Teaching Kids Right From Wrong

Oy.....

It's tough. Being a parent, that is. I mean, we are responsible for making sure our kids know right from wrong. Not only that, but we are supposed to make sure they make the right decision. Knowing right from wrong is one thing. Actually making the decision to do the right thing is another.

For instance:

A child joins an athletic team. Said joining costs about $100 when all the physicals and fees are paid. Child goes to practice a couple of times and one actual game. The next day, child decides he doesn't want to do it anymore, and blames the reason on a medical condition he has.

What do you do?

A) Let the child quit because known medical condition is no laughing matter and if it's interfering with his performance, he should quit. Of course, parents did see child practicing and participating just fine with no adverse effects at all previous to this decision to quit. Maybe child just doesn't like it.

B) Make the child continue playing to instill the "Don't be a quitter" attitude for later use in life. Besides the cost to the parents, the team is counting on said child, right? One of the problems with today's youth is they have no morals. Here's a perfect opportunity to teach some.

Decisions, decisions. What would you do?

A Lesson Not Soon Forgotten

This young man is being taught a lesson he hopefully won't soon forget.

Read the sign closely:

Mama ain't playin!

We need more parents like this! If more parents took this approach to teaching their children, we wouldn't have so many children running around in gangs, doing drugs, and getting into trouble. You Go Mom!

Do All Children Fight?

Oh. my. God! I'm telling you what. If these kids of mine don't find a way to get along, I'm going to go crazy!

All day long, every single day, they argue. They fight. They pick. They whine. I haven't heard one nice word between the three of them in......

I can't remember the last time. As a matter of fact, they go out of their way to be mean to each other. It's unbelievable.

I'm at my wits end. I don't know what to do. I know Mike and I have not raised them this way, and I don't know where it comes from.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears. If I knew they wouldn't kill each other, I'd lock them all in a room until they all got along. Is that legal? Can I do that? Is that considered child abuse? I mean, I'd still feed them.

Oh, I can't wait for school to start again.

When Children Get a Mind of Their Own

I'm telling you, I'm having a really hard time with Tristan growing up. The girlfriend thing, the driving thing, the job thing, the talking about going away to college thing, it's all not setting well with me at all.

The thought of him out there on his own makes me very sad, and scares the hell out of me. He's my first born, but yet, he's my baby.

Right now, he has his girlfriend over. I hate, absolutely hate, seeing them snuggled up on the couch, all giggly. He's too young for that, right? I mean, I know what I was doing at sixteen, and if he's doing anything remotely close to anything like that, he's in deep doo-doo! He's too young, I tell you!

I'm not naive. I know what teenagers do. I just don't want to think about it. He's a good kid, with a good head on his shoulders. I trust (because that's what keeps me sane) that he's doing the right thing.

I want so much for him, yet I want to keep him close to me forever. I want to protect him from everything. I want him to be a baby again. I want to relive those younger years when he needed me. When I was his world, and thoughts of him leaving never entered my head. My biggest worry was if he was catching a cold or not. Life was so much easier then.

He doesn't need me so much anymore. Unless he needs money, that is. It hurts. I'm proud of his independence and his popularity. He has tons of friends. Everyone likes him. He has the teenage years I wished I had had. But I miss him.

I know I'm not the only mother to have these feelings. I know there are others who have lived through these feelings and come out the other side as proud mothers. Proud mothers of children who have done well with their lives. I know I'll be one of those mothers some day. I want to be one of those mothers someday.

Another scary thought. There's two more behind him to eventually put me through these feelings again.

Last Week of School

When they are newborn, you spend each and every night in the rocking chair. Rocking and sleeping, rocking and sleeping. Knowing that if you stop, they will wake up crying and any thought of sleep goes right out the window.

Do they appreciate it?

No, they do not.

As they get older you kiss every boo-boo, check under their beds and in their closets for monsters before bedtime, and fill their curious minds with knowledge.

Do they appreciate it?

No, they do not.

You spend every waking hour worrying about them. You go without just so they have everything they need and want. You lose sleep when they are out late, not daring to go to bed before they return. You won't sleep until you know they are safe anyway.

Do they even realize the sacrifice?

No, they do not.

They speak to you with total disrespect quite often, and with love once in a while. You hold on to those few moments tightly, bringing them to mind when they are testing your patience. You don't take their attitude to heart, knowing that they do love you.

Do they appreciate your patience?

No, they do not.

They are children. This is how children are. They are selfish creatures that eventually grow out of their self-centeredness and become respectable human beings. I know this to be true for I was once a child myself.

