Category: parenting

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He Stole From His Mother

About a year ago I loaned Sherri some money because she was in a real bind. She had cashed her paycheck and taken the money home, left her purse in the living room and went to bed. Sometime during the night, one of her kids took all the cash from her purse and took off. The brat didn’t just take a couple of $20 bills, he took her entire paycheck and didn’t leave her a single dollar.

That meant she could not pay her electric bill, her car payment or go grocery shopping for a whole week. That was heartless and unforgivable to do that to your mother, but that’s what kids do when they are desperate for cash. And the sad thing is that she has two sons and isn’t sure which one did it.

So I loaned her the $400 and told her I could wait a month or two to get it back from her. Now I just realized its been almost a year and she’s never paid me back. I am going to have to find a gentle way to remind her that I want my money back.

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Pell Grants

One of the kids has decided to go back to school. This is not the time to be asking parents for money – especially big money like college expenses. But he says that he can get a Pell grant and it won’t cost anything but books and gasoline. I somehow doubt that, but am willing to look into it.

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Wrapping Gifts Was An Artform

Gift wrapping is a lost art. When I was a kid, getting a gift was a big deal. The wrapping was usually very elaborate. Fist, the gift was placed in a large square or rectangular box. Then a special patterned paper was used to wrap the box. Then a ribbon was wound around the box and a fancy bow, sometimes adorned with ornaments, was the final touch. Every gift was also accompanied by a greeting card. The best cards were Hallmark cards. The other cards were cheaper and considered inferior to Hallmark.

When we opened the gifts, we did not tear into the wrapping. We gently removed the ribbon, saving the bow, and then gently pulled the wrapping paper loose. Sometimes if the paper was in good condition it was salvaged and reused at a later date. Even the boxes were knocked down and saved for later use.

And most important, even if the gift was not exactly what you wanted, you were expected to display a look of surprise and gratitude. A proper thank you was expected and putting the item to use or shared with others with an acknowledgement to the giver was the proper thing to do.

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Too Much Drama

One of my cousins has been posting one or two lines from hit songs as her Facebook status. I never know if what she posted is what she is thinking or if it is just words from a song that she likes. Most of the time they are very dramatic, and could be taken as a sign that she is thinking of suicide or taking off and leaving. It is very upsetting when I first read it, then some of her friends make jokes and I realize that it is a song or something the kids just say these days.

I suppose if it is from a song that she likes she might see some relevance of the words to her life. But it is so confusing.

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Let the fun begin!!

Well today is the first day of school and I’m sure the teachers will already be looking forward to Friday.  The first week of school usually either goes smoothly or the children are complete monsters because they’re not used to sitting still unless it’s in front of a gaming system.

It won’t take them long to get back into the routine of school again.  I remember when my children were still at home and started school.  It was a great day for my wife and I but the kids left with long faces.  Usually by they had big smiles on their faces when they came home.  Either that or the same miserable look they had that morning.  Oh well, it’s like I explained to them, if you start your day with a good attitude then the day will probably go good but if you don’t, don’t expect to have a good day.

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Are you donating?

Before you know it, the kids will be back in school.  The problem is that with so many people out of work, there is a real need for ‘School Tools’ donations.  I don’t know if they do that in your area or not but maybe you need to the the one to start something like that.

I know a lot of churches collect items that children need for school and then distribute them to needy children but there is even more need than just one church or two can handle.  If nothing else, find a family you know that is struggling and offer to buy what their child needs for school.  Ask them to allow you the ‘honor’ of helping this child with his education.

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My son has learned so very much

It’s very hard to let your child fall.  A parents first reaction is to reach out and catch them but there are times when you have to let them fall.  Once they have fallen, a parents first reaction is to reach down and pick them up but sometimes the best thing is to let them get back up on their own.  I have a hard time trying to let my children learn a hard lesson that they have put themselves into but one thing I have also learned from these lessons my son has to learn, and that is that I have to let him learn them or he never will.  I have to let him learn the hard way and I can keep running to get him out of what ever mess he has gotten himself into anymore.

He has spent over 2 months in jail and will be getting out on the 23rd he told me today.  When he gets out, it’s on his own totally.  I did not pay for his bail, I did not pay for a lawyer, I did not pay to get his truck out so he walks out with the clothes on his back and whatever the wife of someone who is also in jail with him was able to get out of his truck.  That hurts me so much but he has to learn or he will end up in prison for a long, long time.  I can’t stand the thought of that and neither can he so hopefully, with the help of God, he has learned.

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I have a hard time understanding this

Our world is so full of hate and I have a hard time understanding this.  People killing innocent people just because they lost their job or kids killing classmates in school because someone picked on them.  How can this be?  Why has it become so easy to take a gun and take someone else’s life?  Sure if someone is threatening to harm you or your family then you have to do what you have to do but these people are killing people that have done nothing to them.  Here’s an example of what I’m talking about that just occurred in Alabama.

Ten people have been killed and several injured across two small towns of Samson and Geneva in Alabama after a shooting incident by a gunman. The victims include the gunman and the wife and child of a sheriff’s deputy.

The gunman started his killing spree in a gas station in Samson after 5 p.m. Eastern Time and his rampage ended 12 miles away at the Reliable Metal Products plant, a manufacturing plant in Geneva. According to a report by CNN from Alabama state Senator Harri Anne Smith, who represents Geneva County “he [the gunman] was shooting at just ordinary people going about their business”.

The gunman was identified as Michael McLendon, who once worked at the Reliable Metal Products plant. He took his life at the plant after an encounter with the police. The victims include six adults and a child. The investigators are not sure what caused this catastrophic event to take place. Samson and Geneva are two small rural towns with a population of less than 5000 in Alabama near the Florida border.

Life is precious.  No one knows why this person when on the shooting spree that took the life of a small child in the rampage this man when on.  Then he took the cowards way out and killed himself.  If his life was so terrible, why didn’t he just take his own life and let the innocent people live their lives?  No one can give an answer to that question unfortunately.  Maybe we need to teach our children just how precious life really is because somewhere along the line, that seems to be a lesson not enough people learned.

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I have heard a change in my son

Well my son has been sending me letters from jail and I am beginning to really hear or read a difference in each and every letter.  He is finally starting to realize that he has gotten himself in this mess and he’s going to have to do what he has to do to get himself out of it.  He’s finally realizing that Mom and Dad can’t fix everything anymore.

It hurts me to have to teach him this lesson but if he doesn’t learn it now, he’s going to end up somewhere he really doesn’t want to be and somewhere I don’t want him to be either.  In all reality, he’s teaching himself a hard lesson.

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I have made my decision

I am not going to get the truck out of the tow yard.  If my son loses it, then he loses it.  He did this to himself and he has to realize that at some point in time, you are responsible for your own life.  I have helped him too much in the past I’m afraid and now he expects that every time he gets in a jam, Good Ol’ Dad will come to the rescue.  Well I can’t do that anymore.  I have to let him fall flat on his face and hope and pray he is man enough to learn to stand back up on his own.

My wife wants me to get it out but I can’t.  I understand her point of view which is “If he doesn’t have a car, then how can he get a job and get back and forth to work?”  I had a cousin that walked 15 miles one way to work everyday and supported his wife and two children only to have to walk back home 15 miles in the evening.  If he could do it, surely my son can too.  He has to want to, that’s all it is to it and he’s not going to want to as long as we keep giving and giving.  If we don’t quit giving, he’ll break us and never think a thing of it.