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January 2007
Are you ‘mama,’ ‘mom’ or ‘mother?’
What do your kids call you, their dad and their grandparents?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We went to my girlfriend’s house to play last Saturday. There was another family there as well, which added up to nine kids playing in the house.
We heard a little voice yell down from the upstairs, “Mama, I need you.” I was like, “Was that one of mine?”
The other mom said, “Well I know it wasn’t mine. They never call me mama.” (Her husband is English and she is from up North so I don’t think they grew up saying it.)
But it got me wondering: What do your kids call you and why? Do you think that certain names indicate a more formal relationship or a closer one? Who decided what you would be called? (All these questions apply for Dads too.)
A corollary question: What do your kids call their grandparents?
AJC reporter Gayle White wrote a fantastic story a few years back about how the baby boomer grandparents totally don’t want to be called Grandma and Grandpa. They don’t think they are that old. So there are all the crazy variations now out there.
My parents are Mimi and Papa. My mother wanted to be Grandmother, but we finally convinced her a 9-month old just couldn’t say that.
Permalink | Comments (248) | Categories: Family Life
Smoke ’em with kids in the car?
The latest trend this legislative season seems to be bans on smoking while kids are in the car. What do you think: Invasion of privacy or necessary to protect children?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I keep seeing headlines about states proposing bills to make it illegal for parents to smoke while there are kids in the car. I finally found a round-up story that summarizes what the different states are proposing. According to the summary, Louisiana, Arkansas and Puerto Rico have all passed varying laws on this. Similar bans are being considered by NINE states this legislative season. Here’s the full story.
Rhode Island state Sen. Susan Sosnowski, who introduced a bill to make it illegal to smoke while a 6-year-old child or younger is in the car, said, “I think it’s important to protect those who can’t speak for themselves. They’re strapped in there and there’s nothing they can do to get away from it.”
The story reports that: “Gary Nolan, Ohio state coordinator and spokesman for The Smoker’s Club Inc., a national smokers’ rights organization, opposes the idea. ‘It is an invasion of privacy. It is usurping the rights of parents and usurping private property rights,’ Nolan said.”
What do you think? Should smoking be banned in cars carrying kids? Could Georgia pass something like this?
Permalink | Comments (167) | Categories: Ethics of rearing kids today
What’s in a name? Trouble
How did you pick your child’s name? Any regrets?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With only five weeks to go, we are still struggling to find the perfect name for our new precious baby.
We screwed up naming our first child, and we don’t want to make the same mistakes again.
We always knew we’d call our daughter Rose — after Michael’s deceased mother — but we stupidly made it her middle name instead of her first. We thought it was too short to come first. So instead, she’s stuck with a longer random name that we thought was cute at the time.
Now, I absolutely cringe when people call her Cassandra. And, I regret that she’ll constantly have to tell teachers, bus drivers and telemarketers, “Yes, but everyone calls me Rose.”
By the time our son arrived, we had established two rules: 1) Call our child by his first name. 2) Stick with family names so we’ll always like what we’ve chosen.
We used my maiden name for my son’s first name. While my relatives thought Walsh was a bit odd as a first name, it really fits him and we still adore it. We used Anthony for his middle name, and that honors relatives on both sides of the family.
But now we’ve used up the obvious family names and have to dig deeper.
I keep racking my brain trying to remember trips to the Savannah graveyard. Whenever we went to funerals there, I spent half my time checking out the family plot for possible baby names. (Morbid yes, but good research.)
I keep harassing Michael’s aunt for Italian family names. She pronounces them so beautifully, but I can never say them with the right inflection. I’m afraid that teachers, lunchroom ladies and coaches won’t get them right either.
We do have two names that we like, but they each come with some family controversy.
One of the names was my grandmother’s childhood nickname. We’ve heard it one way, but my 80-something great aunt says it’s spelled and pronounced differently. We don’t like her version. My grandmother’s childhood friends say it’s the way we originally heard it. I am personally choosing to disavow my great aunt and go with what the other old ladies remember.
We also are currently leaning toward Michael’s grandfather’s Italian nickname. The only catch here is — according to some family members — his grandfather was a fascist in Mussolini’s army. The aunts and uncles disagree on this, but according to Michael’s father he wasn’t just drafted, he was really enthusiastic about the fascist Mussolini.
With all due respect to those who suffered under Mussolini, I’m just not sure being an alleged fascist 65 years ago takes you off my baby name list.
In light of our baby-naming trouble, we have created some more naming rules that might help others avoid our fate:
— Get some pets and practice naming them.
