andrejcick

  Children for the most part do what they are raised to do. I think the solution starts with the parents. Raise your children to be accepting of others, to treat others as you wish to be treated. Realistically, kids can be brats and that is a part of growing up, nothing to be done about that. But if children see their parents being more accepting and less judgmental of others, it will wear off on them just like the bad habits do. When we grow up we do or think a lot of the same things our parents did. So if your child is bullying other children at school, maybe you should do a self examination on how you treat others.

I try a few different things if I can't sleep. I'll pick up a book that doesn't interest me much, this almost always works, boring myself to sleep. Or I will listen to my mp3 player with the volume down, replaying the same song over and over. If I don't have either of those things handy I will play a little movie inside my head. It's not the same as thinking about day to day troubles which will keep me up all night, and I never see the end of these little imagination movies.

 I wasn't trying to impress anyone, but ended up doing it all the same. When I was 14 there was a boy the same age who was always tormenting me & my younger sisters. This boy and I would get into little fights that didn't last long or cause any real damage, but I guess one day he got mad enough to change tactics. We were at the end of our block in front of his house when he told me I was in for a big surprise. I told him I wasn't scared. Soon after two boys bigger than myself came around the corner looking to be in the fighting spirit. They stopped in front of us and asked my opponent where the guy was. He pointed at me with an expression on his face that said, let the beating begin. These two guys looked at me, a girl, back to my antagonizer and asked him, to be positive, that it was I who could not be handled and deserved a beating. He nodded, not looking so sure of himself anymore, and it was then that they burst out laughing. This lasted for a while, the two boys (who were brothers) then apologized to me on behalf of their friend and asked if I would like them to hold him down for me. I replied I needed no such help and could hand out  punishment on my own. The younger brother was so impressed with me, we ended up talking and he became my 1st  (long-term, for a teen anyway) boyfriend.

I could pick two! I could do without the television and the phone for a week. The phone drives me crazy anyway, and anything that comes on t.v. can surely wait a week. I couldn't imagine going a whole week with out my mp3 player though.

The things I remember most from when I was a child don't have anything to do with gifts or other material objects. Instead the were the little things, like my dad and I sitting out on the front porch talking. One of those times it was night time and he asked me what sounds I could hear. I told him that it was a very quiet night and that I did not hear a thing. My dad suggested I close my eyes and try again, so I did. This time I heard cars driving past, dogs barking, a train in the distance and many crickets. I said as much to him and he told me I was still missing a few. Well now this attention to detail was becoming a game and I did end up listing a few more sounds like the bats and the wind. Memories like these made me determined that I would not spoil my kids and to make sure I always made time to make memories like this for them to look back on when they got older. 

One day it was pouring raining like crazy and I have always loved watching and listening to it. My boys stood next to me at the back door and watched with me. They said how cool it would be to play in the rain, and they are right, it is fun, I've done it myself. But they had that look on their faces that says they won't ask because they already know the answer is going to be 'no'. The kid inside me smiled and I whispered 'Go' and nodded towards the rain. They made big whoops of joy as they bounded out the door and to this day they still talk about the time I let them play out in the pouring rain that summer and the pictures from that day are some of my #1 favorites.