Just when you thought you knew everything you needed to know on what to warn/teach your kids about using Facebook and the Internet…have you
heard that kids/teens/20-somethings share their passwords with each other, for everything from email accounts, Facebook and other services? According to a recent New York Times
article, it’s a widespread practice among young Internet users, even among young couples who are dating. Apparently, it’s a sign of trust– i.e. “if I’m your only love, prove it with
an all-access pass to your Internet accounts.” Gee, nothing says “love” quite like mistrusting someone, huh? And I guess nothing says “I’m a stupid risk taker” quite like
that either, since of course breakups can be messy, and BFF’s can become BFN’s (Best Friends Never) faster than Justin Bieber can swoosh his hair. Who wants to risk being kicked off a sports
…
Category: Random Thoughts
Jim Bob, John-Boy, and Me
If you’re familiar with The Duggars of Arkansas, the family with “19 kids and counting”, you may have looked at them like they’re crazy. I know I
have. Packing up the family for a road trip must not be too easy, y’ know? And cooking for that many must take all day. But…I bet their holidays are a blast…
For some reason this holiday season, I’m feeling “big family envy” more than ever. Maybe it’s because it’s the first year my mom, who is 87 and lives 13 hours away, is choosing not to spend
Christmas with us or any of her children. (“I’m 87 years old,” she said, “and I don’t want to travel in winter weather, and I don’t want to worry about anyone else traveling to see me.”) Maybe
I’m missing Cleo, our French exchange student who lived with us from August 2010 to June 2011. Last Christmas was extra special with her here. Or …
Where Everybody Knows Your Name
The TV show Cheers was a hit with audiences not only because of its great writing and acting, but we were also
attracted to the basic premise of the setting– a hang-out “where everybody knows your name”—and for a lot of us who don’t frequent a neighborhood bar, we secretly wished we could find that
kind of camaraderie and familiarity someplace. Or, at least live in a town where all the clerks know your name—like the town of Mayberry (from “The Andy Griffith Show”), another TV
setting we Baby Boomers loved. At least, I did. Even though I was from a town of only 28,000, I always envied kids I knew from much smaller towns, and loved to visit them for a weekend. You’d
think that when I moved to friendly Texas, it wouldn’t be hard to experience a small town feeling no matter where I lived—but it really hasn’t happened for me. Well, …
One Day On Earth: What Will You Be Doing on 10-10-10?
I once mentioned the book A Day in the Life of America in a blog post, a popular book of photographs
taken across the U.S. all on the same day, 5/2/86. What I didn’t mention was how much I like that concept, of recognizing all the things that can happen at the same time on one day, or
at one moment. My children and I have even played a “Right Now” game a few times instead of a bedtime story, where we each …
Odd Mom Out: When Your Kids Don’t Resemble You…At All
I carried them for nine months and nursed them for at least as long; went through morning sickness, nausea, a C-section, VBAC, migraine headaches, and major sleep loss for them; got carpal tunnel
syndrome and had to completely change my wardrobe —you’d think my kids could at least look like me …
The Quiet Milestones
Parents like to celebrate a lot of “firsts”, don’t we? Some are commemorated in a big way, with photographs, words in a baby book or scrapbook, video… like first smile, first solid food, first steps, first tooth,
first word, first birthday, first haircut. As kids get older, firsts occur less frequently, but we still try to look for them and celebrate
them—first lost tooth, first day of school, first time …
Disappearing Do’s
Did you know that a lot of women over a certain age never wash their own hair? And they have it “done” only once a week?
“That’s so GROSS!” say my girls. (Hmmm, if I were them, at least some of the time, I wouldn’t be talking…)
I think about “the generation gap of hair” once in awhile, especially lately as my 85-year-old mother has been staying with us for her annual visit. That visit always includes finding her a local “beauty operator” to “do” her hair once a week. Just like she’s been doing ever since she was in her 20’s.
The (Almond) Joys of Parenting
Ahh, the simple pleasures of being a parent on Halloween– at the end of the evening, we get all the candy rejects our kids don’t want. This year, out of Emmie’s massive collection of 130 pieces of candy, I was given 1 mini Almond Joy, 4 mini boxes of Milk Duds, 2 pieces of banana Laffy Taffy (NOT the strawberry, of course, which I really would have enjoyed), 4 packs of Whoppers malted milk balls, 1 butterscotch candy, 1 peppermint, 1 Rolo, and a mini Heath bar. Not a whole lot to get excited about, but it made me laugh on the inside—this “reject pile” not only looks the same every year for both of my children, it contains the same stuff I rejected when I was a kid. The same stuff about which I always think, “The adult who bought this doesn’t have a clue what most kids like.” For example, most kids don’t like coconut– so Mounds is a perennial reject as well. Ditto for “Dots”, Good ‘N Plenty, “Chick O Stix”, any Tootsie Rolls other than the original flavor, red hot Jawbreakers, and black licorice. While I’ve grown to like most of it, I still scratch my head about some of it, like the Milk Duds.
Time to Celebrate
Isn’t “Fall Back Day” the greatest? You know, the day we “fall back” to Standard Time. The day that Daylight Saving Time ends. I like it so much, it just might be my favorite holiday. Oh, I know, it’s not really an “official” holiday. But it should be. In fact, they ought to just call it Mother’s Day and forget about that inferior shorter day in May.
After all, if you’re a mother with kids still at home, isn’t time the one thing you wish you had more of? Time for yourself or your family or your laundry. Time to make it to places on time. Time to do things you never do, like catch up in the family scrapbook/photo album, have lunch with a friend, fix your broken earrings, read a book, get 8 hours of sleep. If you’re not a mother, you probably wish you had more time, too. And the only day that actually gives you extra time is Fall Back Day, coming to a clock near you this Sunday.
Just Tell Me What To Do
Some days, don’t you want to be on auto-pilot? Like, not having to make a lot of decisions or worry about much other than following instructions and just “being”?
You know you’re a person with a lot on your plate when you’re grateful for the computerized directions at the gas pump. Seriously– sometimes when I put gas in my car, I feel fleeting relief at having someone (or some”thing”) tell me what to do. “SWIPE CARD”– you got it, chief. “SELECT GRADE”– no problem! “LIFT LEVER”– anything you say, bucko! I set the nozzle on the “hands-free” latch and lean against the car, taking …