— Be careful with funky spellings. It creates trouble in elementary school.
— Don’t pick a name that is too popular. My husband was called Mike G. during school to differentiate him from the other five Michaels in class.
— Old names can be new again. We’re using the Social Security database, to look up names that haven’t been popular since the 1890s. But, I can’t quite get a warm feeling for Ethel or Clarence.
— Use family names. It ties the child to their ancestors.
— Make sure the middle name sets up the last name. I love my grandmother’s maiden name Holland, but Holland Giarrusso just doesn’t work. It sounds like a sorority girl had a shotgun wedding with a pizza delivery guy.
— Don’t worry if friends’ or relatives’ kids have the same names. When hanging out with Michael’s cousins, you can call out Angelo and four different kids will answer and nobody seems to mind. Ten years from now, you’ll feel stupid if you don’t use a name because of a neighbor who moved away when your kid was seven months old.
I’m sure we’ll figure out a name that would make even my great, great grandmother Willamina Jennimann proud. (Although, she didn’t make the cut.)
What’s your sick kid back-up plan?
Where do your kids go when they’re too sick to go to school or daycare?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My daughter is home sick today. Today it’s not a problem for us to just hang around the house, but the next two days I’ve got doctor’s appointments for the baby. So I’m pondering: What do I do with her if she’s not back at school tomorrow?
My mother often becomes the back-up plan for me and my brother. My sister-in-law’s sitter, who is great, had a funeral to attend on Monday so my parents ended up keeping my nephew.
What is your back-up plan when your child is too sick for school or daycare? Do you rely on relatives, friends or a sick-kid daycare (this concept baffles me but I’ve heard they exist)? How many days are you allowed to take off from work for sick kids? Do co-workers or bosses give you a hard time? Are you able to save any sick days for yourself? Does your husband share the burden of worrying about what to do with the sick kids?
Permalink | Comments (83) | Categories: General Frustrations of Motherhood
Spanking a misdemeanor?
A California assemblywoman plans to propose a bill making spanking a child under 3 a misdemeanor. What do you think?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The New York Times reports that a California assemblywoman is planning to propose a bill this week that would make it a misdemeanor to spank a child under 3 years old. Penalties could range from child-rearing classes to one year in jail. Here is the full story.
Reactions to the idea have been mixed. The assemblywoman, who does not have children, said she has gotten many phone calls against the legislation.
The Assemblywoman Sally J. Lieber said, “I have to question why our society holds so tightly to physical discipline among the very young. We’re very addicted to violence.”
The article said: “In an interview with The San Jose Mercury News, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said that as a child he ‘got smacked about everything. That was the way Austria worked.’
“The governor said that when disciplining his four children, he and his wife, Maria Shriver, declined to spank. ‘I think any time we try to pass laws that say you’ve got to protect the kids, it’s, in general, always good,’ he added.”
The article points out that about 15 countries have banned corporal punishment. Georgia allows physical discipline of children, as long as it doesn’t result in injury.
What do you guys think?
Permalink | Comments (64) | Categories: Ethics of rearing kids today
You might be a hypocrite if…
Is there a difference between being Southern and being a redneck?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My whole life I have preached the virtues of the South.
I love my biscuits, barbecue and sweet tea. I love our weather and that I can always count on dogwoods blooming for my April birthday. I loved growing up with the genteel accents of the sweet old Decatur ladies who worked with my mother. I loved playing in the creek in the summer and falling asleep to the swoosh of the attic fan at night.
As a fourth-generation Georgian, I have always been proud that my family came from Savannah and Atlanta, and that I grew up in this great city.
We were thrilled when my husband’s job brought us from the North back down South during our child-bearing years. We wanted our children to be raised here in the same ways that we were.
But over the last few months, I have begun to struggle with a dichotomy. I am starting to realize that I am a hypocrite when it comes to certain Southern attributes.
My first realization that I might be a hypocrite came when my 3-year-old son started introducing himself to strangers.
He’ll walk up to anybody in restaurants, playground, doctor’s offices and say, “What’s your name?” He waits for them to answer and then says, “My name is Walsh. But my nickname is Bubba.”
I immediately turn crimson and feel like I am standing there in overalls with shoots of straw protruding from my teeth.
I almost always explain, “My husband grew up in Augusta, and everybody down there calls their kids”; We usually just call him that at home.”
Growing up in Gwinnett, I heard Bubba used around the neighborhood. Parents would yell out the door, “Bubba, it’s time to come home for dinner.”
But I don’t think I heard it as much as my husband did, and I certainly don’t hear it today in suburban Atlanta.
