Posts from — May 2008

At dinner the other night, Max started to choke. He was eating salad and it seemed that something had gone the wrong way. We watched him to make sure it wasn’t getting too serious and kept asking him if he was ok.

After he dislodged the piece of lettuce he had this to say;

“I’m ok. I couldn’t talk when that was happening because it blocked the voice (pointing at the lettuce)…. You can die from that.”

We let him know just how happy we all were that the lettuce that blocked his voice didn’t kill him.

Have a great day~

The last couple of days have been all about fun “kid” stuff! Sunday we were invited to visit with some friends on the bay and yesterday we went to Legoland. Some great friends gave us extra tickets that they had, so that we could enjoy the day. Whoo Hoo! Here are some pics of our fun-

Luke-Xavier, proudly, showed us the sand dollar he found at the bay.

Tristan “flying” at Legoland

Gabi and Max earning their drivers licenses

The kids all had a GREAT time getting SOAKED in their clothes. Here, Luke-Xavier is demonstrating the proper way to splash in a puddle.

Have a great day~

Sarcasm is a fact of daily life. We encounter it in movies, cartoons, jokes, casual conversation and in regular communication with almost all of the people we talk to. Our kids learn how to incorporate it in to their speech, thought and communication. But, little children look to us, as parents, to help them form their reactions and understanding of interpersonal communications. If we use sarcasm with our little kids, it undermines the process. I enjoy it as much as the next person but feel strongly that we need to give our kids straight-forward answers to their questions and to save the sarcasm for joking with friends or our older kids, who know all-to-well how to use it and understand it.

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There is a rec. center in our housing area that is set up for the community to use and enjoy. Unfortunately it is not managed very well and it has become a hang-out for kids from all over the area (not just in our housing). We have lived here for 8 years and for a solid 6 years, my kids have not been allowed at the rec. Now that summer is on it’s way and school is winding down, the kids are staying even later and starting to cause trouble.

Yesterday one of my daughters took a bike ride with a friend and on the way past the rec. they were taunted and harassed by several of the kids “hanging-out”. When they came home and told me of the issues; a skateboard being rolled in front of the bike, stuff being thrown at them and one kid dropping his pants, I put my shoes on and “marched” down there. Of course there weren’t any kids there when I showed up. DANG!

All of this brings me to wonder about the parents. Why are the kids hanging-out on a school day? Why doesn’t a parent pop by every now and then to see what their kids are doing and who they are doing it with? Perhaps they feel secure because we are in military housing and “nothing bad is going to happen here”. Whatever it is, it frustrates me!

My kids, while not perfect, are supervised. If I can know where my kids are and who they are with and limit their activities outside of the home on school days, WHILE my husband is deployed AND having more than 1 or 2 kids, then WHY can’t these other parents manage it?

I truly believe that they just don’t want to. They’ve decided that “kids will be kids” and instead of trying to keep them from causing trouble somewhere, they have thrown their hands up and decided that there are other things to worry about.

So, another summer of keeping my kids away from the neighborhood rec. center is in front of me.

Have a great day~