Category: Parenting Advice

It’s April & I’m way behind on posting Worthless Advice!

~ K ~ 2 Comments

I can’t believe it is already Monday April 15, 2013 (now it is April 16) and I haven’t done any blog entries since last month.  I got a bit swamped at work and just didn’t feel like writing.  A fairly lame excuse to say the least and I’ll admit to that.  We also were busy with family trips and mini-vacations so I’ll throw in some more lame excuses while I’m at it.

The end of March, we (the little people who live with me and my wife) spent a couple of nights in Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast.  We lucked out and got some great weather.  Sunny weather to be exact.  We had nicer weather those two days in March than we did last August on the Oregon Coast.  Anyway, the weather was good, the local community seems pretty nice (but everything seems nice when you are on vacation), and the food wasn’t bad either.

If memory serves me correctly, we stayed at the Surfrider Hotel.  Overall, our hotel wasn’t bad either considering we got a Groupon deal on it.  The pool was inside and old school style but the hotel was right on the beach.  We had a lovely balcony over the sand, free wifi, cable TV, etc.  Pretty sweet.

After two nights on the Oregon Coast, on the way back through McMinnville, we stopped at the Hotel Oregon and had a great lunch on the rooftop bar.  Again, the sun was out and we enjoyed their rooftop deck.  The Hotel Oregon is run by the McMenamins Brothers and we like the quirky style they have throughout their restaurants and hotels.  The food is reasonable priced and the atmosphere is great for those that like that pub feel.

We spend a third night in downtown Portland (Oregon) at the Sheraton.  I like the Sheraton chain and we weren’t disappointed.  My wife also got a good deal on that so instead of sleeping in the car, we stayed there.  (There goes another life lesson my children could have learned about being homeless and living out of your car).

Not to worry, the city of Portland (like Austin, Texas) likes to pride itself as being weird.  The downtown homeless bums did their best to put on a good show for my kids.  On a side note, we do have homeless people in our downtown suburb city but my kids aren’t exposed to them.  And we have them in downtown Seattle but we hardly visit downtown to experience them.  I know what you are thinking: my kids aren’t being exposed to crazy homeless people like they should.  I agree with you, I’m a terrible father.  I promise to work on that.

We also squeezed in a visit to my friend Chance and got to see his new family.  Again, we had great weather and the afternoon temperatures in Portland were 77 degrees in March!  Unheard of!

Overall the trip was a good one.  We certainly lucked out on the weather for this kind of trip in the month of March.  We are looking forward to going back to McMinnville to check out their Evergreen Air and Space Museum and Water Park.

Overreacting to Problems: How to Make Mountains out of Mole Hills.

~ K ~ 5 Comments

dishwasher2I love to overreact and make small incidents into extremely big deals.  Today, I did just that to my children.  My kids are now 10 and 14 years old and they love to bicker.  They argue about who’s turn it is to do that or who’s turn it is to do this.  We have a loose chore schedule (because we believe in keeping our kids guessing at all times) of emptying out the dishwasher when the dishes are clean.

This morning, I announced that this afternoon, when they got home the dishes would be clean.  At this point, you would think that my kids would argue over who was going to empty it out.  To my surprise, my daughter said it was her turn.  Good job daughter!  Step up to the plate and do the job.  Where she gets this sense of “doing the right” thing I’ll never know.

However, my 14 year old son had to say “Yup” right after she said it was her turn.  She was offended by this comment and told me he didn’t need to add it in after she said she was going to do the job.

This is when I lost it.

To my wife’s and my defense, we harp on the “getting along with your siblings” thing in our house.  For the most part, they are good kids except for stupid nonsense like this.  So, I went overboard and took away all electronics for the day.  No TV in the morning, no Xbox, no Kindle, no iPods, etc. and it doesn’t stop in the morning.  It is all day.  Once they get home after school, the “no electronics policy” is still in effect.

In reality, I never do this kind of stuff.  Frankly, I like the electronic devices because it keeps me from having to socialize with them and they can watch cute cat jumping videos on YouTube!  Isn’t that what the internet was invented for?  Cat videos and reality car chases?

And think of all the great education they’ll miss out from watching “Family Guy” ,“The Simpsons”, “Wizards of Waverly Place”, and countless others.

