Too often, when they become adolescents, our children feel they must decide on what they want to be when they grow up. Adolescence is just too young for somebody to decide what they will do for a lifetime. Setting goals and self-imposing rules at such a young age can hinder a young person's growth more than help it.
Babies cry for all sorts of reasons. Hunger. Thirst. Discomfort. Sometimes just to exercise their lungs. When we brought my first-born home, he cried almost constantly.
When my children were young, I learned that sometimes you literally have to have a fire lit under you to appreciate how dear those close to you are. We moved to the country looking for a safer, less stressful life for ourselves and our two young children. Our rural Minnesota house sat well back from the road. There was ample room for Nicki, our three-year old, and Lance, our six year old, to play safely on the five acre plot of land that surrounded our house.
For many years, I was intimidated by doctors. I grew up thinking the doctor was always right. I have a crooked little finger that resulted from a doctor telling my mom it wasn't broken. It apparently was. It wasn't until I had children of my own that I learned the value of getting a second opinion when you have any question at all about your doctor's diagnosis or the treatment he or she may recommend.
We all want to provide for our children, to give them a better life than we had, no matter how rich or poor a background we come from. Yet, I think the best way to provide for our children is to prepare them to lead a rewarding life.
Punishment, either mental or physical beats up a person or brings them down. Discipline teaches self control. Parents weren't meant to bully their children with punishment. We are meant to teach our children to learn social norms and control themselves within those norms.
There's a rumor going around that ADHD is madeup by Monsanto and big pharma. It could not be further from the truth. If you have a child who tries to climb the walls, you know that ADHD is a real and horrible condition. Those scoffers, who think they have a cannon in the fight against big pharma and big chemical companies, are in the wrong part of the battlefield.
In Memory of Lance Paquette || September 5, 1975 - April 1, 1997
My sweet dark eyed boy tell me.
Where are you now?
It is through play that we nurture our imagination, creativity, and ingenuity. If you give a child the opportunity to play, along with the playfulness, he will carry those characteristics into his adult life.
I walked away from driving about two years ago. I’ve never really enjoyed driving. I have always been a nervous driver, afraid that I will zig when a zag is called for. Several near misses during my driving days amplified that fear. The problem may have started on a Sunday drive when I was a young teen.