Earnest Parenting

Lessons Learned…Again

Amy — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:56:09 +0000

I’ve been learning old lessons lately. Seems like I’d learn them and move on to new mistakes in life but nooooooo. Not me.

By the time we arrived at life in the Earnest Parenting household last week Friday I was completely fried. The stress of several situations had taken over. Have you ever felt like that? Where your stomach was completely in knots and you just. couldn’t. take anything. anymore. without screaming?

There have been significant chunks of my adult life in which I’ve been at peace. Seems like I get to that point and maintain for a while (not through any strength of my own), then slide into situations that are increasingly stressful until I get to the freak-out point and realize that I’ve got some improvements to make.

I reached my freak-out point last weekend, after a blow-out argument with a friend in which I overreacted to an admittedly hurtful situation and wound up snapping at the kids as a result. On top of that, I’d already degenerated into a constant critical state and was spending my days either picking at every mistake or greeting their successes with silence. Funny how I can forgive the puppy every mistake and get out treats to help her learn skills, but I don’t do that for my own children.

Okay, actually that’s not so funny.

One small advantage of getting to the freak-out point is the opportunity to clear the decks and start over in life. So that’s what we’re doing…working on forgiveness, overlooking offense, cooperation, and respect. I asked the boys about it today and they agreed that the current vibe is pleasant.

Can we maintain this peace on our own? Nope. We’ll need some divine intervention. But I’m pretty sure I know how to ask for that help.

photo credit: Mendhak

Fun For Your Friday

Amy — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:33:21 +0000

Hullo again, friends! It’s officially Friday and time for our weekly chuckle. For my offering this week, I bring to you a story from the past that still makes me giggle. (Originally posted it in August of 2007.)

The Mercenary had opted to clean the van for 50 cents. When he reported being finished, I asked, “Will I think it’s clean when I look at it?”

“Oh, yes!” he told me.

I opened the van, and sure enough the job was incomplete. After pointing out a couple of things that needed his attention, I told him that he should go over the van with a fine toothed comb.

He was very confused. I tried describing a fine toothed comb, telling him that the teeth are close together.

He was still confused.

I then explained that a fine toothed comb would comb more hairs on his head if he used it, and do a more detailed job in combing all his hairs instead of just moving clumps of hair.

That didn’t help. His brow was deeply furrowed as he tried to understand what on earth I was talking about.

Finally, I tried explaining that “When people get lice, the eggs in the hair are really tiny, and you need a special comb with small teeth to get them out. In order to do the job right, you have to pay close attention to detail. So just like you’re really careful in cleaning the lice out of the hair, you have to be really careful to go over all the spots in the van when you’re cleaning.”

The brow softened a little.

Then he asked me, “Okay but why do I need to use a comb?”

Okay, you’re next! Share a joke, blog post, video, or photo that makes you laugh (family friendly, please) with the world. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.

Fun For Your Friday

Amy — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:23:42 +0000

Good Friday to you, Internets! This week I bring to you spamjokes. What might that be, you ask? About a week ago the spambots started sharing jokes with me, and enough of them make me laugh that I thought I’d collect a few and share.

Why are spambots telling me jokes? I have no idea. It’s too bad they’re spam, because the jokes are pretty good.

Why did Willie Nelson get hit by a car? He was playing On The Road Again.

What do ghouls wear on their feet in the rain?!? GHOULOSHES!!!

Did you hear about the dyslexic Satanist? He sold his soul to Santa.

What happens to illegally parked frogs? They get toad away.

What did the painter say to the wall? One more crack and I’ll plaster you!

What do you call a crazy baker? A dough nut.

How many computer programmers does it take to change a light bulb? Are you kidding? That’s a hardware problem!

How do you revive a drowning rodent? Give it mouse-to-mouse resuscitation.

What lies at the bottom of the ocean and twitches? A nervous wreck.

What kind of flowers grow in outer space? Sunflowers.

Okay, you’re next! Share a joke, blog post, video, or photo that makes you laugh (family friendly, please) with the world. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.

photo credit: alonso_inostrosa

Dreambox Learning: Math Made Fun Online

Amy — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:47:35 +0000

Do you recall when I told you about the DreamBox Video contest? I’ve been learning more about the program and boy howdy is it neat!

Dreambox is a learning site that teaches math to children in kindergarten, first, and second grades. Children play games, and the software responds to create an individualized learning path based on each child’s needs. This individualized curriculum is based on national standards, and there are games and rewards to make it fun.

Parents can monitor progress via the Parents Dashboard, and get e-mail progress alerts, printable awards, and additional activities.

Well, guess what! Tracy from DreamBox tells me that I can give away a 3-month subscription to the site!

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but I love giveaways.

So! If you’ve got a child in the correct age category, just leave a comment on this post telling me that you’re interested in the drawing. I’ll use the random number generator to pick a winner. Easy peasy!

Comments will be open until 11:59pm EST Wednesday, November 4. Winner will be notified on Thursday, November 5.

Disclosure: Dreambox offered me the opportunity to do this give-away and I received no other compensation for this post. I am not a Dreambox subscriber; the program looks great and I believe that this will be a great prize for someone.

We have a winner!!!

Congratulations, Jenny in Ca! Hope you enjoy the subscription.

Blog Hop!! Check the links below for other great giveaways this week.

The Lazy Mom’s Guide to Fall Decorating

Amy — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:19:33 +0000

Growing up, my mom always had adorable decorations around the house for every season. She even had ceramic figurines that she’d painted herself, and there were adornments for every room.

I have routinely failed to even approach her holiday spirit, mainly because I’m a workaholic and keep finding other things to do so I never have time to drag out the decorations (which are, ironically, neatly stored by category because the organizing part? I like that part). The other reason is I’m cheap and tend not to buy decorations very often. If they’re 70% off the day after the holiday, then I like them. But usually the pickin’s are slim by then. Oh well.

What that translates to is I only have decorations for fall/Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. The boys love holidays, especially all the decorations and celebration stuff that I am, ummmm, less sentimental about.

For the last few years I’ve managed to get the Christmas stuff up and around, but not the other seasons. I knew there would come a time when they called me on that, and that time has arrived.

I’ve been trying to figure out a time to drag the box out and then look critically at each decoration and find its perfect (and hopefully safe from 4 boys and a puppy) location around the home. This takes time that I do not want to spend.

This morning, genius struck! I told the boys, “For every assignment you finish, you may take out a decoration and put it around the house.” Voila!!! Everyone’s happy, and I figure there’s a 20% chance they’ll put things out of harm’s way. At least all I have to do is patrol rather than figure out for myself.

Now, all I have to do is figure a way to get them to pick up all the decorations next month. I’ll be plotting……