I hope they enjoy reading a book, drawing a photo, doing homework, staring at the wall, petting the cat, folding clothes, etc.  And the weather sucks here today.  They can’t go outside.  Well, they could but they would be miserable.  It is pouring down rain and windy so going outside doesn’t look appealing to anyone.  Even the cat and dog have no interest in stepping out the backdoor.  Hmm, might be a great day for some yard work chores.

My Worst Critic….

~ K ~ 4 Comments

red penI have a reader that is one of my worst critics.  She finds fault in almost every blog post I produce.  She is offended about how I portray myself as a sarcastic person.  She is clearly upset with my style of writing, complaining that it isn’t true, that never happened, etc.  She also doesn’t like my parenting tips.

This critic is my ten year old daughter.

She doesn’t like my sarcastic tone.  I explain to her that my Blog is titled “Blog of Worthless Advice” and that it is meant to be funny, not serious.  She doesn’t like how I give the impression that I hate kids (I don’t really hate them).  She also wants me to brag more about being an Assistant Scoutmaster and a Girl Scout Leader (although some of her friends think that is odd until they hear about all the fun stuff we do).

Now, you can see why I avoid swearing on my blog (oh, and I can curse like a sailor if I wanted to).  I know that she will soon be logging on, reading my blog, and coming over to critique my last posting.

Jeez, it certainly is hard being a blogger.  Putting yourself, your thoughts, your writing style out there for the world to see (if they can find you).  It is one thing to have a nice imaginary stalker like Cyndi out there but it quite another to have a ten year old critic giving your last post a big thumbs down.  It is a good thing I get to review and approve the comments….

Thanks for reading!  Let me know if you need someone to tear down your blog and make you feel bad.  I’ll send my daughter over with her red pen of death.

The red pen photo is from the Website  http://www.fendrihan.com.  I don’t get a commission but it is one sweet looking pen if you want to check it out!

Where NOT to send your Daughter for Spring Break!

~ K ~ 15 Comments

You know what I love about the internet?  I love those Top Ten (or whatever) Lists and discovering where I’m not going to let my daughter go on Spring Break.  Sure, my little girl is only ten years old but you have to plan ahead if you want to be a good parent.  The last thing you want is your daughter having “daddy issues”, ending up on the stripper pole in some strip club in Las Vegas with her boyfriend T-Dog.  Don’t worry, she is “working her way through school” (mostly likely after you cut off the college tuition after she pulled straight Cs).

This is one of the key reasons why parents should be involved in their child’s life!  Strong role models whether they are male or female need to set the example for kids to learn from.

Regardless, I’m not saying that you should keep your daughter at home like I plan to do.  For one thing, I’m a much better parent than you can ever hope to be and two: you should send your daughter to these places so my son has someone to meet while he is on Spring Break.  I’m kidding of course…..

I present to you the “Trashiest Spring Break Vacation Destinations” according to this link from coedmagazine.com.  As you know, I think research is quite overrated.  My opinion is really the only thing that matters and since I have huge amounts of common sense, research is really a waste of my time.  Besides as an informed reader, you should be doing your own research.  You can’t be a sheep following me all the time (because sheep creep me out).

“Trashiest Spring Break Vacation Destinations”

  1. Las Vegas, NV
  2. South Padre Island, TX
  3. Daytona Beach, FL
  4. Myrtle Beach, SC
  5. Orlando, FL
  6. Lake Havasu, AZ
  7. Miami, FL
  8. Panama City, FL
  9. Key West, FL
  10. Fort Meyers, FL
  11. Tampa, FL
  12. Virginia Beach, VA
  13. Scottsdale, AZ
  14. New Orleans, LA
  15. San Diego, CA

I’m glad to see Florida made seven of the top spots.  I’m even happier that my dear State of Washington didn’t make it.  In reality, who in their right mind would come here for rain and cold weather for spring break?  Washington isn’t a Spring Break destination in the least.  We don’t have nice sunny, warm weather until August and September.  During the summer and fall, Western Washington is a beautiful place to visit.  You can see Mt. Rainier, you can take a trip to the top of the Space Needle and you can enjoy a ferry boat ride across Puget Sound.