During a vacation to Gulf Shores, Ala., however, my son hurt his neck turning around every time someone called their “Bubba.” He still refers to the hotel there as the place where “all my Bubba friends live.”
I didn’t go on that trip, and it is probably a good thing. I think I would have been uncomfortable with all those Bubbas. Apparently, I’m proud to be Southern as long as nobody thinks I’m a redneck.
My hypocrisy became clearer when I found myself correcting my children for their accents.
Last spring, I asked parents on the MOMania blog how they felt about their kids picking up a Southern drawl. Many of the responders identified themselves as transplants and said they absolutely did not want their children to develop a Southern accent because it would make them sound ignorant. I was appalled, as were many native Southerners. All of us have known countless drawlers who are intelligent and cultured.
Flash forward a few months, and my kids have started watching a show called “Class of 3000.” It’s created by music star and Atlanta native Andre Benjamin.
When the show was originally reviewed by the AJC, it was applauded for the characters actually having believable Southern accents.
I liked it, too, until my children started imitating them. I would whip my head around surprised by their drawn out vowels and would automatically correct their pronunciation.
Apparently I’m OK with a lilting accent like the ladies on “Designing Women,” but I don’t want my kids sounding like Joy on “My Name is Earl.”
I don’t think I’m a snob. I love college football, fried chicken and country music. I like driving my Dad’s pickup, and I sing along to Lynrd Skynrd. But somehow hearing my daughter say, “Bubbbbbaaa, we’re fixin to goooo,” fills me with shame.
I’m pretty sure my Savannah ancestors, not to mention my cousins and friends, would have a problem with that.
Do you wait at the bus stop?
What age is it OK to stop dropping your child off and picking them up at the bus stop?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I was reading about the kidnapped Missouri boys last night and one of the things that really stood out to me was that the 13-year-old boy had been taken after he stepped off of the school bus.
Thirteen doesn’t seem like a crazy age to let a child get off the bus and walk home alone. But then again he did get abducted.
So my question is: Are you still taking your child to the school bus and meeting him at the stop in the afternoon? At what age does a parent stop doing this?
Permalink | Comments (74) | Categories: Ethics of rearing kids today
Performance review by your family?
How would you rate if your family evaluated your performance like your boss does at work?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ABC News reported this week about a new trend in performance reviews — not one done by your boss but by your family. The idea came from two human resource managers who felt that many executives who are highly successful at work might be surprised by what their families thought of their performances at home.
The ABC News Web site says: “We find that most people define success all around work and that most of their accomplishments are around things that they have achieved on the work front,” says Ben Porter of Leaderworks. “One of the things that we try to do is get executives to redefine success to include meaningful family relationships as well.” (You can read the full story here.)
There also is a sample review that you can print and have your family fill out to evaluate you.
What do you think: Is a family evaluation a valuable tool for any parent? Would you take to heart what your spouse and children are saying? Should that information be coming out in the course of normal family conversations? Is it coming out? Would a formal process help family members open up about their feelings?
Are you going to try the sample evaluation with your family?
Permalink | Comments (44) | Categories: Family Life
What is the tipping point in a marriage?
When do you work it out? When is it time for a divorce?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We were watching the Golden Globes last night, and I was thinking about all the celebrity couples that get divorced. (Reese Witherspoon, Brad Pitt to name a few.)
I started wondering: what is the tipping point in a regular person’s marriage? (For example, I would hope non-Hollywood folks would work longer at their marriage than Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock did.)
How long do you give it before you decide to get divorced? Do you seek counseling first? Are there any offenses that you can’t recover from? How do the kids play into how long you try to work things out?
Permalink | Comments (109) | Categories: Battles between Mom and Dad
Pardon my pregnancy
Sleeping, burping part of the package for co-workers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Pregnancy might not change how well a woman performs her job, but speaking from experience, lugging around 30 extra pounds, feeling immense pressure on your bladder and becoming oddly gaseous definitely affects the way you work.
Like many pregnant women, I find that an afternoon nap is essential to getting through the rest of the day. With my first pregnancy I was working 10-hour days at the newspaper. By 2 p.m. I would be completely exhausted, and would employ a little clandestine behavior to get a much needed 30-minute siesta.
The features department in which I worked was located next to the sports department. Luckily for me, most of the sports people work nights. After lunch, I would stroll over to the sports department like I had a question for someone in the skeleton daytime crew, and when no one was looking I would duck down and curl up on the floor under one of the empty workstations for a cat nap. (Now before you judge my work ethic, let me just say there are tons of smokers and Web surfers out there wasting way more time than me!)
