Showing posts with label Parenting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parenting. Show all posts

Monday, April 8

MSNBC Host Melissa Harris-Perry » All Your Kids Belong To Us (Video)

You know what the sad thing is about this, is that there are lots of inner-city kids and their parents that probably can gain from some sort of community support in raising their kids, especially single parents. But these are not the kids that Democrats are interested in inserting themselves into their lives. Nope, it is the kids of conservative parents.


Sorry, but this lady is dead wrong. For both good and bad, kids do belong to their parents. If I decide that my child is not going to do something or is too young to learn about something, that is between me and my wife just as when we decide to teach our child something that other parents, or meddling adults think I should not.

Again, my kids do not belong to 'the whole community'.  Really, what kind of sick twisted logic brings her to this conclusion? Anyway, just another socialist professor...
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Monday, March 11

Jim Rogers - Central planners' policies are punishing the prudent in favor of rescuing the irresponsible

I read the following by financial commentator Jim Rogers and it really fits with what I think has been happening for the last couple of years:
To Rogers, the bigger danger that concerns him is the hollowing out of the 'saving class' resulting from this situation. Central planners' policies are punishing the prudent in favor of rescuing the irresponsible. This has happened before in world history, and the aftermath has always had grievous economic, social -- and often human -- costs:
Throughout our history – any country’s history – the people who save their money and invest for their future are the ones that you build an economy, a society, and a nation on.

In America, many people saved their money, put it aside, and didn’t buy four or five houses with no job and no money down. They did what most people would consider the right thing, and what historically has been the right thing. But now, unfortunately, those people are being wiped out, because they are getting 0% return, or virtually no return, on their savings and their investments. We’re wiping them out at the expense of people who went deeply into debt, people who did what most people would consider the wrong thing at the expense of people who did the right thing. This, long-term, has terrible consequences for any nation, any society, any economy.

If you go back in history, you'll see what happed to the Germans when they wiped out their savings class in the 1920s. It didn’t lead to good things down the road for Germany. It didn’t lead to good things for Italy, which did the same thing. There were plenty of countries where it wiped out the people who saved and invested for their future. It’s usually a serious, political reaction, desperation in some cases, and looking for a savior and easy answers is usually what happens when you destroy the people who save and invest for the future.
- PeakProsperity.com
The United States all of a sudden has no shortage of irresponsible people. Nothing is anyone's fault anymore. Too many demand free money and more from the Government. And all too often Liberals and even Conservatives are giving it to them, in exchange for votes at election time.

Don't get me wrong, some people do legitimately deserve assistance, but way less than we are supporting now. And none of these people are going to help build a better country. It is the saver who invest and it is investment that drivers our country and others to an ever better future. It is also savings and investment that improves the welfare of many. Take the 'evil' oil companies. If they really were making so much money and were such cash cows, why not say 'me too' and put some money into these corporations? You can do direct investing in ExxonMobil for as little as $250. Is that too much money, well that is the point of saving. You save until you have enough to buy what you want. Point to someone who has no money and I bet I can point to their way too expensive sneakers, sunglasses, clothing, car, gadgets, vacations, etc... that they also don't have money for but somehow manage to get anyway.

Worse, many of them are liable to have children that will also require support for most of their lives. The Democrats are counting on this, because these people will continues to be their base voters for years to come. 

This is also why the Democrats are pushing to legalize illegal aliens and provide them with a 'Path to Citizenship'. Many of these illegal aliens are 'High Needs' parents. It does not mean that there is something wrong with their children or that their children need special care. Instead, it is the parents that need to be told and reminded about everything about being a good parent to their children. This was as explained to me by a pediatrician in Washington, DC. My kid's first pediatrician. This was during a checkup where she was advising us that she was leaving because she was being burned out due to all the high needs parents she had to deal with. It just so happened that these 'high needs' parents bills were being paid by tax payers. Even the co-pay. It was not that the parents did not have $10, $15 or even $20 to pay for the ability to take their kid to the doctor. It was simply because if they did have to pay anything, they would not take their kid to see a doctor. 

This is the heart of the problem. And this problem will only grow until we stop paying out like a broken ATM.

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Thursday, April 23

Stupid Double-Standard for Minor Children - Abortion and Death Penalty

How is it possible that children are no longer eligible for the death penalty in cases of murder simply because they are under the age of 18 and therefore not completely responsible for their actions, and yet they are somehow responsible enough to purchase 'abortion pills', not only without permission of the parents, but even without having to see a doctor?
The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it would accept, not appeal, a federal judge's order that lifts Bush administration restrictions limiting over-the-counter sales of "Plan B" to women 18 and older. U.S. District Judge Edward Korman ruled last month in a lawsuit filed in New York that President George W. Bush's appointees let politics, not science, drive their decision to restrict over-the-counter access.

Women's groups said the FDA's action was long overdue, since the agency's own medical reviewers had initially recommended that the contraceptive be made available without any age restrictions.

