May 16th, 2008
I’ve found myself in somewhat an uncomfortable situation and the recent news of the MySpace suicide case has me feeling all the more uncomfortable.
The girl one of my boys was “going out with” broke up with him recently. Apparently she’s fallen in love with a boy she met on MySpace. A boy she’s only emailed, Instant Messaged and text messaged. She claims she felt pressured by this MySpace Romeo to break up with my son and go out with him (whether or not that’s true, I don’t know).
I explained to my son that I want him to stay away from that situation because there’s nothing to say the kid she’s in love with isn’t some 50-year-old perv or even a 48-year-old woman as seen in the suicide case.
I’ve really been torn on whether or not I should point out the concern to the girls parents or should I mind my own business?
I keep telling myself that it takes a village to raise a child and that I need to be the responsible villager and tell. But then my son says if I talk I could ruin his life in school - no one will want to hang out with him because of his big mouthed mom.
Should I observe from afar and if it gets more serious step in?
I hope and pray this girl isn’t as fragile as Megan Meier and that some way, some how - this whole issue will resolve on it’s own.
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By Gayla McCord -- 6 comments
May 16th, 2008
Miley Cyrus may join the ranks of famous women who have posed for Playboy. The offer is already out there, sort of. If the old as dirt 82-year old publisher Hugh Hefner gets his way. Reports are all a flutter that the publishing tycoon is offering the 15 year-old a position right in center of his magazine. Cyrus has not yet commented on the offer, but she will have to wait until she is 18 before she can legally pose.
After the controversy that surrounded recent racy photos of Miley, I’d have to say that sexing Miley up isn’t exactly a good thing at this point.
I think Hef would have been best to decline comment because, well, he’s already and old perv anyway and should stick to actual women of legal age.
Miley Cyrus has been built on the love and devotion of tweens around the globe. What’s wrong with sticking to that audience and keeping the sex out?
I am just baffled at how they are trying to take this FIFTEEN year old girl and turn her into some sex pot.
What do you think? Is Hugh Hefner crossing the line by making such comments or verbal offers to 15-year-olds or was it just Hugh being Hugh?
(image: newscom)
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By Gayla McCord -- 5 comments
May 16th, 2008
Are you the type of person who likes to tackle household tasks on your own? Do you cringe at the thought of having to hire paid help to change an air filter or unclog a pipe? My husband sure does. He will try to do just about any fix it job, whether he has experience in dealing with it, or not. Sometimes it ends up costing us more in the long run, after the cost of redoing the job several times, until it is just right (he’s a perfectionist.) He has, however, done some amazing things around the house, all by his own sweat and blood (and yes, there has been blood.) When I showed my husband Collin De Ruyck’s “Tool Belt Tips” blog, he almost fell out of his chair. “There are blogs about do it yourself-ing?” He was amazed. I’ve caught him reading Collin’s blog on several occasions and muttering “Yup” and “Ohhhh,” under his breath. It is the first thing I’ve ever seen him regularly read online, besides the NBA stats. When I found out that Collin’s blog was only a few doors down from this one, I got excited because it meant that I would get to interview him for my Three Doors Down project. Here is the interview that I conducted on Collin and his “do it yourself-ing”:
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Tags: do it yourself, home, interview, repair, toolsShare This
By kadi -- 1 comment
May 15th, 2008
Hmmm…I feel like stirring the embers of debate. Let’s talk about the lift on California’s ban on gay marriage. How will this affect the rest of the country? Do you think it will start a wave of ban lifts? For those of you who live in the Bible belt, what is the general consensus there?
How will this affect parenting and the attitude towards children of same sex marriages, in California? Even with the desegregation of the US, it took a long time for attitudes to change. Some have yet to ditch their racist views. Will same sex marriage follow suit? How long do you think it will take for the whole United States to acknowledge same sex unions?
Let’s discuss!
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By kadi -- 37 comments
May 14th, 2008
For any Supernanny fans, Jo is on her website RIGHT NOW…chatting with everyone. It will only last 30 more minutes, so hurry on over there! www.jofrost.com
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By kadi -- 0 comments
May 14th, 2008
When a child commits a misdemeanor in your home, do you resort to using the same punishment every time, or do you tailor it to fit the crime? Do you skip the “punishment” in favor of a lecture lesson?
My son made the mistake of writing on the wall, yesterday. It was pretty obvious who did it. Yet, the guilty party was reluctant to admit his guilt. After he confessed, his dad and I convened in the bedroom to choose the appropriate sentence. In this case, it was the chore of washing walls and a talk about the importance of truth. We try to stop and consider our options and the nature of the crime, before selecting an appropriate corrective action. It doesn’t always happen that way, of course, but we do try. I think after ten minutes and two very achy arms, my son had learned his lesson. Only time will tell, but I don’t think he will soon forget how boring it was to scrub walls while his siblings were outside playing football.
