Tag Archive for parents

“I DO”–Now Get Started on a Family!

One of the first things a newlywed couple is asked is, “When are you going to start having kids?” It’s seldom, “Do you plan to have kids?” This is, after all, a personal choice. Yet our society tends to think of childless couples as incapable of producing a child or selfish or giving up happiness and a more secure old age.

Why aren’t millennials having kids? 8 insights into the child-free life debunks eight of these perceptions. It’s an interesting viewpoint from the non-parents’ point of view. Take a look.

Just for Fun–Back To School

Back to school time! If you’re a wine-drinker, you’ll appreciate this video from a family who has experienced many, many new school years. (Be sure to wait for the video to load, then right-click and hit “unmute” for sound.)

https://www.facebook.com/TheHoldernessfamily/videos/217560152439697/

I Have to Vent

I’m sorry, but today I need to vent. I’m watching all those kids who are alone although warehoused with hundreds of other kids, scared, wanting their parents, not knowing what’s going on or what will happen to them five minutes from now, feeling that they must have done something really bad to be in the situation they’re in.

And what am I hearing from the adults who can do something about this? Depending on who’s speaking, it’s the fault of 1) the President, 2) Democrats, 3) Republicans, 4) government agencies, 5) the kids’ parents, 6) Obama, 7) Obama and Bush, 8) current law….

It really, REALLY bothers me that the only activity going on to alleviate these kids’ misery is a bunch of hot air–blame rather than action. Yet, if politicians set aside their political bias, narrow allegiance, and eye toward re-election, they CAN do something. The President can sign yet one more Executive Order in his long string of them. The Democrats and Republicans can stop bickering and pass legislation with enough of a majority to override a possible Presidential veto. Government agencies can do what they’ve done recently to create this  problem in the first place, namely reinterpret the pretty broad law. It’s too late for the parents to help their kids, because they’re already here. But where are all the other adults?

Call me a bleeding heart liberal, but even my conservative friends are crying along with those children.

Our Kids: Our Top Priority

This is for some parents who haven’t seen this news story yet.  You aren’t bad parents, just a product of our times.  With work and friends and things to do, we’re glued to our phones.  They’ve become so much a part of us that we don’t even notice when we’re on them

But our kids do.  Especially when they’ve been at daycare, school, or otherwise away from us all day.  They love us and miss us.  And they feel unimportant to us when we ignore them in favor of our phone.  Usually, we can finish up that business call before greeting them or ignore an incoming call for awhile–long enough for some kisses and hugs and what-did-you-do-todays on the way home.

Here’s the sign that a Houston TX daycare put on their door.  It’s a good reminder that our kids are top priority in our lives.

 

get off your phone daycare message to parents

 

Focus on Kids, not Parental Sexual Orientation

Why (according to a University of Melbourne study) are kids of same-sex parents healthier?  One possibility cited is that same-sex families tend to get along better.  Another is that because same-sex parents are likely to share more child-rearing duties, basing them on skills rather than traditional gender roles, the children grow up in a more harmonious household.  These factors lead to increased health for a child.

But how about in other areas–temperament, behavior, mental health, emotional role, and self-esteem?  Those children scored the same as ones in the general population.  Except that kids with same-sex parents suffered due to the stigma of their parents’ sexual orientation.

What hurts most, apparently, is a child’s growing up in a single-parent household, especially with as single mother, who tends to struggle more financially than a single father.

In my opinion, this shows that a child thrives best in a home in which parents work at their marriage, share their talents in caring for a child, and maintain a harmonious household, whatever the sexual orientation of the parents.  No sensible person believes anymore–considering all the studies and anecdotal evidence–that homosexual parents raise children to be homosexual.  So why not concentrate on how kids are being raised and not add stress to their lives by focusing on what their parents do in the bedroom?

 Read about the study at http://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-health/children-same-sex-parents-are-healthier-study-n149901.