Today’s lesson is to keep track of your kids, enjoy the sunny weather while you can, and keep living the fun life you are meant to have!

Girl Scout Troop Update: Where Only the Bad Survive!

~ K ~ 2 Comments

I know you are all dying to hear how our Girl Scout Troop is doing.  We have nine Girl Scouts in our troop with active and supportive parents.  I’m very lucky to have the support of the parents because I couldn’t do it alone.  I have enough trouble dealing with my own children much less nine Girl Scouts in the age range of 9-11 years old.

None of them are “bad”.  Sometimes, you have to have a witty sarcastic title to hook your blog readers in….

This is the big Girl Scout Cookie time of the year.  We are on track to sell about 1000 boxes of cookies this season.  My Cookie Manager Kristen told me we sold about 800 in the presale and now have about 200-300 more to sell.  This is what our Girl Scout Troop has committed to.  What we don’t sell, we have to buy.  At $4 a box, we want to make sure we sell every last box of cookies.  If you need some Girl Scout Cookies, keep us in mind!

Over the next few weekends, we’ll be selling Girl Scout Cookies outside of your local supermarket or drug store.  Our Scouts are still young and cute so they can sell the cookies fairly easy.  I was talking with another mom from an older troop (her daughter is in 8th Grade) and she said it was harder.  On the other hand, she did have a few boys at her middle school excited she was selling cookies and wanted to buy some.

Other events we are looking at: Indoor Rock Climbing at Stone Gardens in Bellevue and attending a Seattle Storm (Women’s Professional Basketball)

Going for the top!
Going for the top!

at the Key Arena in September.  We are extremely excited about both events.  Last year, the Girl Scouts had an awesome time with the indoor rock climbing at the gym.  Stone Gardens had two of their staff helping and encouraging the girls the whole time.  They showed the Scouts how to put on the equipment, how to climb, and how to descend correctly.  Very easy going and safety focused.  They offer a non-profit rate as well so it was fairly affordable.  If your Girl Scout Troop is the adventurous type, this is definitely an activity to consider.

The other event we did last year with our City of Kent Parks & Recreation Department basketball team (most of our Girl Scouts played on) was the Seattle Storm game in September.  I have an awesome Dad (Joel) who is great at organizing these outings.  He set up last year’s event and is doing it again this year.  Thanks Joel!

Last year, we had enough tickets sold to do the Fan Tunnel at the beginning of the game.  Our Girl Scouts and Girls Basketball Team, along with their parents and siblings, created a Fan Tunnel for the Storm players to run through and out onto the court.  A very good experience for everyone involved.  Again, I’d highly recommend getting some firm commitments from your troop members and booking a block of tickets to the Seattle Storm.  This year we plan to have 50 tickets and have 38 tickets sold.  So if you are free on Saturday September 7, this is a good chance to see some professional basketball in Seattle for only $20 a ticket.

If you do want to go, here is the Group Sale Rep’s information:

Eric Melch | Account Executive, Group Sales

Seattle Storm | P 206.272.2704 | y emelch@stormbasketball.com

3421 Thorndyke Avenue West, Seattle, WA 98119

www.StormBasketball.com

That’s our update for now.  I know it isn’t as sarcastic as you want it to be. But, hey, it’s Girl Scouts and they don’t teach that!

If the little Girl Scouts can do it, I better get up there too!
If the little Girl Scouts can do it, I better get up there too!

Volunteering: Only for the Brave and Stupid!

~ K ~ 6 Comments

I recently found out one of my best friends didn’t listen to my advice and has decided to “step up to the plate” and become the Cubmaster for his son’s Cub Scout Pack.

Hey, I’m known for being sarcastic but it when it comes to volunteering, I’m all in.  I like being involved in a worthwhile activity.  I like being with my daughter at her Girl Scout Troop and I like being with my son at his Boy Scout Troop.

I admire my friend’s decision to become the Cubmaster.  He’ll do a great job.

But then you also have to be Brave and (a little) Stupid to take on leadership job.  I’m all for volunteering but that is way too much responsibility for me.  I prefer to help out in a support role where I can be the muscle, but not the one in charge.  If you are the one in charge, you get blamed for everything that goes wrong.  Who needs that?

