What you think does matter

Gummy Bear and My kids - Lord help me... I wrote a post a day or two ago about making sure my kids watch intelligent stuff and the challenge I face with them watching what I call ‘dumb programming”. I also wrote about how as parents we have to be diligent protecting our kids from “improper things” on the internet. I was watching TV in the living room and as usual I decided to sneak up on my kids and take a look at what they were doing online. Normally my daughter gets online to play on kid friendly social sites like Penguin. But what really caught my ear was the singing - especially the catchy toon I heard coming from my computer. Like I said - I wish my kids would watch only intelligent programming - but sometimes I even get caught up with some of these catchy silly videos. I’m not happy she was on Youtube but relieved to find her watching this silly Gummy bear video [ it’s had 10,405,136 views ] That didn't stop me from giving her the parential speech....

I lie to me kids all the time - well, more like exaggerate the truth. As a parent you find your kids doing something they shouldn’t - it’s a natural course of being a parent. And your always telling them what not to do and the kids - well, they are always asking why. Over the years I’ve adopted a madness to my method of correction. I just don't tell my kids to “stop that” but I also include "my crazy reason" why they should stop that in my command. Of course - sometimes the reason why is a bit more playful or exaggerated than need be. I guess it helps throw them off course and they would rather laugh than ask me - Why can’t I dad..... Here are some example of my crazy silly statements: * Don’t pick your nose, you’ll scratch your brain. * Don’t put your hand there, it’ll fall off! * Don’t pick your butt - your hand will smell bad for days. * Cover your nose when you sneeze, your brain will fall out! * Don’t jump on the sofa, you’ll fall and crack the floor. * Don’t fart, y

Whats your name girl? Ever wonder what a name means, or where it came from. Do you know why or where your parents choose your name - or why they decided to name you after uncle Bob? I was having a bit of fun with the girls and going back to the old days where I use to make silly songs out of their names - I decided to have some fun - at their expense of course. How do you pronounce your name?

I hear people talk about how video games are a bad influence on our children. And I am starting to wonder if they are right. I think my 4 year old son has a problem - atleast with video games. He woke up this morning and asked me one thing - “Can I play now?” Looking at this photo - I'm wondering if he wasn't sleep walking - boy does this kid have it bad for video games.

I couldn't help it. When your bored on a saturday afternoon and you've been left alone and all you have is your internet - funny things happen. Here is my second installment of funny pictures and my thoughts. Well, when your hungry - anything looks good. I didn't say it, I just point out the facts... Sometimes it's best not to get involved.... Someone call the fire department!

By now most of you should already know that my 4 year old son is a wee bit adicted to playing video games. he seems to favor Halo 2 and Tour of Duty. Half the time he doesn't really know what he is doing - but he is getting good at controling the figures, especially in halo 2. My own duaghter tells me that it's not good for him - that "this is why he is always talking about killing Dad". I wouldn't say he talks about killing becuase of the game - more like becuase of sponge bob, tom and jerry, bugs bunny - and maybe a bit of the game. But really have you seen how Daffy Duck gets shot in the face..... The bad thing is how he wants to eat, sleep and live the game. Every waking moment of the day he wants to know when he can play the game - I think he has made an IDOl of the X-box!

I have my own reasons for upgrading my Ticket to an "end of year" pass. But if my family wants to believe that I did it becuase I love them, and I plan to return to all the special events they have here at Cypress garden - they are right. But the real reason why I paid to upgrade my "Cypress Garden" admission tickets to the Cypress Garden end of year pass [ where you pay an extra $10 for each ticket today and you can enter Cypress Garden free for the rest of the year until the end of the year ]. My personal reason - well you might think I'm cheap - but consider this. We've been to cypress garden twice already this year and if you calculate the cost - that adds up to $320 dollars [ just in tickets ] and we will probably go again [ after all it's close and cheaper than Walt-disney world ]. So I figure I might look good with the family and save myself a couple hundred bucks..... And look at the events comming up at Cypress Gardens: August 16th, 2008 Florid

I have to say, I was amazed with the electronic Lockers But my kids being animal lovers - they had a hoot in the animal display section. They especially went bonkers over the talking Parrot. see video below They also enjoyed the alligator - who was to close for comfort for me and Isaac gave us a scare when he tried to go in the Puma cage. Where does this kid get his ideas ??? see some of the other photos below.. I think Cypress Garden is a Great local "Water Park" !

One slip and I could Drown... I was watching the news and paying close attention to the weather guy. I wanted to know what were the chances of rain tomorrow. Don't get me wrong I know we need it - our main large lake in town needs at least 28 inches of rain to make it back to normal levels. Right now, it looks like at some spots of the lake you could walk across to the other side of the 3,000 acre lake. So again - I want it to rain, but there is a limit .... let me see, It may be too much rain if I need to build a bridge to check the mail box.

Help, summer too long - kids are running out of things to do. dad needs help - call "rescue parents" quickly. He might not survive... It's amazing isn't - just because your their parent they expect you to keep them occupied and happy. What, when I was growing up all I had was the television set [ only 12 channels provided not the 150 channels kids get today ] and my brothers and sisters - which meant a lot of fighting... But my kids, no they want me to be active, play with them, keep them entertained - Somebody save me....

