Comment Archives: stories: News: Suburban Turmoil
Re: “Don’t discipline your kid — he might be the next dalai lama”
I babysat two young boys shortly after getting out of college. Their parents let them do whatever, including eating popcorn for dinner. Umm, yeah, not going to happen. During my year and a half with them, the oldest learned that if we played games together that I wasn't going to let him just win because that is what he wanted. Tantrums while out in town equaled loading back up into the car and going back home.
I might have been spanked once or twice while growing up but my parents gave me the death stare and the promise of we will leave if I acted out. I understood that I was to be quiet and behave while in church. That going out for dinner was a treat and that I was to be respectful of others around me and if I wasn't then a trip to the restroom was coming quickly.
Kids do appreciate boundaries and letting little Sammkins run amok in a store is not cute. In fact, I have had the same experience in Macy's and the mom always just looks up, shrugs her shoulders as if saying "What can I do? He just likes to march to a different beat."
www.growingupandtryingtogetitright.wordpre…
Re: “Don’t discipline your kid — he might be the next dalai lama”
This is something I think about all the time. I'm trying to raise my children to know right from wrong but these spoiled brats don't play by the same rules. In fact, they think the rules don't apply to them. I worry that when my kids get into grade school and beyond, cheating, plagarizing etc. will be the norm. How will honest, well-behaved kids fare? Will universities start to fill up with kids who got there by dishonest means? Because being snotty at the playground at five years old will only get much, much worse - especially when they've had the tacit approval of their parents to behave like they can never get in trouble for anything. I really hope at some point society says enough is enough.
http://thegreatmirth.blogspot.com/
Re: “Don’t discipline your kid — he might be the next dalai lama”
Pushover Parents, and their spoiled offspring, drive me nuts, but I also fear that I am one since sometimes I wonder if I'm being to strict or demanding. But I totally don't want my kid to turn out like some of the kids I see around.
Erica
redheadmamalife.blogspot.com
Re: “Don’t discipline your kid — he might be the next dalai lama”
This is what I see everyday. I work in education, at an elementary school. Parents never want their children to experience even a moment of dissatisfaction. They want to prevent every possible failure. The result is that they are raising children who will fall apart as young adults on their own because they have never had to pick themselves up from something that does not go their way. In addition, their needs are more important than the needs of anyone else. On Friday, I watched a group of 2-7 year olds run around the back of an auditorium screaming and yelling while a dance performance was taking place on stage. Not one parent stopped them. Not one!
Re: “Don’t discipline your kid — he might be the next dalai lama”
Yeah, I meant in terms of importance. I think his early years were fascinating. Thanks for the tip, though. :)
Re: “Don’t discipline your kid — he might be the next dalai lama”
The Dalai Lama was disciplined rather strictly and sternly. Read his biography and you'll see that while in some respects he was revered as a child, he also had high expectations placed on him at an early age. His study and training as a child were more intense than western children ever receive. Maybe not the best simile to use in your article. Just sayin'.
Re: “Don't let the bedbugs bite — or end their reign of terror”
When I heard about Nashville having a bad bedbug problem, I promptly felt itchy and wanted to invest in a mattress cover. So far no sightings in my house but I will remain forever on the lookout!
www.hopefulleigh.blogspot.com
Re: “Don't let the bedbugs bite — or end their reign of terror”
These bedbug stories are HORRIBLE. HORRIBLE. In a way, it's as bad as losing your belongings in a fire, because it goes on and on and on for months, and I would imagine you become paranoid about where else bedbugs could be hiding and your possessions really start to lose their value in your eyes... EW.
Re: “The Hoarders Method of Housekeeping”
I have scheduled Goodwill to come out before, but I usually only have them come out for furniture. It seems like a waste to have them come out for a few bags of clothing. I just take that stuff in myself.
Re: “Don't let the bedbugs bite — or end their reign of terror”
I sooooo know what you mean. Except... we really DID have bedbugs. My husband travels a lot. I suspect that he actually brought them home from New York.
My sister had just moved in with us with her 3 months babe and was 1 month pregnant. Everyone except for me and the baby were covered in mosquito bites. It seemed to be a really bad year for mosquitoes.
I picked up the baby off of my bed one day and saw a dead bug under her. I thought nothing of it and threw it away... but it nagged at me. My husband was off traveling and my sister and her baby were already sleeping when I hauled that damn bug out of my garbage and began my google images search. Imagine my horror!!!
I tore the spare bed apart and was horrified to find the bed was covered in them. How could we have missed this...? This was before bedbugs hit the news as making a comeback. I was sooooo ashamed. We washed our sheets every week - how the hell did I miss this (actually I did think that there was something wrong with our laundry machines, they seemed to be depositing little oils specks on our sheets - little did I know that it was actually bug poo - blech!).
I had to go to bed that night in my bed where my sister and her baby were sleeping and ignore the bugs. Lets just say - I didn't have much sleep that night.