Korman ordered the FDA to let 17-year-olds get the birth control pills. He also directed the agency to evaluate clinical data to determine whether all age restrictions should be lifted. - Breitbart
This is the height of Government, and dare I say Liberal, stupidity and irresponsibility.

This is part of a larger battle where liberals are fighting for the right of minors to get an abortion without parental permission. See my comments on this issue here: Minors, the Death Penalty and Abortion

If 17 year-old 'children' are so responsible, then let's change the law so that you are treated as an adult at age 17 and not 18. Then they can go get abortions without having to tell their parents and can also face the justice system as an adult when they end up on the wrong side of the law. These half-ass measures just makes being a parent more difficult and exposes children to much more dangerous and risky behavior. (Not for anything, but if this pill was available back in the 60's, we might not have the President that we have now, given that his mother got pregnant when she was 17...)

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Thursday, June 12

Children's Messes Are Like Oil Spills

It is kind of funny to see how parents react to the messes their children make. Some let their children play and at the end go and clean the mess up. Others are of the type that clean up the messes as they are created.

I fall into that latter category. I see the messes that children create like oil spills. With that in mind I try and attack the mess immediately, because, like an oil spill, even the smallest mess will quickly grow and require a major cleanup operation.

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Friday, June 6

The Second Fastest Seagull - A Lesson

With all the importance being placed on participation and not actual results, many of today's children are not being prepared for having to survive in the real world. My family is not a fan of this new-style of everything is OK and everyone wins despite the results. As it so happens our recent trip to the Helsinki Zoo provided a valuable lesson on how performance does matter.

We were sitting having a snack and my one-year-old dropped a cheerio. This was great news to the two seagulls who were circling around us, knowing that it was a safe bet that these two kids would at some point provide them with a snack. To that point they only gave up a cheerio and it was at my feet. So I picked it up and tossed it on the grass. They quickly raced for it.

The fastest one of course got the snack. The second fastest one got nothing.



It was obvious to my kids that performance does matter and that it pays to be a winner. As it is sometimes said, second place is also known as 'First Loser.'

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Tuesday, June 3

Finland's Playgrounds - Lawyer's Paradise

So we are here with the kids in Finland and of course we need to go to the local playgrounds here. There is one thing that strikes you immediately. This is what a playground would look like if the world had no lawyers.

Take for example the spinning-tilting, see-saw of death.


This thing goes up and down like a see-saw but also swings around 360 degrees. And while it is doing that, it will also swing sideways. This thing is lots of fun to play with and definitely dangerous if you happen to walk in it's path, or fall off and forget to duck as it comes around. A true concussion machine. A true playground toy. I want one.

Then there is the rope climb of death.



This is a good one to see children dropping from great heights as it is easy for them to climb much higher than their ability to do so safely. This one too is loads of fun even for adults, who also can become gravely injured while playing with their children. This would be another one to bring back to the playgrounds in the US. So if you are around with your kids, be sure to give these things a try, before the lawyers here ruin it all. Then again, they have national health care here, so perhaps it doesn't matter.

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Jet Lag for Toddlers 101: Midnight = 5P.M.

I totally had no clue how lucky I was the first night here. My wife ran off to her sister's bachelorette party leaving me alone with the 1 and 3 year olds for an overnighter for the first time ever. All went well and they were in bed for the night at 9P.M.

Then came the following night. They were in bed by 8P.M. and both were up by 11P.M. We didn't get them back to bed until 02:30 in the morning. Last night we got the older one to keep trying to sleep which finally worked. The younger one however ended up getting a midnight stroller ride through downtown to try and trick him into sleeping. But there was too much to see on the streets. On the quiet streets there were small bars and people walking their dogs as well as the odd seagull hunting for food. Then the main streets had a good deal of foot and car traffic. So the walk was a bust. Other than getting a photo of him at the most popular meeting spot in Helsinki. Under Stockmann's Clock.



So, even though it was midnight here, his body was still on New York time, which was only 5P.M. And no amount of explaining was going to get him to think otherwise. Thankfully he went to bed soon after returning probably because all the rest of us were in bed and all the lights were out.


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Monday, February 4

Toy Nation

A photo from toy-sorting night, trying to figure out what to keep out for play; What to put away for now; What to throw away; And what to pass on to other parents.



Most of what you see was either given or passed onto us.

The scary thing is that there is more.

There is lots of clothing too. It is a little like a mafia operation where the stuff comes through the door, is sorted and then resorted, with most of it headed back out for reuse.

Who says that Americans don't recycle!

Saturday, October 6

Time Out For Baby

Funny the games that two year olds play.

In this case my daughter is giving her baby a time out:



I am not sure what the baby did, but shortly thereafter it earned a second one:


Oddly enough, she is much more strict with her baby than we are with her. Then again, all our friends tell us that we are pretty strict with her. These are the same parents that wonder why their children are uncontrollable compared to ours....