Back to School

It's that time again, kids are back in school.

I recently read where only 25% of young people enrolling in college are qualified to attend based on the education they have received up to now. Do you realize that means 75% are not educated well enough to qualify for college.

It is such a shame that our schools are failing our children. What that means is, that as parents we need to "supplement" their learning, and we need to start when they are very young.

We need to make learning interesting and fun and help them understand how important education is.
That is why I created coloring books about U. S. geography. There is a book about each of the 50 states. While the children are coloring the pictures they can  read important and fun things about that state. When I was a kid someone gave me the jigsaw puzzle of the states, and by putting the puzzle together, I learned each state and the capital. My books contain much more information than that.

There are so many ways to teach our children and at the same time be spending quality time with them.

I know I sound like a broken record, but being a parent is the most important position a person can have, and as parents we need to do more than just give birth to a child. We need to teach and nourish them.

We need to start when they are very young, like we teach them to feed themselves or put on their own shoes. You might be amazed how fast they learn at that tender age.

For example, when they are learning to put on their shoes, take the first one and say "one" then the second and say "two," then point to one of the shoes and say and one, and one are two. If you do things like that, as they advance in age they will advance in learning.
At the same time you will be building a bond with them.

All kids are different. I have two boys and I failed to "teach" them how to be organized. I myself am  very organized, and I guess I thought they would learn to follow my example, and I didn't actually "teach" them how to be organized. The result is one of them is very organized because of watching me and the other one is not at all organized. So unfortunately for the one I should have "taught" him how.

Because all children are different, we need to be more aware of each ones needs, that too is part of being a parent.

Enjoy teaching and sharing with them, because before you know it they will be grown.

color the United States: Kindness (of a sympathetic nature)

color the United States: Kindness (of a sympathetic nature): Often when we adults talk about teenagers, we roll our eyes and talk about how bad they are. I recently heard a news story that warmed my ...

Kindness (of a sympathetic nature)

Often when we adults talk about teenagers, we roll our eyes and talk about how bad they are.

I recently heard a news story that warmed my heart .

There were three teenage couples on their way to their school prom, when they witnessed an automobile accident where the car was rolled on its side with a family trapped inside.

Rather than asking the limo driver to go around the accident, they ask him to stop and they all ran over to help the family get out of the car safely.

Fortunately the family was not seriously hurt, and once the teens saw they were going to be ok, they got back in the limo and continued on to the Prom.

Imagine , here are six teenagers all dressed up for the prom and their attitude was not "let someone else help them, we're dressed up and don't want to get dirty" No, they put kindness and sympathy for that family first.

I take my hat off to those teens and to their parents for teaching them to be kind and to think of others.

Do you teach your children to be kind and think of others? And do you set an example for them by being kind yourself?

We need to teach our children kindness, and to help other from the time they are very small. And if we do they will always remember it and be better people as a result of it.

The world is so much better when we show kindness to each other, and especially if it starts at home.

Lets all be kinder than we need to be.

Influence ( The power or capacity to cause an effect)

We are influenced by everything around us, by our families, our friends, what we watch, read or listen to.

As parents we need to be a good influence on our children by setting a good example and teaching them good from bad.

My mother always said " charity begins at home ", and to that I add good influence begins at home.

Do you show love to each other, do you show an interest  and respect for each other ?

Do you really know each other ? Do you spend some time each day with your children? Do you
know who your children's friends are ? What their interests are ? Do you set an example for them to follow?

Do your children hear you swearing, using vulgar language ? Do you condone bad manners by having them yourself , and not teaching them good manners ?

Do you teach them to not cheat or steal or hurt others ?

When your children do something bad, do you tell them they are bad, or do you tell them what they did was bad ?  If you tell them they are bad often enough and long enough, they will believe you and start to be bad because you are telling them they are. Children need to know the difference between being  and doing  bad.

When I was a little girl and would do something bad, my mother would tell me that doing bad things makes you look ugly. She knew all little girls like to be pretty and would rather do good things so they would look pretty. And boys like to be strong, so she would say," it's easy to be bad, but you show how strong you are if you are good, not bad".

Home is where all good things should begin. If our children are taught to be good at home, when they are away from home that good influence will help them be good then too.

Of course we as parents should show our children how to be good by being good ourselves.

Being a good parent is the most important job in the world. Teaching our children to be good, and showing them by our example will be the best influence we can give them.

Desensitized to Violence

Perhaps you saw the news where a couple of teenage boys stopped a woman who was taking her baby for a walk in it's stroller and ask her for money, when she told them she had no money they shot her in the leg and put the gun to her babies head and shot and killed it.

WHY? Have we become so desensitized to violence that we can kill innocent people, even little babies ? 

What has happened to our society that a person can even think of doing such a thing ?

I believe there are a lot of reasons. One of course is all the violence we see in the movies, television, electronic games etc. Even violence in some of our own homes toward each other. 

We see so much of it that we have become accustomed to seeing violence and some seem to think, that's just the way it is.

I believe the " acceptance " of violence starts with lack of parental guidance. Children need to be taught at a very early age to respect life and property. They need to be taught that it is not acceptable to hurt others or take or damage their property.

Teaching is easy if we take advantage of the opportunities. For example, if you see a small child pull it's dogs tail or pick up a pet and throw it, teach them right then by saying no, you will hurt the puppy ( or what ever it is ). Tell them it's not nice to hurt things and ask them if they like to be hurt, if they say they don't like to be hurt then tell them they shouldn't hurt others, even a puppy or kitty. 