The next morning I packed up our Subaru wagon with 30+ bags of clothes and bedding and took over a local laundromat. We got an exterminator in to spray everything. I cleaned and I cleaned... and then I cleaned some more. And I cried.
I will spare you the details of the next couple of years and the _thousands_ of $$ we spent. But, I must say... I still check the bed fanatically every time I change the sheets. If there is even a speck, it must be examined. When my husband travels, all of his bags get put into the bathtub while he checks his room and bedding, they can come out of the tub when no evidence is found. When he comes home, his clothes go into a plastic bag, get washed in hot water and what can't be washed gets put into the freezer for a couple of weeks. I check every bed that I sleep in, no matter where I am.
I made my husband ask at the hotel that he stayed in the last time he went to New York, a few months ago. They took him very seriously and had the manager call him back and tell him that while they have never had bedbugs, they have exterminators come through weekly to examine everything.
We have half the belongings that we had when we first found the bedbugs, and I like it that way. To be honest, we have been getting rid of more... when I look through my house (when I am feeling paranoid), I simply see places for bedbugs to hide (not the only reason but a good enough reason). Aaargh!
Ummm.... Traumatized much?
;-)
http://polyphase.ca/kc
Re: “Don't let the bedbugs bite — or end their reign of terror”
Just reading this is making me itch! I've heard that you should put all new clothing/fabric purchases in the dryer on high heat for 20 minutes as soon as you bring them into your house. Not a bad idea, right?
http://sturgmomingeneral.blogspot.com
Re: “Don't let the bedbugs bite — or end their reign of terror”
I am now itching, thank you very much. This just skeeves me out and to think I want to travel, maybe I can pack that BBB bed cover and just roll myself up in it.
www.growingupandtryingtogetitright.wordpre…
Re: “Don't let the bedbugs bite — or end their reign of terror”
BIRD MITE INFESTATION?!
BEDBUG REGISTRY?!
AAAAAGGGHHH!
Re: “Don't let the bedbugs bite — or end their reign of terror”
i am itchy right now.....
http://cjmcgrey.typepad.com
Re: “Don't let the bedbugs bite — or end their reign of terror”
I keep meaning to write about my family's near brush with disaster in the form of a bird mite infestation (hint---don't let wood doves make nests on your windowsills....even if it's fun to watch the baby birds hatch....). And yeah, bed begs would be up there with unbearable. The more I think about bug infestations of any kind, the more trouble I have sleeping. So, for me, it's better not to think about it? Maybe that's a cop out. Anyway, http://workingclassstudies.wordpress.com/2….
Re: “Don't let the bedbugs bite — or end their reign of terror”
We are going to NYC for a weekend in December and I was so looking forward to it until I remembered it's like the Bedbug Capital of America. We're staying with a friend in Brooklyn. I don't have the guts to insult her by asking if she's had a bedbug problem.
Also, while I was reading this column I felt something ON MY LEG and freaked out...turns out it was just the cord from my iphone earbuds dangling off the desk. But it scared me to death anyway.
http://acvollers.blogspot.com
Re: “Don't let the bedbugs bite — or end their reign of terror”
All this because we decided that DEET was a bad thing!
http://txrosejames.blogspot.com/
Re: “Don't let the bedbugs bite — or end their reign of terror”
So terrorized by the thought of bedbugs I forgot to include my url: http://thegreatmirth.blogspot.com/
Re: “Don't let the bedbugs bite — or end their reign of terror”
I too am completely freaked out by all the media reports on bedbugs. So much so that when we planned to take a week's vacation this past summer I spent hours trolling The Bedbug Registry (www.bedbugregistry.com) to see if the hotels we were planning on staying at were on the list. And while, thankfully, there were no reports I still checked the mattresses, headboards, pillows etc. when we checked in.
So far so good but now my son's kindergarten teacher wants to do a class project where a doll gets to do "sleepovers" at each student's house (long story but it does have an educational purpose). Umm, I think it will just be between our family and the doll that it will be "sleeping over" in the garage. So bad is my paranoia that I don't trust where this doll has been!
Re: “Don’t discipline your kid — he might be the next dalai lama”
Pushover parenting is a cop out. People are doing their kids no favors. Imagine when these special snowflakes hit the workforce :shudder:
I am my kid's parent first. I expect to remain their friend and have their respect in the long term, but sometimes they don't like my rules and expectations. And that's ok, because it's my job to teach them right from wrong, and the right way to behave and treat other people. And that life isn't always fair, and you can't always have what you want.
I suppose since I really don't hang much with the parents of my kid's friend's, I don't worry about their censure. I am secure in knowing what's right for my kids. And those 'use your words, not your hands' moments I witness drive me nuts. It's not the way I was raised, and I don't see how people think this the way to deal with misbehavior, since it's certainly not effective.