(Disclaimer:  I was the Den Leader for my son’s Cub Scout Den and now I’m an Assistant Scoutmaster in his Boy Scout Troop.  And I’m also the Girl Scout Troop Leader for my daughter’s Girl Scout Troop.  So I speak from experience on being Brave and Stupid when it comes to volunteering!)

How many times have you gone to a volunteer function and heard some attendee complain how much it sucked?  This could be an auction event for parents or a kid’s day camp for Girl Scouts.  These critics complain about everything: the volunteer staff, the weather, the setting, the accommodations, the kids.

They complain that the kids didn’t have fun at day camp or the staff wasn’t trained enough.  Um, excuse me, they are volunteers.  They do this job because they believe in the cause; not because they get an awesome paycheck!

If you don’t like what is going on, they do something about it.  Stop the complaining, volunteer, and help out!

I do agree that some volunteers are worse than others.  If they are goofing around and not teaching the subject (as it is with some teenagers), then I can see how the event sucks.  If the volunteer isn’t into the job, of course they aren’t going to do a good job.

Nowadays, it is hard to get people to volunteer to help.  With both parents working or a lack of childcare for the other kids in the family, it is hard to be able to volunteer.  No one seems to have the free time to help.  Some people are nervous to volunteer, thinking that they won’t be able to help in any matter.

I admire my friend for taking on the Cubmaster job; it isn’t an easy job.  He’ll have to plan meetings, deal with whacko parents, solve disputes, handle numerous meltdowns (by parents and kids), and still have a great attitude.  He’ll do all of this on top of his full time job.

So hats off to all volunteers, but a big “Thank You” to all the volunteers that hold a leadership role.  I wish you all the best in this unpaid position of parent complaints and whiny kids.

The 10 Best Bad Parenting Tips!

~ K ~ Leave a comment

It is so easy to dispense great parenting advice when you are an awesome parent like me.  However, it is a harder to teach others how to be bad parents.  Frankly, most people don’t listen to my great advice.  Keep in mind: parenting is a lifetime commitment that haunts you for the rest of your life.  Unless your kids turn out to be awesome and without any character flaws, you will most likely have them in your life forever.

That means that with some bad parenting, you can enjoy the journey of parenting  It’s not the destination; it’s the journey that is so darn fun!

10. Don’t Follow Through on Anything!

You don’t want your kids to think you (or anyone else) are reliable.  Empty promises are a surefire way to make your kids understand that the world is an unreliable place.  This gives them a head’s up that when the cable company says that they will be there in morning; that really means you’ll be lucky if they show up by 8 pm that evening.  Sure, take a whole day off from work and enjoy a wasted day waiting for your imaginary cable guy.  At least you can catch up on your Dr. Phil episodes.

9. Don’t Set Limits

Limits are for parents that want to shelter their kids from the pains of failure.  Your kids should be allowed to know that if they screw up; well it isn’t your fault.  How are they going to learn if you limit their creativity?  And if you set limits you might have to enforce these limits.  Jeez, that just makes more work for you.  You are a busy parent; you don’t need extra work on top of your yoga and latte schedule; that is just ridiculous.

8. Don’t be Flexible on Anything!

Sometimes you have to be flexible to be a good parent…nah, I’m kidding.  Never budge on anything.  If you give in on anything or if you are flexible on anything…well, you might as well give up your kids to foster care.  If plans change; too bad! So what if your kid is getting an Outstanding Student of the Quarter Award.  If it is during your favorite TV show; be firm on your schedule and don’t go.  It’s not like you’ll be able to see that show later!

7. Don’t Give in to Being a Good Parent

You’ll get a lot of pressure from your family and friends to be a good parent.  They’ll offer advice (most of it worthless advice) about how you need to “step up your game as a parent”.  Sure, their kids are doctors, lawyers, and other productive members of society…but what does that really prove?  If you are a father, you are even more important to a child’s life.  However, that isn’t going to stop you from hanging out at the football field reliving the glory years and drinking beer behind the bleachers.

