As I was in a waiting room this week I noticed how one mom got her son to “behave”. She was yelling at him. This boy was 2 and not being very unruly, just acting like a toddler. She had an infant with her as well and I feel she was maybe a bit overwhelmed. As she procedded to scream at him to get him to comply ( it didn’t work, only made him act out more) I had to wonder if this was the techinique maybe her parents used on her. Is this a common parenting practice? Should I have offered to help her? Do you ever yell at your kids to get them to behave?

My son turned 13 this past weekend. He’s excited. I’m having anxiety attacks for what’s to come. I broke down and got him a cellphone on our cellular family plan. My husband’s jealous because his phone has more bells and whistles. I explain to my husband, when we got our phones a while back, they were the latest trend. Technology is changing at a rapid pace.

Just the other day, an article in the newspaper had the text messaging codes: OMG and BFF. My husband and I thought we were so cool for knowing that OMG stood for “Oh My Gosh.” However, we were stumped with BFF. I jokingly said to my husband, I bet our 13 year-old would know what it means (he doesn’t have text message capabilities on his cellphone). However, he replied, “Best Friends Forever.” (Visual at the time: parents with stun faces on).

Boy, do we feel so outdated. I’m not looking forward to learning about “the Birds and the Bees” from him (SMILE!!).

This post is from Becky Kramer, a business reporter at The Spokesman-Review. I’m writing a story about declining teen participation in the workforce. I’d like to connect with some parents of teens to talk about the pros and cons of summer jobs. I’m hearing that fewer local teens are working, due to summer sports, AP assignments and family vacations. If you and your teen are willing to be interviewed, please contact me at (800) 344-6718, ext. 7122 or beckyk@spokesman.com

Do you ever just want to slap the crap out of your spouse? Okay, I am referring to the male gender. I tell my husband, “Dear, I’ve asked you to please not mow the bark area. You cut off my pretty plant.” What do I get in return? “It will grow back.” Ugh!

When we saw our toddler twins using too much toilet paper, we enforced a new rule that they place all toilet paper in the trash and do not flush the toilet. This way, we could make sure that not too much paper was flushed. Now that they are older and understand proper toilet paper disposal, we can’t seem to break the habit. The trash can is always full and they leave “surprises” in the potty.

What do you do when less than five years ago your dad was lifting 50 lb bales of hay, and now is calling you because he can’t get out of bed? Besides the obvious of seeking medical attention, how do you, as the son or daughter, handle watching your parents become less than they were and not what they want to be?

The full article is here: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/education/2007/06/09/2007-06-09_cash_is_cool_mike.html

Essentially, privately raised money will be used to motivate students to earn high grades, at a rate of $25 per high grade for 4th graders and $50 for 7th graders.

My question isn’t is this a good or morally “right” project, but rather, do you think this will be an effective, long term solution to changing the attitudes of students who are not interested/motivated to do well in K-12 school? I am afraid it will lead to more cheating. I’m also wondering why the money doesn’t go into individual scholarship accounts for higher level classes after high school graduation?

This summer it has been exceptionally hard to get my kids (age 9 and 5) to bed at a decent hour. Some nights they are up until 10:30 pm and that just isn’t good. It’s hard because it doesn’t get dark until 9 or later, we have baseball 2 nights a week until 7 or 7:30, my husband goes to work at 9pm so is running around getting amped for work and that doesn’t lend well to calming kids down and there is no way to get showers/baths for everyone done at a reasonable hour and of course everyone is tired and cranky come morning time. NONE OF US ARE MORNING PEOPLE, especially me =) How about everyone else? Having a hard time rounding kids to bed?