It's amazing what children will do when your not watching them..... Here I am doing some work on the computer and taking phone calls - and I notice that my kids are quite - way to quite. so like any good parent i raise my antenna and I hear them whispering and getting things from their rooms. So being the nosey parent that I am - I went to check on them. I don't know about your kids, but it's amazing what crazy ideas pop into my kids head..........

If you stay still - I can still see you That's not a manly hat - it's not even a mans hat..... Are you looking at me?

My boy likes to fix his hair. In fact he likes a lot of wierd hair styles. He loves it when his big sister does his hair - she does the spiky thing and he goes wild. but he doesn't like it when you mess up his hair. And he especially hates it when he has a hard time getting it to look right. Considering he doesn't know how to comb his hair correctly.......

I can’t believe what I just said - I think I had a brain fart. “Go watch TV or I’m going to hit you!” Did I just say that? I can’t believe this. I know I said this because I wanted my son to watch some educational television and yes I was in the middle of something and found it easy to just send him to watch TV. But it hit me after I said it - I was going to hit him if he “didn’t watch TV“ ??? Boy does that sound wrong in so many levels. I hear people talk like if the television is a baby sitter and how others believe TV is bad for kids [ too much tv that is ]. But in this case - I just wanted him to take time to learn. I have always made it a habit to have him watch educational television in the morning because #1 - I want him to learn and #2 - after a certain time there is nothing very educational after 12 noon. So I got a bit frustrated because he’s been watching “junk” tv with his sister and I wanted to make sure he got in the educational stuff like sesame street, Dora, Diego, Arth

Look Dad I can Swim..... Ok, he can swim, of course he has a life vest and goggles on - but he has the right idea. It’s more like - hay Dad, I learned to hold my breath under water. But when your having fun… who cares, let him swim.

I love video games, no really. I love videos games, I’ve always been a fan. I could play for hours and when I was a kid - it was a normal thing for me to play all night in my pursuit to save the princess, destroy the evil monster or capture the prize. There were many a sleepless nights where just me, my game console and several cups of coffee was what I had in the wee hours of the night. I once played “Zelda” for three nights and three days straight. No sleep for me, I was going to save the princess - I did by the way. So what’s my point - Do you want to know why today’s parents love game consoles, why they are willing to pay three hundred dollars or more on a simple game console. Why they do not find it a waste of money to pay $129 dollars for a DS or other hand held game… let me give you a clue: Listen, do you hear that.. The silence .......... I was wondering why the house was so quite. The spouse was taking a nap and the kids - well, not a peep. I thought they were a sleep but when

Lazy Summer Days I remember when I was a kid I would stay up late watching TV and my mom may have liked it - but hey, there was no school to worry about the next day. Ofcourse my daughter has taken staying up late watching TV to a whole new level. She likes to watch George Lopez - but since they give it at 11 pm, it’s usually out of the question during school time. But the minute school was out she slowly got accustomed to first staying up that late and second - getting comfortable. She’s turned it into an art form - just take a look at the video below… it will explain it all ……

Children are crazy - or at least maybe only mine. With all the possible places they can sit - sofa, couch, love chair, stools - they have to bring into the house a fold up lawn / beach chair to sit on. But it’s not enough that they have to bring it in - they start arguing and fighting over who will sit in it. Give me a break - you have the entire sofa to sit on but they both want to sit on this one fold up chair. Here I am just trying to enjoy some down time, and all "hell" breaks out in my living room. Over what - a stupid fold up chair. Come on, when I was a kid 90 percent of the time we sat on the floor. First it began because we couldn’t afford a sofa, then it was just habit to sit on the floor. But not my children, they want to fight over one fold up chair. Sometimes I think they do just to drive me mad. But what they forget - that just like the HULK ..... "They don’t want to see me Angry....."

Happy Birthday - KIKI When my little girl was a bit younger - I tried to make her time exciting. She didn't have her brother back then and I sort of felt guilty that she had no one to play with. So I made sure I played with her and helped make play time fun. I would play McDonalds with her in her kitchen play set or create these elaborate treasure hunts for her to find a prize. I started doing it on her birthdays to make opening her present from me and mom more special, surprising and build up that excited expectation. After her brother was born, I sort of slowed down with the treasure hunt because - well, as she grew she acted [ let’s say ] less surprise. You know kids think their to grown up to do fun things they consider - kiddie like. But I try to teach her to stay a kid, enjoy it while it last because when you grow up - it gets harder to enjoy the simple things….. but this birthday I decided to surprise her with a mini-treasure hunt. first I tortured her - I gave her a birthd

Love is a strange fickle thing I grew up with seven brothers and sisters - and as much as we loved each other, we also hated each other. Ok, hate might be too strong a word but - we fought just as much as we loved each other. The funny thing is, my children are the same way. For as much as they love each other - they fight like cats and dogs. They seem to want to get on each others nerves. Yesterday they were watching TV in the living room and it seemed like they were bitter rivals. Everything was a challenge. They couldn’t go twenty seconds without something to snicker and fight about. My son who seems to be the more “sneaky” of the two - found pleasure in ratting his sister out when he found some spilled juice in the frig. He came running to us with this happy grin as he said “ooh KIKI spilled a lot of juice all over the floor.... come, hurry, look”. But what makes me laugh is that as much as they fight - they can’t be separated. A perfect example was this morning. I wake up early an