6. Make Sure Your Kids Know Who is Boss!

Kids these days run all over their parents.  They are bossy and disrespectful.  You should tell them right off the bat that you are “The Boss”.  As soon as your wife/girlfriend is pregnant you should be telling your unborn child that you are the boss.  Whisper to them that they need to change their diapers at three months old you won’t be taking care of them forever.  You aren’t raising slackers!

5. Use Fear and Intimidation

If it works for 3rd World Dictators; it will work for you too!  If that kid of yours didn’t bother listen to you in the womb, now is the time to introduce fear and intimidate to their plate of feelings.  Allow them to taste how it will be like later in life when they meet the neighborhood bully.  You yelling and scaring him prepares him for what it will be like at school when the really bullies push him down and take his lunch money.

4. Never Be a Friend to Your Kid

If you are a friend to your kid, you make him a loser.  How is he going to make any friends if his parents are nice to him?  Instead, make sure to be mean and cruel.  This will allow him to have something in common with his peers.  He needs a good bonding point.  Nothing makes kids bond together faster than when they can whine about how “unfair” their parents are.  Usually this bonding occurs as they update their Facebook status on the Smartphone their parents gave them.

3. Always Comparing and Criticize

You know what made America great?  It is our ability to whine and complain about how our siblings were treated better than us.  If you don’t compare and criticize your kids, how are you going to make them competitive players in today’s business world?  Are they going to know that only the favorite child is going to win?  Sure, some of the experts out there want you to think that criticizing and public shaming leads to depression and low self esteem.  But we know what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?

2. Don’t Do Anything for your Kids

Do you want your kids to be crybabies?  Are you going to wipe their noses in high school?  Are you going to do their federal income taxes when they are 29 years old?  You think I might be a bit extreme.  But if you help them tie their shoes, you might as well do their do their taxes.  Oh, could you let them live in your basement until they are 40 years old too?  Thanks!  Seriously, let them learn early that having a home cooked meal by your Mom is so phony.  Point to the cupboard and the fridge and say: Have at It!

1. Don’t Pay Attention to Them

Let your nanny or daycare provider shower your kids with love; that is what you pay them for.  Really, have you seen the rates they charge?  They should be paying you for allowing them the opportunity to care for your child and experience the miracle of childcare.  If you pay attention to your kids you are making them think that they will always deserve your attention.  Well, they don’t.  If you pay attention to them, they will think everyone will pay attention to them.  That’s just plain crazy talk.  You want your kids to feel like no one cares; that everyone is just mean and cruel, just like you!

By now, you should have learned that being a parent is hard to do.  Stop trying so hard.  You can’t make water run uphill and you can’t be a good parent overnight.  So don’t even try.  If you have some worthless advice or comments you’d like to share, please leave them below.  They can’t be any worse than my worthless parenting advice.

Psst! I know what is wrong with kids these days….TV viewing is down!

~ K ~ Leave a comment

Why America Sucks: The Average Hours per week of TV viewing is down!

It is with great sorrow I must report that today’s children are not watching enough television.  According to this news report out of Minnesota, the Nielsen ratings reported that kids between the age of 2 and 11 watched an average of 24 hours per week.  Shockingly, that is down from 28 hours in the mid-1970s.

No wonder our country is going to hell in a hand basket!  Our kids are watching four hours of less television per week that my generation.  That is just plain awful.  This is trend that must be reverse for the sake of all America!

The good news that is that television can still screw up your kids!  They just need to focus on what kind of television they watch.

The more violent the better!  A recent study says that the type of television (the quality of television) also affects the child’s development.  To no one’s big surprise, the preschool age children who switched from violent television to more educational shows were less aggressive and more kind than the control group.  In the study, the control group didn’t change their television viewing habits.  The study also reported that the control group and the healthy TV group reported watching slightly more TV after the year-long monitoring project.

But don’t despair about TV viewing going down, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s (2010) report stated that kids spend an average of 75 hours of media viewing per week.

They broke it down into the following:

The average kid sponges in 2.5 hours of music each day, almost five hours of TV and movies, three hours of Internet and video games, and just 38 minutes of old-fashioned reading.  Sadly, that figure didn’t include the hour and a half spent text messaging each day, and the half hour kids talk on the cell phone.

So if your kid isn’t watching good old fashion TV, then they are on the computer or Smartphone racking up those media hours!  Good for them!   Don’t let us down!