Mine may have been one of the stranger tactics, but Katherine Lee, contributing editor for Working Mother magazine, says that many pregnant women do have to make adjustments. She says pregnancy is physically taxing and often you can’t work at the pace you’re used to. But it’s not just the pace that pregnant women may have to work around. Sometimes it’s a dress code, office equipment or even a polished floor that can cause them problems.
My good friend Keith Still continued to work a very high-stress job during her first pregnancy but she did have to make some adjustments. The Alpharetta mother of three was press secretary in Washington for Sen. Bill Frist during the late 1990s. Washington tends to be a formal town.
“I had to wear heels because I was press secretary. The floors in the Capitol building across the rotunda are highly polished. I’m walking with the senator, and he’s walking really fast. Everybody almost runs up there, and I’m trying to keep up,” she recalled. After almost falling several times, she decided it would be more embarrassing to be splayed out on the Capitol floor than to wear some ugly, yet comfortable shoes. She ended up in a pair of stacked Birkenstock-like clogs.
“Technically I was elevated. It was not a professional look at all. I was so swollen, and it was the only way I could keep up with the senator.”
While statistics are few and far between, it does appear that more and more pregnant women are staying on the job. Katherine Lee, contributing editor for Working Mother magazine, says a study by the National Partnership for Women and Families found more than half of employed women quit their jobs when they became pregnant during the years of 1968 to 1978. By the early 1990s, the women who quit dropped to 27 percent.
Another statistic, Lee cites from the same group, supports the idea that more women are working pregnant: the number of women who say they were discriminated against in the workplace because of their pregnancy increased by 39 percent from 1992 to 2002.
While I certainly oppose discriminating against pregnant women in the workplace, I was probably a bit of a strain on my colleagues during my pregnancy. My workstation was such that I sat back to back with a very quiet, intellectual and proper man. There was just four feet between us.
As my pregnancy advanced, some digestive issues I was having increased. In other words, I was belching more and more. At first I would get up and walk through the newsroom and down the hall to the bathroom to burp. But finally I just gave up. (If I was going to work those naps in, I couldn’t waste time heading to the bathroom all day long.)
I would try to mask my burps by putting my face into my shirt and then apologize profusely to him. “I am so sorry. But I swear if I got up every time I needed to burp I would never get any work done.” While I think he was completely grossed out (as he should have been), he always was sympathetic.
Lee says many top companies are trying to make life easier for their pregnant employees, offering closer parking spaces and on-site massages among other things.
I would have been happy with a cot and some free Rolaids. Did you have to change your work habits while you were pregnant?
What were the greatest challenges for you? Do you think your pregnancy affected your co-workers? Did your pregnant body ever cause you embarrassment?
Breadwinner Mom make Dad mad?
Would your husband care if you made more money than him?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My husband has always made more than me, but there was a time in New York City where we thought I might make more. For about five seconds, he seemed disturbed and then I think he realized it’s all going into one pot so who cares.
We know several couples where the husband feels very strongly about making more money than the wife. I think the logic is that it is his duty to support the family.
Is this a Southern attitude? Is it just old-school? Does your wife make more than you? Would you care if she did? Would it emasculate you in some way?
A side note here: The AJC is running today an interesting column from The Washington Post about the new Speaker of the House and how her motherhood has played into her career. You can check it out here.
Permalink | Comments (45) | Categories: Battles between Mom and Dad
Worry about kids seeing naked neighbors?
Got any neighbors who like to flaunt what they’ve got? Do you worry about the kids seeing them?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My friend is a little bit concerned about her children seeing their new neighbor naked in his hot tub and pool area. She’s not being a Mrs. Kravitz. Her house is positioned higher than his so her family room, kitchen and bedroom windows all look directly into his pool area. And apparently the man likes to hang out naked.
Growing up we had two ladies in our neighborhood that liked to show it off. The first lady liked to wash her car in a string bikini. All the pre-teen and teen boys in the neighborhood would come to “play basketball” next door and would gawk at her. The other lady was like 50 and liked to leave her bedroom drapes open when she went to bed. She’d lay there in a nightgown with her lamp on reading in full view of the neighborhood.
Do you have any naked neighbors or neighbors that like to be provocative? Would saying something help the matter or do you think it would just encourage the behavior? Do you think your neighborhood association would be helpful in dealing with the provocateur? How bad would the behavior have to be for you to move?
Permalink | Comments (137) | Categories: Ethics of rearing kids today
Do you tolerate kiddy shows, music?
