Sickos, Bullies, and Crap. Oh my!

Here's what I found when I was looking for lighthearted morning news.

Sickos
Coach, 40, Weds 16-Year-Old Student
Anguished Parents Sign Consent Forms, Saying They Had No Choice
Right. There appears to be an epidemic of parents with no choice but to fail their children. Poor parents...it really is about them, after all.
Full story here. Be forewarned--it's filled with adults suffering from idiocy.

Bullies
Severe Bullying Caused Teen To Contemplate Suicide

Watch this. Key in on the schools' response and their idea of "normal middle school behavior".

Crap
Video Game Addiction: A Medical Disorder?
American Medical Association Seeks To Have Obsessive Game Playing Declared A Psychiatric Disorder
Full story here.
I suppose it is possible there are cases where this is actually a problem, however, something tells me that video games are not the responsbible party here. My first clues are that video games are inanimate, and require the will of a human in order to operate.

Your thoughts?

Cranky Old Mom

I guess that's what I've become. Now, anyone who knows me knows I like to have fun, and I do think I crack a funny joke here and there. However, I am finding it more and more difficult to enjoy what is meant to be mindless entertainment. I'm speaking about the movies.

I have always immensely enjoyed going to the movies. I even enjoy bad movies, because I like to think about what makes a movie good or bad. However, at the risk of sounding like a grumpy ol' grandma, there are themes these days that would never have made the cut for PG in my day. (Disclaimer: I did walk to school in the snow, and it was uphill--one way--but I don't think that should discredit my opinion here.)

The latest flick to cause me to shake my head (actually, I was making sarcastic jabs to my friend) is the new Nancy Drew movie. There are several really stupid messages in this movie (I won't even address the pre-teen mantra: if-you-dress-like-a-tart-and-treat-people-with-disgust-you-are-normal), not the least of which is this one from Kids In Mind:

MESSAGE - Forbidding a child from doing something that they love will make them go on doing it, but in secret.

How very UN-Nancy Drew.

Some other messages:
1. Throwing a wild party and trashing your house will make your dad "proud of you". (Yes, that is an actual quote from Carson Drew)

2. When disobeying your dad, ask 2 boys who are smitten with you. If they think it's OK, then it is OK.

3. Finally winning the approval of teen girls who are cruel to you, and dress like Steven Tyler, will make you feel good about yourself.


The rest of the movie is cute and corny and fun for the intended demographic. I couldn't really recommend it, though...

Perpetuating Stereotypes

Girl-A-Thon and a friend have been taking an embriodery class with 12 other girls. They are learning how to embroider, which is the point of the class. However, nothing is ever simple with 14 girls (except what I will write in my next post). A few days into the class, Girl-A-Thon and her friend decided to do their embroidery while in the character of medieval princesses. Unfortunately, this is, um...totally not cool. Some of the other girls began to make fun of them, at which point the teacher told the two (obviously improperly socialized) girls that they were asking to be teased, by acting like that. Thus in one fell swoop, stereotypes on both sides have been reinforced.

I have begun to reply to the most un-original question about homeschooling ("Aren't you worried about socialization?") with, "What do you mean by that?" Because, at our house, we have thought quite extensively about socialization; not in general, but in particular. We have determined that all socialization is not created equal.(Geniuses, aren't we?) And though I'm yet to have anyone actually formulate a reply to my question about socialization, I am quite capable of describing our family's thoughts on the same. My answer is actually quite long, and even backed with empirical data. (What a nerd. I wonder what kind of teasing I am asking for?)

The answer, for the parents who would take the time to think critically (ooh, educationese!) about socialization, is that they worry (for me) that my kids won't be able to survive as the fittest. Of course the difficulty here, is that we aren't seeking the same goal for our kids. I don't want my kids to be top of the heap in 6th or 7th or 10th grade. I have this crazy notion that my kids should seek to glorify God in all they say and do. Speaking from experience, observation, and yes, empirical data, that is simply not going to happen in a sea of other children. Furthermore, the adults strolling along the shores of that sea usually repsond to what I would defitinitely call anti-social behavior with a flippant "What did you expect? You're weird if you're nice (or innocent, or don't know who Paris Hilton is, etc.)"

Thus we remain a decidedly homeschooling family.

A Day of Accomplishment

Ironically, days in which I feel like I've actually made progress toward something seem to be rare this time of year. One would think that, looking back at the end of a school year, I would feel great accomplishment. And actually, that is the case...for about half a day or so. Nearly immediately, I look ahead to all there is yet to be done.
I do love to plan for and think about the books to gather for the next school year. However, all of the maintenance projects around the house begin to weigh heavily on me. Which means they get regularly mentioned to Dad-a-thon. Yes, it can be a stressful time here in the home-a-thon.