Sorry, this blog post is so short….my daughter needed to rot her brain by playing an online game for 8 hours.  I don’t want her to be below average so she is allowed to play her online game for at least six hours. Then I kick her off to watch TV.  It is all about balance here in my house.

Remember: There are no below average kids in my house!

That’s my worthless advice for today!  As always, your comments on my great parenting tips are always welcome!

8 Things You Should Do to Make Your Kids More Self-Reliant at School

~ K ~ 3 Comments

I like to teach my kids one positive thing each day of their miserable little lives.  Going to school is an excellent way to show them how to overcome adversity; the adversity that I help make for them!  Sure, you could home school your kids (and I admire anyone who takes that challenge on…but really I can barely take care of myself and you want me to teach my kids something?  Isn’t that what the TV and the Internet is for?) but then you’d miss out on using these 8 Great Parenting Tips.

I created this helpful list that will make sure your kids learn something at school besides “book smarts”.  These eight great parenting tips will make them learn “street smarts” as well teach them some common sense.  Actually, we live in the suburbs so they might not learn “street smarts” but I would argue it will make them more self-reliant (totally awesome skill to have…especially when their father clearly doesn’t care about them).

  1. Forget to give them Lunch Money (or put money in their lunch account).  Have you ever forgotten your lunch at home or forgot money to buy a lunch? Why not give that same experience to your kids?  Remember how you had to beg others for spare change or maybe get an apple from them so you wouldn’t starve?  Once you “forget” the lunch money, your kids will learn how to negotiate with their friends to get something to eat.  Trade a favorite pen for three raisins?  Great deal!  Is your kid shy?  Hungry is a great way to motivate your child to overcome their shyness, learn to talk to others, and get something to eat!
  1. Forget to Turn in their Field Trip Permission Slip.  I always remembered the poor kid that had to stay behind in the main office while the rest of the class went on an awesome field trip.  Even if the place we were visiting sucked big time (like the sewer plant), we’d still come back and tell that loser kid that it was the best field trip we had EVER been on.  It was great.  We could say things like “Remember that time on the field trip when…Oh, yeah.  You didn’t go on it.  I bet you still had fun back at school, sitting in the main office, doing worksheets, having a school lunch with the secretaries.” Loser.
  1. Forget to pick them up after school.  Kids are always running late and taking forever to do things (like put their shoes on….even after you told them ten times you were leaving in five minutes).  They are always making you late or holding you up.  This is the time to return the favor.  I usually wait until it is pouring down rain and then “forget” to pick them up.  Nothing like spending 15 minutes in a cold downpour to teach them about being prompt and on time.  Which leads us into:
  1. Have them underdress/overdress for school activities (or the weather).  Don’t you hate it when you leave the house, it is nice and sunny outside, then it turns miserable and you are underdressed?  Or you forget your raincoat and it is pouring down rain?  You should always send your kid out in the wrong outfit.  Is it cold out?  Have them wear flip flops and shorts.  Is it blazing hot?  Make them wear a wool sweater and long pants.  Pretty soon they’ll learn to pay attention to the weather forecast and figure out what to wear.
  1. Miss their School Parent-Teacher Conference.  By now, you know if your kid is smart or as dumb as a box of rocks.  They need to learn that you are way too busy to waste time talking with their teacher about how good (or bad) they are doing.  That is what the phone or email is for.  Why do you really need a face to face conference with a teacher who your kid is only going to see for 9 months?
  1. Don’t send them with School Supplies.  Again, if they learned anything from my suggestion #1, they should be able to get by without you wasting any more money on school supplies.  Teachers know that at least one kid isn’t going to be bringing school supplies; that is why teachers ask for so much.  Your kid should know how to beg or borrow or trade for their school supplies.  This builds negotiation skills they’ll when they need to buy a car later in life.
  1. Forget School Photo Day.  One of my personal favorites (since I am a school photographer).  Nothing like being in the school yearbook looking like a clown because your parents didn’t brush your hair and you worn that dirty T-Shirt.  Your kids will love to be used as an example by other parents when their little brat argues with them about what they are wearing on School Photo Day.  They can flip open the yearbook, point to your kid’s photo and say “See?  Do you want to be like this kid?  He looks like he fell out of a garbage can!  I bet he smells like it too.”
  1. Don’t save/pay for their College Education.  Do you want your kids to feel entitled?  This is what happens when you save up for college.  Worst yet, you pay for college without saving for it.  This is probably the worst gift you can give your kids.  They are going to off to college without a care in the world, they are going to party up, and they won’t be paying for it.  Is that preparing them for the future?  Are they going to study harder when they are paying the college tuition bill or when you are paying for it?  Are they going to care more or less about getting good grades when they are paying that huge tuition bill or when you are doing it?  Teach them something about the responsibility by making them pay for college themselves.