Does the range of disciplinary action change as your kids enter the teen years? I’m just asking because we haven’t reached puberty in our house yet, and I’d like to be as prepared as possible. Gayla seemed to do the right thing, in the case of the overzealous text messaging teens. I would have done the same. My husband would have taken the phones and smashed them with a sledge hammer, not as a lesson, but out of sheer anger. It would have cost us in the long run, when we had to buy new phones, but it is his natural reaction to stuff like that. I can’t tell you how many toys have been broken and thrown away, as the result of a fight over possession!
Since we don’t have the money to buy new phones every time the bill comes, I’m thinking that we need to devise a plan ahead of time. Sound off on your preffered methods of corrective action (aka punishment) in the comment section.
Tags: behavior, children, crime, discipline, Parenting, punishment, TeensShare This
By kadi -- 2 comments
May 13th, 2008
The teen boys in love drama keeps getting deeper. So deep in fact that MySpace accounts had to be deleted and to be honest, I’m not sure they’ll be getting those back any time soon.
Also seized are three cell phones.
Life around here has gotten far more boring - but so much more productive!
Yesterday was the day the cell phone bill arrived in the mail. It wasn’t the total amount of the bill that threw me into a state of shock - it was the number of text messages that pushed me over the edge.
As a fun dinner table activity, I gave each son a piece of paper with a number at the top of the page, a pencil and a calculator.
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By Gayla McCord -- 68 comments
May 13th, 2008
…to express what I feel, as I read news articles on the quake in China. Surveying the images of helpless people, searching for loved ones and buildings reduced to rubble, leaves me nearly speechless.
I cannot even start to imagine how the parents of the missing and dead children must be feeling. How would it feel to know that your child is trapped, possibly still alive, under the ruins of a school house? How excrutiating must it be, to not be allowed access to those ruins, in order to search for your child? Parents are standing by, looking on in desperate hope for their child to be pulled out from the rubble, still alive. Sadly, most of the bodies pulled out, are lifeless. My heart hurts for those people. I don’t care if you are a Communist or not, nobody deserves to suffer like the people of China are. Mother Nature can be so cruel, at times.
Even though we are not able to be physically present, there are still things that we can do to help. I will be praying for the people of China. I’m sure that the Red Crosswill be taking donations, on behalf of China. I implore you all to find a way in which you can help, even if it is just keeping those grief stricken people in your prayers.
Photos: (Aly Song/Reuters; Getty Images)
Tags: children, China, death, Disaster, earthquake, injury, ParentsShare This
By kadi -- 0 comments
May 12th, 2008
God knows I try to have my serious moments once in a while. Those priceless moments where I pay tribute to what wonderful kids I have, but when I have a doggie laying next to me with the worst case of gas EVER, it’s difficult to be sentimental. In fact, it’s taking everything I have to keep from running to the restroom with the worst case of heaves ever.
Kadi did such a wonderful job of putting her Mother’s Day into a photo journal and as much as I wish I had a day filled with family, love, spoiling and pictures to prove it - the fact is, I have nothing fancy, no pictures, but ahhh what a day.
Everyone tiptoed around the house and let me stay in bed until noon!
We had yummy hamburgers on the grill and hubby cooked them just the way *I* like them, not his way. I like mine just under charcoal briquette!
The kids gathered a basket of fresh veggies from the garden. We have some cold weather items coming on already. Green onions were such a treat yesterday.
It was rainy, gloomy and cold most of the day - but it sure made for the perfect day to stay indoors and force my family of men (or men wannabe’s) to watch a movie I want to watch. I chose Over Her Dead Body. I love that movie, but that’s another post for another time.
The evening ended on a familiar note with my husband and I watching on as the children delete their MySpace profiles and hand over their cell phones. Just wait until you read about that!
Ahh, the joys of motherhood.
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By Gayla McCord -- 2 comments
May 12th, 2008
As authors of Guerrilla Parenting (and mommies too,) Gayla and I have been labeled as many things. We have been called tough, unfair, judgmental, harsh, just to name a few. We make our “hard core” opinions on child rearing and discipline, known to all who read Guerrilla Parenting. Sometimes, it costs us readers. Sometimes it offends people. No matter what we are seen as, however, we are still mothers with the common goal of trying to raise happy, healthy children. That is an undeniable fact. Yes, we can be tough in our methods. Yes, we are judgmental. It is part of our job, here at GP. It is what sets us aside from some moms, but also what gives a commonality to others. No matter what brand of parenting you subscribe to, every mom deserves to be honored on Mother’s Day. I hope that you all had a wonderful day with your family and that you were made to feel like the special creature that you are. I know I was. Here is my photo journal of my own Mother’s Day. It is proof that even tough mommies are loved and respected by their children.
Tags: discipline, Mother's Day, mothers, Parenting, relationshipsShare This
By kadi -- 1 comment
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