By God's grace, I am growing in my ability to "be still" and be content. It does, however, seem to highlight my need for more growth...

Anyway, today I got a few things done. Though I must admit homeschooling sure cut into my home improvement time ;-)

Sustained Adolescence

A comment my son made yesterday got me thinking. While shopping for a gift for my husband's birthday, I said to the kids, "It's so hard for me to find a gift for Daddy because if he wants something, he usually just gets it for himself."

"Really?" my son asked, "Dad can just go get anything he wants for himself?"

Nervously wondering where this was heading --the mind of a 12 year old boy can be a scary thing--I said, "Well, yes."

"I want to be a man just like that when I grow up."

Aha! The perfect moment to discuss the values of God-glorfying hard work, perseverance, tithing, etc. So of course, I did talk about all those things, and the resultant dimming of my son's excitement--though entirely age-appropriate--reminded me how much work there is in rearing a boy. Now, there is nothing wrong with a 12 year old wanting the world on a silver platter. However, he is to become a man; not a 30 year old who thinks and behaves like a 12 year old. Apparently that notion is counter-cultural.

The glorfication of irresponsible behavior in our culture is shockingly popular. Look at the lifestyles section of any paper or magazine. It is filled with gossip about the latest train wreck of a young adult, awash in cash and devoid of any correction (=love) or discipline (from the Latin discipulus: student)from their family; the very people whose job it is to do so!
This is so very sad. Without the presence of loving correction and discipline while a child is in the parents' home, that child is greatly challenged to develop any self-dsicipline. I once explained this to my kids by using the example of relay runners and a baton. Parents have the responsibility of discipline for a time in the child's life. During this time, the child sees, experiences, and learns how to discipline himself. Then the parent hands the baton to the child, and he heads off to run his own leg in the race of life. Fumble and drop the baton, and running will have no purpose or direction; the finish line just an interesting banner hanging there for no apparent reason.

The District

That's what the locals call it, and I am quite confident it they use caps when they do.
I spent last week in D.C. meeting up with a lifetime friend and a couple of other gals whom I have known for a while now. It has taken me nearly the week to recover from the time difference, but I am getting there. Leaving is always nice because it makes me want to get back home. For that alone it is a good thing.


My initial impressions were very different from what I expected. I found it to be a beautiful place with a real sense of purpose. It was as though the seriousness of the work that goes on there was tangible. Of course the sense of history is impossbile to miss, with every spot having some major siginificance to our nation, albeit the world. It is not crowded or dirty (I guess that's just New York), and I felt very safe where I was. Granted I didn't venture out to the sketchy areas, but then again, why would I?


The whole family will head back for a "field trip" this fall, and I expect we will have a great time. For those of you who have never been (like me) I recommend you make a point to go there. Ours is an incredible nation, invented by incredible men. The place where it all began is a pilgrimage every American should make.

Family (Again)

As I re-read my last post, I realized it could be interpreted that I was judging those around me. I confess that that was indeed my initial reaction in the office. (I am not prone to love those who "aren't doing what they are supposed to be doing." Of course I do have plenty of rational explanations (read: excuses) for my own tendency to fall short.)

However, the reason that the situation stuck with me was--no, not PTSD--because of the stark examples it provided. Each of those people I mentioned were experiencing the chaos of fractured family life (and taking the entire doctor's office along for the ride, too). This is what happens to a culture at large when the family falls apart.

Why Should Anyone Care?
It seems almost un-American to care what happens in someone else's family. However, if you think the chaos inside someone else's four walls doesn't have a direct impact on you and your life, you just plain don't know your history.

Clearly, this isn't going away, so expect more thoughts later...

Family Values

A worn out term, I know, but it sure explains a lot, doesn't it?

Lately (as in the last 31 years) I have been perseverating on the impact of the family. I think about it all the time. My earliest recollection of thinking about the family is when I was six years old. But I digress...

My thoughts this time were ignited at the pediatric opthalmologist's office. We arrived, checked in and sat down. My son immediately noticed an outdated dinosaur poster. Outdated because it had the audacity to have a brontosaurus on it. Any budding paleontologist these days knows that "a brontosaurus was actually a mistakenly contrived dinosaur. It is made up of the bones of an apatasaurus put in the wrong places." (A Direct quote from my son.) I, on the other hand, was reading the signs posted at frequent intervals around the small room which stated "Do Not Climb or Stand on the Furniture." I laughed to myself as I thought, "That many signs really does seem a bit excessive."

Obviously I was worng, or I wouldn't be writing about this. And boy was I wrong. As we waited our turn, the waiting area was not only confused for a jungle gym, but a home theatre, and private family counseling session, as well. In the span of 20 minutes the place became so unruly and cacauphonous, that my children and I literally began to huddle together. Instinctively hoping for safety, I suppose.