Don’t hold back on making sure your kids learn how to be self-reliant in life.  Review these eight simple parenting tips and commit them to memory.  Make sure you are being the best parent you can be by reading my blog for future great parenting tips.

What do you think about 8 Things You Should Do to Make Your Kids More Self-Reliant at School?  Feel free to leave your sarcastic comments.  You know you want to…

Teaching Kids about Disappointment and Adversity: What Valentine’s Day is All About!

~ K ~ Leave a comment

Argh, it’s another one of those “holidays” where parents, husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, etc. are suppose to buy “gifts” for each other to prove their love to one another.  I view this as an opportunity to teach your kids (and your significant other) about Disappointment and Adversity.

You should know by now that if I talk to you or live with you, that you are pretty special.  This extends to my friends as well.  I’m pretty picky on who I hang out or interact with.  If you are reading this, you are even more special than others.

One of the ways you can teach your kids about Disappointment and Adversity is to NOT give them gifts or cards on Valentine’s Day.

What?  But…but…where’s the love?

You want love?  You want gifts?  Here are the gifts of love you should be giving them: Disappointment and Adversity.

They shouldn’t expect this day to be any more special than any other day.  It isn’t Christmas or their birthday; they shouldn’t get presents.  And according to my friend Mike, if you bought a Valentine’s Day card for your wife (or husband), you spent too much on her (or him).  His wife and he have mutually agreed not to exchange gifts or cards on these kinds of “fake” holidays.  I admire that.  They both get a gold star.

If you shower your kids or significant other with gifts now, you have already set unrealistic standards for them later in life.  You have created the opportunity for them to be disappointed later in life, yet not given them the experience of adversity to overcome their disappointment.

For example: What if you are in a different country and are gone for Valentine’s Day?  If you give your children gifts all the time for every Valentine’s Day, you have already set a standard you must constantly live up to.  Your kids will still expect a gift even when you are gone.  You just gave yourself more work to do.  You have to plan something and that takes work and effort on your part.  And will those kids remember your gift in a week?  Will your husband remember that gift in 24 hours?

No, they won’t.

All of your hard work, planning, and effort for nothing.  Your hard work wasted away in the hands of time.  What did you learn from this experience?

What if you don’t do anything?  You just taught a valuable lesson to our children about Disappointment.  After they cried their eyes out and say their mommy and daddy doesn’t love or care about them, they will be stronger.  Nothing makes your kid tougher than tears streaming down their dirty face, a little disappointment entered into their thought process.  They will learn a great lesson on how to overcome adversity.  How will they learn from this experience?  How will it make them stronger?  How will it toughen them up?

Let’s fast forward to your kid in a relationship with someone they care about.  This person forgets about Valentine’s Day.  Because you were such a “good” parent all these years, your kid (now an adult) goes ballistic because their significant other screwed up Valentine’s Day.  But really…whose fault is it?  As a parent, it is your fault because you chickened out and didn’t introduce Disappointment and Adversity at a young age.  For Pete’s sake, everyone knows that ALL problems stem from “daddy” or “mommy” issues we have as children.  Ask any stripper; they’ll tell you.

Life is all about Disappointment and how to overcome it.  A lesson in Disappointment will also teach your children about Adversity.  Your children will cry but this experience will make them stronger, they will overcome the adversity that they are now experiencing.  This lesson would be better taught to your children at a younger age.  Better to learn a valuable lesson at a younger age than later in life (when it will turn you bitter and just make you a miserable person).

As always, your sarcastic and bitter comments are welcome.  Heck, all of your comments are welcome.