A juggling technophile shares personal stories, challenges, humor and perhaps some political commentary.
Ramblings, often stream of conscious, journaling the events of my life.
You know.. like today.. Do I A) crush a recorder into a thousand pieces replacing the non-harmonious shrill of a plastic wanna be woodwind with the bawling tears of what could have remained a happy child OR B) turn my music up so loud, exposing the children to the poetry so lacking in their "modern music," that the shingles on the roof vibrate.
(truthfully, I enjoy hearing them play)
Narration: [audio:http://realityme.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/parentingchoicesaretough.mp3]
I put Evan down for a nap. We have a crib that has a zippered netting over it.
Evan, happily hollering for me: "Daaa, zip zip ziiip. Daaa, let me out!"
The vocabulary and sentence structure grows!
It takes a village right? Of course, now-a-days, people seem afraid to address other people’s children, particularly if you are a man. Wonder why that is!
Last night we were watching Sarah perform at Bearden High School along with several other bands. It was a great show! But at one point I snapped. I watched 3 younger boys, 11 or 12ish, tossing an empty 20 ounce beverage container back and forth like a football. They pause and one of the boys rips the label off, tearing it into 3 pieces in the process, and threw them to the ground. I spoke instantly and instinctively. "Gentleman! I need you to pick up this trash and throw it away." The guilty boy responded, "Oh that just fell off." I had to continue firmly, "Now you are lying to me. I saw you tear it off. Pick up the trash and put it in that trash can over there." They did and I am sure they had some words for me or perhaps gestures when my back turned. I saw them playing later and made a point of kindly thanking them for doing the right thing, "Thanks for throwing the trash away. I really appreciate that." I received a polite response, "No problem."
Should I have ignored it? I don’t think so. In bygone times, it would have been expected and appreciated. I am not sure what parents think or expect today. Maybe those boys will think the next time they or someone with them litters or thinks about vandalism; maybe it will make all the difference. I hope that when my children step out of line, someone steers them back onto the right path.
Post narration: [audio:http://realityme.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/idisciplinedyourchildren.mp3]
Update: Be sure to read Barry’s post on Disciplining Other Children! I like that Barry reminds us to let the child’s parent do the disciplining if the parent is nearby.
I think my wife got into the Someone Moved My Cheese a little too much. I try to live my life as if I were blind. Blue socks are on the right hand side toward the back in the sock draw. The flashlight has a specific home and so forth. Things have their place. My wife thinks things should randomly move around the house!
I plan ahead for the children’s lunches. Everyday I have to have $8.75 cash on hand to make sure the children get to eat. So the day before I make sure I have 8 ones and then I get 75 cents from the coin jar. Today we are running late. One child is already in hysterics over missing the bus. The moved cheese? The coin jar is nowhere to be found.
If you are going to lie and claim that you stopped at the two stops which you didn’t even slow down for, you better be able to substantiate it! And how is it that your bus appeared so empty? Were no children at any of your stops today? An official complaint has been filed with the transportation department. Next time stop your bus even if you do not see any children at the stop.
If you are a Knoxville parent searching for ways to deal with busing issues, be sure to put the transportation department’s phone number, 865-594-1550, in your cell phone’s address book. We would have fewer busing issues if the school owned the buses instead of contracting them.
Update: The bus did eventually pickup the high schoolers. Turns out their official stop is on the other side of Northshore Drive and roughly 80m (120feet) walk down a busy, overgrown, narrow road with no sidewalks. This would be the section of road with 2 crosses and piles of roadkill. So the substitute driver likely stopped at only official stops. I have to file paperwork to make the stop that the bus has stopped at for at least 7 years into an "official" stop.
Nothing gets my goat quite like walking away from the computer only to find that it decided to reboot itself. I didn’t give permission to do that! And I definitely didn’t give it permission to lose my browser session. I had those 20 some odd web pages open for a reason!
Every now and then then muse hits me and I wax eloquently, laughing aloud as Pulitzer prose and allegory flow forth from my fingertips. I declare, "this is the post that will bring me fame!" Then I read it. Blink. And think, "I can’t publish that!" And that is why I have 145 drafts that will never see the light of day!
Noah: "Health ended today."
Dad: "Oh? Did you have sex education?"
Noah: "Sorta."
Dad: "Did they talk to you about boy parts and girl parts?"
Noah: "They talked about boy parts. I missed the day they talked about girl parts."
Dad: "Sex education was only two days?!"
Yes, we are THAT family. The one who inspires movies like Little Miss Sunshine. We are living the dream!
Cathy is quoted in the Knoxnews article How goes security in schools?.
“I like the SROs. They’re good people, and they give the students the sense of ‘somebody’s there and is keeping an eye out,’ †said Cathy McCaughan, mother of students at Bearden middle and high schools.
But, she said, “I don’t know if they’re keeping an eye out for the kids so much (as) the vice principals’ disciplinary issues.â€
My brother calls: "So what’s up with you guys?"
Me: "What?! You don’t read our blogs?"
Cathy won! She won "3 nights in Sedona, AZ – Retreat and Heal" prize from Darren Rowse’s Problogger Birthday Bash. Oh oh! I wonder who she’ll take. Pick me! Pick me! It’s the Grand Canyon! After 6 years of marriage we can finally do something that resembles a honeymoon! Anyone want to babysit for a week?
The world will be a better place when I can remember to not speak unless spoken to.
If you follow my comment feed, then you may have noticed that I am getting huge amounts of trackback spam. Why not just turn off trackbacks? Because these people are stealing my content, and likely your content, for their own personal gain and the trackback is the easiest way to find them. Yes, they generate a link back to Reality Me which in theory should help my page rank but not when it is with duplicate content. I have installed the Antileech WordPress plugin but I am still figuring out how to use it without cutting off my feeds to legitimate readers. If you do end up getting a "this content is stolen" message instead of the actual post, please email juggler at gmail.com and I will fix it. That said, can you confirm which feedreader you use based upon the following:
I am assuming that Blogdigger, Gregarius, and Wasabot are used by content thieves.
Today I replaced the brake pads on the van and, seeing that the front tires look like racing slicks, I rotated the tires. A few reminders to those DIYer auto mechanics out there.