Will I survive the summer with my kids home?

Goodness, I hope so.

Update on the Children

There's always something going on with three kids in the house. Some drama, some emergency, some thing that needs attending to.

Today, Rebecca has her appointment with the neurologist. Since her MRI turned out OK (thank goodness!), we need the neurologist to try to make some sense of just what is going on in her eyes. Like I said before, she may have to have a spinal tap to determine whether she has Papillodema or not. I'm hoping this will be the last specialist we have to go to. I'm hoping he can tell us what is wrong with our little girl.

Timothy is home from school sick today. Not sure what is going on with him. It could be a cold, but I'm almost willing to bet it's his allergies and asthma. He's coughing, stuffy, and actually using his inhaler, which he hasn't used in months. It's that time of year again, and I was ready for it. He's just feeling all around yucky, so I let him stay home. The only problem is that he has baseball practice tonight, and it's killing him to think he might not make it tonight. We shall see.

Tristan is doing great. He can't wait for May 1st when he can go for his driver's license. His pole vaulting on the track team is going well, too. It's his first year on the team, and they are quite impressed with his pole vaulting capabilities. He's vaulting a good 8 to 8 1/2 feet, and they see a lot of potential in him to do more. I haven't actually seen him in action yet, but we will this coming Tuesday. I can't wait!

Ready For Summer Vacation

I'm tellin' you what. With three kids, and them all needing to be in different places at the same time, and being gone every night of the week is starting to wear thin.

I'm not joking either. If it isn't Tristan needing to be at Track practice or a Track meet, or Timothy needing to be at Wrestling practice, or Rebecca needing to be at Literacy night, it's a doctor's appointment, or some other school function. I guess I wasn't thinking ahead when we decided to have children. I knew they were a lot of work, but I am just so tired of running.

Tonight was track practice. Tomorrow is baseball practice. Thursday is Literacy night. Friday.....I don't know yet what Friday holds, but I'm sure there's something. I just can't think of it right now.

What's Wrong With Our Children?

I'm going to start my blog off with a topic that really angers and saddens me at the same time. The situation with today's youth. How in the world did it come to a point where an upset child picks up a gun and kills? I just heard about the shooting on a school bus in Florida yesterday. This is just one in the many stories over the last few years. Where are these children's parents? What did they do or NOT do?

My opinion in this matter is it starts with the parents. Or better yet, it starts with society. You can't even look at your kids cross-eyed nowadays without someone turning you in for child abuse. If some stranger doesn't turn you in, you can bet your smart teenager will call the authorities and have you arrested! I'm not a supporter of beating children, but I'm here to tell you, I was spanked as a kid.....a lot. I don't hold a grudge against my parents. I'm not emotionally scarred for life because of it. I turned out to be a pretty good person, who is responsible for their own actions, has respect for authority, and believes in working hard for what I have and want. I believe that the discipline my parents handed down, coupled with their love, molded me into the person that I am today.

You can love your children more than anything in the world. You can give them everything they ask for. You can try to be their friend. All of this is great, but if you're not disciplining your children when they do wrong, you aren't teaching them how to be responsible, respectful people. You aren't teaching them that there are consequences for their actions, or how to deal with their anger. These are the children that are bringing guns to school. These are the children that are committing suicide because they don't KNOW how to handle it any other way!

Society today says it wrong to spank your children because it teaches them to be aggressive. Society today says you shouldn't raise your voice to your children for it might scar them emotionally. That's crap! Kids aren't stupid. They know they can literally get away with murder because no one can physically make them do anything. Teenagers are running wild, doing drugs, staying out until they see fit to come home, carrying guns, and having sex. And you know why? BECAUSE THEY CAN! There's nothing stopping them from doing anything they want to do. Teachers can't stop them. Parents can't stop them. The only thing that stops them is if they turn the gun on themselves or if they finally get arrested for doing something stupid.

I tell ya, I'm scared to death to send my kids to school. I don't know that they are going to come home at the end of the day. Which school will be next? Which child will decide he's been wronged in some way and take it out on other innocent students?

I'd give just about anything to go back to the "old" days. It wasn't that long ago when children were children. They played outside with the neighbors. They rode bikes and played baseball. Kids were relatively behaved and respected their elders. School was important, and kids knew that. They did their chores to earn their allowances. Things weren't just handed to them because they demanded it. Kids didn't kill kids back then. The occasional fist fight, maybe. But, there were no guns involved. It wasn't that long ago.....