It was BIZARRE. Let me take you around the room with me:

In the middle of the room, and on every chair--including a few that had people in them--were two toddlers. They ran, they screamed, they yelled, and they did indeed climb on the furniture. I would have sworn they had a Starbucks double shot for breakfast.

To the left were 3 generations of women. (I had mistaken them for a mom with both a teenage and a preschool age daughter. It was actually a mom with her teen daughter and the daughter's little girl.) The mother of the preschooler was on her cell phone arguing with her boyfriend. The preschooler was watching "The Grinch" with Jim Carrey on a portable DVD player (volume on high). The grandma(?) was yelling at her teenage daughter telling her what to say to the boyfriend.

There was an older couple, grandparents to another very young boy. He was very interested in playing with the Starbucks kids. His grandparents looked tired and worn. It was 9AM. He had already overpowered them. He joined what I will now call the ADHD gang. Every once in while, grandma would holler across the room "No, that's naughty. You come sit down." The boy would scream "NO!" Then the whole gang would chime in, scremaing "No! No! No!" and continue on their merry way.

Finally, grace was poured upon us, and we were called in for the kids' exams. As I admired the doctors diplomas (BS Yale, MD Harvard--chief resident, no less), I couldn't help but think that she somehow got jipped.

Yeah, Right

“Under orders from our supreme ruler, Usama bin Laden, we announce our complete surrender and ask for mercy from our triumphant conquerors,” said an unnamed spokesman on a prerecorded audio statement released on al-Jazeera and CNN. “We are defenseless in the face of the Democrats’ aggressive pull-out schedule — Allah be praised.”

This post from Scrappleface would be a whole lot funnier if it weren't so darn indicative of the way the Democrats think. Of course the real cynic in me thinks that's giving the Dems far too much credit. The real cynic thinks they care nothing at all about the war, lives lost, etc. They care only about getting that power completely back into their own hands...


It's funny, because wehre I live, the entire state is run by the Democartic party. Local politicians have an arrogance about them that you really should experience sometime. It will make you ill. I'm originally from another state run by Republicans, and, though I was not interested in local politics while growing up there, I imagine they behave much the same way.

Seriously...A Man Thought of This

Read on the wrapper of a feminine hygiene product: "Have a Happy Period" And, in French, too: "Bonne et heureuse semaine".

C'mon people. Do we have to write anything on the wrapper at all? And if you think yes, why in the world would you write that?

Sponge Worthy

Now, Elaine will not have to be so particular.

"What Do You Know of the Latest Tragedy?"

That was my dad's question when I finally reached him this morning. (He was referring to the attack on my nephew) Its accuracy struck me. The events that cause all the members of my family to get in touch basically involve tragedy. Though I would never describe us as a close family, we do know how to rally in an emergency. We do know how to do that.

It is heartbreaking to me that the very means God has given us to experience his love and grace, the family, has become so injured in our culture. My own family of origin is certainly not in the worst shape, but it does suffer serious wounds.

Knowing what I know now, it is gutwrenching to know that the people whom I love dearly suffer so much. I know. I have been there.

A few of my favorite things...

After a truly horrific 36 hours or so, it was really nice to go out to a "joint" with friends. (Our nook of Hawaii is particularly odd in its contrasts. You can have a $150-$200 dinner in a place where they have to remind customers "no tank tops after 5PM" and "please wear shoes".) I feel so incredibly blessed by the good friends God has seen fit to give us; and am particularly grateful for them at times like these, when tragedy has struck my family and I am so far away.

Praise to the Lord, He is worthy of praise

A sigh of relief was breathed by family yesterday afternoon. My nephew was taken off the ventilator and was doing much better.

He is doing even better today. I got to talk briefly to him and give him our family's love. He is sitting up for short times, and is conscious (though loopy from the morhpine).

God has spared this one of His children, and for that, there is an occasionally functional family spread across this nation that is ever so grateful.

Random Violence

What a strange phrase to coin. It is the surest sign of our need to explain the unexplainable. As if naming something absurd, somehow makes it less absurd.

In any case, the absurdity of random violence has hit home today. My nephew was stabbed seven times in the back last night. He is on a ventilator and that's about all I know right now. Apparently there was a robbery near where he was with the two girls in his car, and the criminals dragged my nephew and the girls out of the car and attacked them with knives. The girls' faces are slashed up, I'm told.

Again, as in the case of the atrocities at Virginia Tech, there is but one explanation, and it is best said here:

“the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9). We need new hearts (Ezekiel 11:19, John 3:3). We need Jesus.