Unfortunately, too many parents are not teaching their children,( perhaps because they don't know how to) instead they are letting the media do that job, and we can see that the media has not done a good job of teaching good things.

I hear people say" Oh that's just the way it is now " Well it doesn't have to be, if we will treat others the way we want to be treated and teach our children to do the same it will be a better world to live in.

When we first started hearing curse words in movies and television we were shocked by it, now it is common to hear curse words and because we are so accustomed to hearing them we have accepted them as OK or normal.

Violence is the same way, we are seeing so much of it some are beginning to accept it as normal. Well it is not normal for humans to violent toward each other, and we must start teaching our children by word and example that it is not acceptable.

If we let our children watch violence and don't tell them it is wrong, how are they supposed to know it is not acceptable to hurt or kill someone ?

Parents and need to take the responsibility of monitoring what their children watch and who they associate with. If what your child is watching or if who they associate with is not a good influence, then the parents need to restrict that association.

We can make it less violent and a better place to live if we do our part to sensitize our children to bad things, teaching them bad things are wrong and set a good example for them to follow from the time they a very small.

color the United States: Conversation ( informal talking)

color the United States: Conversation ( informal talking): I like the modern means of communication we have, cell phones, texting, e-mail, Face book, Twitter etc. But I am concerned that our " ...

Conversation ( informal talking)

I like the modern means of communication we have, cell phones, texting, e-mail, Face book, Twitter etc.
But I am concerned that our " verbal " skills may be being lost. It is  so nice to just be together "physically" with family or friends and "visit". Talking about our days activities, work, school, someone we saw, our favorite food, favorite (or not) movie or TV show, something we read in a magazine or paper, music, books, news about family or friends, places we've been or would like to go or our hobbies or one we would like to learn.

I recently had my grandson John tell me he had been over to one of his friends house and they just
" hung out", no big deal, they just "visited", no planned thing, and how much he had enjoyed it.

It seems these days most things have to be "planned" or made into a "big deal". I'm not sure where that came from, but the everyday insignificant things make life pleasant and certainly less stressful.

When we go out to eat and I see families or friends sitting at a table together and they are all using their electronic devices instead of talking to each other I think why do they even bother being together, they may be physically sitting together  but they are not " connected". I wonder why they don't put those devices away and make an effort to "be together" and verbally talk to each other. It is nice to see people's facial expressions and hear the fluctuations in their voices.

Conversation, is a very important part of our social structure and a pleasant way to stay connected to each other, we should try to practice it more.

Being a Parent

You may wonder why I am writing about being a parent. I will tell you why, recently I say a news article showing a woman with several children, and she made the statement " someone has to be responsible for these children". Of course as a mother , I thought " they are YOUR children,therefore
YOUR responsibility". I am not hard hearted, the woman obviously needed help, BUT she needed HELP, NOT for someone else to be responsible for her children.

Being a parent is the single most important responsibility a person can have.

Think about it, a new baby has the most incredible "computer" inside it's little head ready to be programmed.

What we put into that little "computer" or brain will determine to a large extent what that baby will grow up to be as an adult. Big responsibility huh?!!

As I have said before I don't think a baby is ever "too young" to start learning. The first thing they should learn is love. They learn that by the way we talk to them ( the tone of voice we use), how hold them, feed them, bath them and take care of them.

I always say think of how you want to be treated if you were basically helpless and had to depend on someone to take care of you, because that's what a new born is.

Children have an inborn need to learn. They need guidelines, direction, and boundries. And they learn these things by being taught by word and example.

We advance our teaching as they grow, first we teach them the basics of how to feed themselves, how to talk, walk etc. As they grow we teach them manners, morals and resoponsibilities.

If you are a young person and think you would like to have a baby. before you let yourself get pregnant really think about the responsibility a baby is, because as the parent it is YOUR responsibility and a long term commitment.

If you are really young, say a teen, take the time to enjoy your time as a teen and young adult and when you feel you are ready to "sacrifice" things you want to do in exchange for the full time job  and joy of being a parent. Only when you are ready to make a long term commitment should you think about having a baby.

Being a parent is one of the most rewarding but sometimes difficult endeavors you will ever under take.

Because it is such an impportant responsibility, be sure you are ready to be a parent and commit to that vocation.

Manners in a minute !

The other day A young woman and I were waiting at an elevator for the door to open, when the door opened she said to someone behind me " hurry it's here". All of a sudden a little boy probably about 4 years came running right in front of me ( cutting me off ). The mother scolded the boy and "said you could have made that lady fall, tell her you are sorry", which he did.

I thanked him for his nice manners and said " you are very lucky that your mommy is teaching you nice manners. He looked shy but the mother beamed with pride.

My point in telling you this is that it only takes a minute to teach a child manners, all you have to do is take advantage of an opportunity, and use it as a teaching time, that way you are not "harping" at them but they learn.

Another example might be if you are having a meal together as a family whether at home or in a restaurant and your child/children are on their cell, texting or playing a game, it is a good time to ask them to wait until you have all finished your meal, explaining that you would like meal time to be a "family" time. You could even make it a rule that there be no electronic devices at the table when it's meal time, ( very few things are so important that they can't wait until after a meal).

Good manners may not " change the world" but it sure makes it a more pleasant place to live.
And remember the younger you start to teach them the more it will become part of their way of life.