaded up the car. The daughter was curious but said nothing.
The mom then drove in silence straight to a local food bank. Without a sound she started to carry in the groceries while her startled daughter helped. Soon both of them were filling up the empty shelves while the workers and needy families looked on. After a few seconds, however, both of them were showered with teary eyes, crushed with hugs, and thanked with more "God bless you’s" than the daughter had ever heard before. As they were driving home the mom finally smiled and handed her daughter the receipt for the groceries. The total was $162 and change. "That is what $160 is really worth", the mom said. "Now next week we can buy you that gadget you want or we can make another trip to shop for the food bank that helped keep us alive and together when you were just a baby. It’s up to you."
The daughter smiled and with tears in her eyes said, "I’ll be shopping with you, Mom!"
- Joseph J Mazzella
That afternoon the mother and daughter climbed into their car and headed for the local grocery store. Once there the mom went straight to the bulk food section and started loading food in the carts. Soon two shopping carts were overflowing with bags of generic rice, sacks of potatoes, boxes of ramen noodles, cases of canned vegetables, jars of peanut butter and jelly, and loaves upon loaves of bread. Without a word the mom headed straight for the checkout lines, paid for the food, and loaded up the car. The daughter was curious but said nothing.
The mom then drove in silence straight to a local food bank. Without a sound she started to carry in the groceries while her startled daughter helped. Soon both of them were filling up the empty shelves while the workers and needy families looked on. After a few seconds, however, both of them were showered with teary eyes, crushed with hugs, and thanked with more "God bless you’s" than the daughter had ever heard before. As they were driving home the mom finally smiled and handed her daughter the receipt for the groceries. The total was $162 and change. "That is what $160 is really worth", the mom said. "Now next week we can buy you that gadget you want or we can make another trip to shop for the food bank that helped keep us alive and together when you were just a baby. It’s up to you."
The daughter smiled and with tears in her eyes said, "I’ll be shopping with you, Mom!"
- Joseph J Mazzella
Monday, May 11, 2009
Kahlil Gibran - Children
And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children."
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
Previous chapter -- Next chapter back to The Prophet main page back to main page
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
Previous chapter -- Next chapter back to The Prophet main page back to main page
Thursday, May 7, 2009
How to Stay Young with your Children
1. Throw out non-essential numbers. This includes age, weight and
height. Let the doctor worry about them. That is why you pay
him/her.
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts,
gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. " An idle mind is the
devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only
person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves.
Be ALIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets,
keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your
refuge.
8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable,
improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don't take, or send others on, guilt trips.
Take a trip to the mall, to the next county, to a foreign country,
but NOT to where the guilt is.
10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every
opportunity.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the
moments that take our breath away.
- George Carlin
height. Let the doctor worry about them. That is why you pay
him/her.
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts,
gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. " An idle mind is the
devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only
person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves.
Be ALIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets,
keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your
refuge.
8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable,
improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don't take, or send others on, guilt trips.
Take a trip to the mall, to the next county, to a foreign country,
but NOT to where the guilt is.
10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every
opportunity.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the
moments that take our breath away.
- George Carlin
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