Field Trip Day

One of the perks of having a friend in the Navy was realized yesterday when we got to tour the USS Ronald Reagan. It is an aircraft carrier, and the newest one on the sea. What an incredible experience. It adds a whole new meaning to the word "awesome". I know I feel a lot safer knowing there are a few of these out there, patrolling.

Liberalism is Developmentally Inappropriate for Adults

I tend to think of the relationships of ideas, in pictures. This causes me to "take the scenic route" when discussing topics, but often makes for an interesting experience (or so I think). All this is to explain how I arrived at the statement above, and it provides a nice example, as well.

I was dusting and it came to me--the reason I get so frustrated with the politically liberal way of thinking. It is not merely naive, it's childish. And, therefore, developmentally inapproriate for adults.
Most children would like there to be peace and flowers, puppies and ponies, cookies and milk all around. But as adults, we are bound by the reality that there are a limited amount of resources and an unlimited amount of draws on them. As adults, we must thoughtfully make decisions based on this reality. No one likes this reality, but a reality it is, nonetheless.
Children, on the other hand can make choices outside of reality. They can make blanket statements like "Everyone should have cookies every night." And Actually, wouldn't we all like to have that in the world?

National Embarrassment

I have been embarrased by this woman since she became Speaker of the House. Everything about her screams "Don't let women in positions of power!!" I don't happen to agree with that sentiment as a general rule, however, I do think it is much more difficult for women to lead in a diginified and honorable manner. Sadly, Nancy Pelosi is completely a case in point.

Hers is an air of arrogance and self-righteousness. She looks like she will break into "Na-Nee-Na-Nee-Na-Na!" at any moment. It's just embarrassing on all counts.

With a little bit of luck she will go away. Seems she may have committed a felony when she took her unauthorized field trip to Syria.

The Logan Act makes it a felony and provides for a prison sentence of up to three years for any American, "without authority of the United States," to communicate with a foreign government in an effort to influence that government's behavior on any "disputes or controversies with the United States."

Read the whole explanation here.

UPDATE: PalmTreePundit points out that Ms. Pelosi is a HAIR PUSHER!!! The photo above is proof of this crime against humanity. According to my husband's grandmother, this is an offense of highest degree for a woman. Grandma says it indicates self-importance. (Teresa Heinz-Kerry is also a hair pusher.)

The War that Can't Be Named

In their infinite wisdom, the democrats in the House Armed Services Committee have banned use of the phrase "Global War on Terror".

The “global war on terror,” a phrase first used by President Bush shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., should not be used, according to the memo. Also banned is the phrase the “long war,” which military officials began using last year as a way of acknowledging that military operations against terrorist states and organizations would not be wrapped up in a few years.

What if we compromise and call it "Sheila"?

The whole thing is here.

Civics 201

The week of March 14 was Civics 101. This is defintiely Civics 201. I am still trying to convince the state legislature that the UN Council on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is a bad idea. You MUST read this thing. The whole treaty is, of course, a good sized paperback book. An abbreviated version can be found here.

Consider these (and no, this is not a joke):

Right to Freedom of Expression: This right shall include the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds through any other media of the child's choice.

Right to Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion: The state would only need to respect a parent's "rights and duties...to provide direction to the child in the exercise of his or her right." Thus, a child could join a cult and prevent the parent from interfering with his or her "right" to do so.

Right to Freedom of Association: A child could determine who his or her friends are against their parents' wishes. (Can you say "online predator"?)

Right to Privacy: A child could not be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence. This could include a right to abortion or sexual activity.

Right to Mass Media(Yes, a right to Mass Media): This right would ensure the child has access to information and material from a diversity of national and international sources.

In order to enforce these "rights" a child would simply have to call a social worker to report their parents for violating their rights. If this treaty becomes binding, the government would have the power to intervene in a child's life "for the best interest of the child." Currently, the government can intervene in this fashion only by going to court and proving that parents have been abusive or have neglected their children. This means that whenever the UN-dominated social services system thought that your parental choices were not the best, the government would have the power to override your choices and protect your child from you.
The ability to homeschool one's children would become not a right, but a UN-supervised activity that could be overturned if social services personnel believed that it would be "best" for your child to receive another form of education. Moreover, children would be required to be taught in a religiously "tolerant manner". (The American Bar Association, which supports the treaty, has already opined that teaching children that Jesus is the only way to God violates the spirit and meaning of the UNCRC.) Ah, yep. It would become illegal to teach you rchildren your Christian faith.

These are not idle speculations, but the proven result of the UN's own interpretation of the treaty as they have reviewed other nations' compliance with the treaty's provisions.

(hat tip:HSLDA)

If you haven't had enough, more information about the concerns with the U.N. Convention of the Rights of the Child are found here.