Mom vs. Dad: Navigating Parenting Differences With All Good Intentions
January 31, 2010
Let’s face it: raising children can be quite the adventure. Rewarding at one turn, challenging at the next ? it’s the ultimate roller-coaster for the parenting thrill seeker. In the Game of Life, you rolled the dice and accepted the role of co-parent. While the rules seem deceptively simple, (raise child into healthy adult), the game is often complicated by differences in parenting styles between partners. It’s these differences, if unresolved, that can abandon you in the land of defeat and leave you feeling overwhelmed and discouraged, with "game over" flashing on your internal video screen.
Bridging a significant difference in parenting styles is one of the most difficult aspects of building a family. Parenting is the substantial task of balancing your beliefs and values (about child development, love, tradition and discipline) with your childhood experiences, in order to nurture healthy and secure children. Add a co-parent to the equation ? with their own beliefs, values and experiences - and suddenly, the balancing act becomes more complex.
Here Is One Time Students Would Welcome an Audit
January 30, 2010
Here Is One Time Students Would Welcome an Audit
by: Robert Crawford III
If you are a college student approaching graduation you not only need an audit but you should inquire about an official audit of your classes from your academic department. This audit may not be necessitated by someone who has just completed a tax form, but it is critical for a student who is considered to be at a junior or senior status in college. The official audit can be completed by your campus Registrar’s Office, Academic Advisor or your Academic Department. These audits are generally advised for incoming freshmen to insure they remain on track and up to graduation, but they are crucial for juniors and senior students who are approaching graduation. The request for this audit will provide vital information and allows several key factors conducive to completing your college degree. The audit
1. Insures that the major or minor selection you have chosen is correct and corresponds with the curriculum guide of the catalog year you enrolled in college.
2. Allows the student to distinguish all courses taken including previous grades and transfer grade information that is applicable to the declaration of major.
Americas Public schools — Deteriorating Like They Did In Ancient Rome
January 29, 2010
The citizens of the early Roman Republic enjoyed an education system similar to ancient Athens. It was voluntary and parents paid tutors or schools directly. There was very little government interference, so a vibrant education free market of tutors, schools, and apprenticeships developed.
One aspect of Roman society that compromised their education system was that Roman parents wanted their children to learn knowledge that only Greek teachers could provide. However, most Greeks in Rome at the time were slaves.
As a result, the Greek teachers could not personally or financially benefit by their work. Often their morale was low and they were subject to harsh discipline. Unlike the free teachers in ancient Athens, Greek slave-teachers in Rome had little incentive to innovate or continually improve their skills. As a result, the quality of education stagnated.
Also, a majority of the Roman population was slaves, both from Greece and other areas Rome had conquered. Naturally, these slaves had no rights and no control over their children’s education.
Baby Shower Decorations
January 29, 2010
When decoration for a baby shower, there are a few key aspects that should be considered:
1) Will your baby shower adhere to a theme?
Visit our baby shower theme for ideas about selecting a theme. If you are using a theme, then it is good to be consistent. People are most often impressed when decorating follows a selected theme. However, note that it doesn’t have to be as specific as just rubber ducks. You can use baby items as a general theme and mix it up if desired.
2) Plates, cups and napkins.
If you are serving food, like most baby showers do, then baby themed tableware is often appropriate. If possible, try to make sure that the plates, cups, and napkins all match. Some places also have baby themed table cloths that are great for showers.
3) Confetti, banners, and streamers
The most common banners and streamers are “It’s a Boy or Girl” streamers and can be attached around the walls. These decorations are usually very affordable and an easy way to decorate. Confetti can come in shapes like rocking horses, ducks, or bears. It usually takes more time to clean up confetti, but it may be worth it for some parties.
Now, They?re Bullying My Daughter in Our Home: Welcome to Cyber-bullying
January 28, 2010
Last night Tom’s daughter, Sue, came out of her room to see her dad and said, "I got another one of those instant messages. It says, ‘tomorrow you had better not show up at school or else’." She has been getting messages like this now for weeks. The result of this is that she no longer likes to turn her computer on.
Sue is now 14 years-old and in the 8th grade. She has been bullied at school for a number of years and they have had a difficult time getting the Principal and teachers to put a stop to it. Sue has two disadvantages that make her a target. First, she has always had a weight problem, not extremely heavy but just a little over weight. Second, her last name is hard to pronounce. This has led to numerous ways to say and spell her name. They have been very creative and cruel. Tom is aware that she needs to lose about 20 pounds but what can he do about his name, change it?
This should come as no surprise to anyone, but as technology changes we all adjust; unfortunately, so do the bullies. Bullying has gone wireless. These are situations our children face that we never did.
Drugs and Violence In Public Schools
January 27, 2010
Many public schools not only fail to educate our children, they can also be dangerous places. These schools are a natural breeding ground for drugs and violence. Children are packed into classrooms with twenty or more other immature children or teenagers, all the same age. Here, peer pressure becomes socialization, pushing many children into using drugs and alcohol.
