What you think does matter

Personally I do not believe we can prevent bullying - like I told my children when they were young and still tell them today, some people are just darn mean. They do it for a lot of reasons, they are mean, bad, been hurt, or mentally ill. In either case you (my children) will need to learn when to walk away, when to stand up (fight, defend and even yes hurt this person - even if against school rules) and above all, understand that you need to come talk to me (parent first, unless the need requires an immediate teacher intervention) then teacher (school). Why Parent first, because I want to calmly talk to my child and get the facts, have it brought up to the schools attention and follow up on it - schools can fail and have failed when dealing with 500 plus students. So I want to be informed, involved and ready to act if need be (as in calling police or other measures). I am human, a parent, which makes me partial to my child so I try to keep my emotions in check. For this reason, I agr...

Are you Stupid, Dumb, Ignorant, foolish or Retarded? I had an interesting conversation with my children and some teens the other day. I asked them what the following words meant to them: Stupid, ignorant, dumb, foolish, and retarded. It was really fun to watch them try to explain each word and how the discussion quickly became an argument over how each word basically meant the same thing - you are calling me stupid, that I am not smart. After one or two minutes had passed I politely interrupted and I said: “I believe that you guys are all ignorant of the true meaning of each word I presented you with.” They all turned to look at me, each with a disgusted look on their face. I asked them “What, what did I say?” My daughter was the first to speak up – “I am not stupid!” As I tried to keep a straight face I asked her “when did I call you stupid?” “Just now, you said I was stupid...” My daughter’s friend hastily jumped into the fray “Yeah, you just called us all stupid.” She sa...

Ever felt like you were drowning? Like the odds were stacked against you and nothing you did could change the outcome. Life is a struggle, it can swallow you up and spit you out after it has ground you up into little insignificant pieces. Harsh isn’t it? But that is how I feel. I’ve had so many things go wrong lately – well I shouldn’t say lately; it has been months and more that I have been dealing with some very difficult things in my life. I tell my children that they need to think positive, never give up and even know when all you can do is ride the wave because there is nothing within your power that can change certain circumstances. But here I sit, thinking about my mother and her second battle with cancer - and she doesn't look good. I’m thinking about all the bad luck I have been having lately. I’m thinking about my most recent troubles that have arisen one right after the other and what do I get from my wife – “You have to live what you preach. You tell the kids th...