Put twenty teenagers in the same room, or hundreds of teenagers in the same school, and you have a breeding ground for violence. Young boys and girls have raging hormones and budding sexuality, and male teenage testosterone levels are high. Teenagers are in the half-child, half-adult stage of life and often lack judgment and are emotionally immature.
Pack these teenagers together into cramped little classrooms, six to eight hours a day, and you have a mixture that can lead to trouble. It’s inevitable that violence will break out-it’s built into the system.
Also, even the most conscientious teacher is usually too busy and overworked to give children the individual attention they need. Critics of home-schooling often say that home-schoolers don’t get proper socialization. However, so-called socialization in public schools is often cruel and violent. Bullying, peer pressure, racial cliques, sexual tensions, and competition for the teacher’s approval all create a stressful, sometimes violent environment.
Are Public Schools Anti-Parent?
January 26, 2010
Some public schools try to turn children against their parents with scary classroom stories or lessons about child abuse. Public school authorities have increasingly decided that they are children’s first line of defense against child abuse. This new attitude falls under what is now known as “protective behavior curriculum.”
The assumptions behind this curriculum are that every child needs to be warned about and prepared for possible dangers of verbal, physical, and sexual abuse because allegedly every child is a potential victim, not only of strangers but of his or her own family.
Increasingly, school authorities instruct teachers to ask children questions about their parents’ behavior and actions toward them at home. The questions amount to asking kids to spy on their parents and report incidents that make them feel "uncomfortable." Some school authorities use such tales by children to investigate or file charges of child abuse against parents who often did no more than yell at their children or spank them lightly.
In effect, to allegedly protect children, some school authorities now consider all parents as potential abusers, use children to invade parents’ privacy, or make kids afraid of their parents. Often, children are disturbed and emotionally traumatized by the insinuations school authorities put into their heads.
Grandparents — Homeschool Your Grandchildren and Feel Younger
January 25, 2010
Grandparents, what better way to stay close to your grown children than to advise them about important issues like the dangers of public schools for your grandchildren? What better way to feel younger if you offer to help homeschool your grandchildren?
When your children grow up and get careers of their own, that doesn’t mean you have to be lonely in a big, empty house and lose contact with your kids. Helping to homeschool your grandchildren can be a wonderful way for you to stay in close and loving contact with your grown children and grandchildren. You can be a loving part of the family again.
If you read “Public Schools, Public Menace,” tell your grown children about how your grandkids are in real danger by going to public schools. Don’t let your grandchildren’s mind’s, self-confidence, and love of learning go to waste in public schools. Give your grown children the book to read. Even better, then offer to help watch the grandkids and homeschool them if your grown children and their spouses work. Who better to help your children and adorable grandchildren than you? Doing so could make your retirement years the happiest years of your life.
Baby Signing ? 10 Easy Ways to Start Signing with Your Baby
January 24, 2010
Babies can communicate their needs and desires a lot earlier than we think. They have an instinctive need to communicate. Baby signing is a pre-verbal form of communication. Babies can control their movements much earlier than mastering speech and can express all sorts of emotions, desires and wants with their hands! Baby sign language is key to learning how to interpret what your baby is telling you, eliminate the guesswork and to bond and enjoy life with your baby.
Imagine your baby being able to tell you they’re thirsty or hungry. Or that they’d like to read a book or tell you that they’ve just seen a bird in the garden. Or for you to be able to guide them on safety using signs like ‘hot’ or ’stop’. All this is possible by talking to your baby and using appropriate baby signs. There are so many new experiences for your baby every day ? new sights, new sounds, new objects, new people. And so much to talk about!
Scientific studies show baby sign language to be effective and beneficial for hearing babies in amazing ways. Research shows that signing babies had larger vocabularies, learned to talk earlier, showed less frustration, had more self-confidence, understood more words and scored higher in intelligence tests than non-signing babies
Homeschooling Takes Your Child Out of Public School — A Unique Benefit
January 24, 2010
Home-schooling removes children from public school. That alone makes home-schooling worthwhile. Unlike public-school children, home-schooled kids are not prisoners of a system that can wreck their self-esteem, ability to read, and love of learning.
Home-schooled kids don’t have to read dumb-downed text-books, study subjects they hate, or endure meaningless classes six to eight hours a day. Home-schooled kids won’t be subject to drugs, bullies, violence, or peer pressure, as they are in public schools. Home-schooled children who are "different" in any way won’t have to endure cruel jokes and taunts from other children in their classes.
Slow-learning or "special-needs" children won’t be humiliated by their peers if they are put in regular classes, or further humiliated if the teacher puts them in so-called spe-cial-education classes. Faster-learning home-schooled kids won’t have to sit through mind-numbing classes that are geared to the slowest-learning students in a class. They won’t have to "learn" in cooperative groups where other kids in the group do nothing or are not cooperative. Home-schooled children do not have to waste their time memorizing meaningless facts about subjects that bore them, just so they can pass the next dumbed-down test to obey and please school authorities.