Which ones are your favorites? Which ones are the worst?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What kiddy shows or music do you tolerate? What shows do you actually enjoy? What shows or music do you despise? Do you try to persuade your kids to agree with your opinions?
There was an article in The New York Times yesterday about “Jack’s Big Music Show” on Noggin and a singer/songwriter Laurie Berkner who appears on show and on the network. (Here’s the article.) Basically, it’s talking about how the cool the show is and why Berkner is so appealing.
My kids adore Laurie Berkner. They’ll come screaming into the kitchen, “Mama, Laurie’s on. Laurie’s on.” Her songs are catchy with lines like, “We are the dinosaurs. Marching. Marching.” And “I’m not perfect. No I’m not.” (You can listen to some of her songs and see her videos here, but keep the volume down at work!)
Some of the shows I love that my kids also love: “Dora,” “Diego,” “Scooby Doo,” the old “Superfriends,” and “Disney’s House of Mouse.”
Some of the shows I can’t stand and I try to tell them they stink: “Doodlebops!!!” (I keep telling them, “Look at their fingers. They’re too big to really be playing the instruments.” My 3-year-old doesn’t seem to mind.)
What shows do you enjoy? Which ones do you hate? How do you try to sway them?
Permalink | Comments (62) | Categories: Family Life
Grappling with family roughhousing
Do your kids like to wrestle? Do you let them ? Are there any ground rules for their battles?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My 5-year-old daughter prepared herself for attack.
She was pretending to be Catwoman and my 3-year-old son was dressed as Batman. The battle had started in her room and progressed to mine when my son ran screeching away from her clutches. (He’s more Adam West than Christian Bale.)
He crawled under the covers awaiting her advance. With “claws” bared, she creeped up on my bed as she gave a running narrative of her sinister plan. She grabbed him around the shoulders from behind. My son, in a surprising move, threw his head backwards and smacked his skull into his big sister’s mouth.
That was a clear violation of our roughhousing rules. Grabbing, tackling and tickling are legal in our house, but there’s definitely no punching, pinching, scratching, biting or head-butts allowed. We figure the kids are going to wrestle whether we like it or not, so the best we can do is establish some ground rules.
I think a little wrestling only natural among siblings. It lets them burn off energy, release frustration, and sometimes express affection. We know our kids aren’t the only ones duking it out at home. While on the phone with my girlfriends, I often hear “Get off of your sister” or “Don’t twist your brother’s arm.”
With a scant five pounds and only a few inches separating them, my two are pretty evenly matched. The winner varies, as do their battle scenarios.
Sometimes it’s in costume with storylines. Other times it involves chases all around the house with bouts staged in each room utilizing whatever props are available, including sofa pillows, stuffed animals and, until my husband outlawed it recently, the dog’s leash.
Their roughhousing often forces teamwork. They work together best when they are devising a plan to overcome the size advantage of their father or uncle. One will go for the legs, while the other grabs the enemy’s arms. Once, my son distracted my husband while my daughter threw a blanket over his head.
Their favorite outside game is King of the Mountain. My husband will perch himself on the small hill, and the kids will attempt to take him down by whatever means necessary. Whoever succeeds is the new king. The rebels use swimming noodles, basketballs and water pistols to get the king off his mountain.
Usually their battles don’t turn too violent and generally aren’t in public. But over the holidays, we had a surprise throw-down at the Steak ’n Shake.
My son told us he wanted a grilled cheese sandwich AND a hamburger. I told him to start on the grilled cheese and we’d go from there. He finished in five minutes. My daughter didn’t seem to have much of an appetite, and I made the mistake of saying to my little guy, “If you’re still hungry maybe you can eat the rest of your sister’s sandwich.”
A second later, I realized I should have asked my daughter if she was done first. He grabbed the triangle of sandwich, she pulled it away, and he pounced on her. He pushed her over and was laying on top of her in the booth, one of his hands clutched the sandwich, the other pushing on her chest. She had both hands wrapped around the grilled cheese, screaming for him to let go of it.
My brother-in-law grabbed my daughter, trying to break them up. I squished my pregnant belly out of the booth and picked my son up over the back of his booth. Meanwhile, my husband — always useful in a crisis — was in the men’s room hoping that the screams he was hearing were from someone else’s family.
We were all embarrassed, but we couldn’t really blame the little guy. He had permission to take the sandwich. We couldn’t blame my daughter who was just protecting her dinner.
So in need of someone to blame, my husband chose me, for telling the boy to take the sandwich and for letting them sit in the same booth.
We’ll duke that out later.
Do resolutions apply to the whole family?
When you resolve in the New Year to eat better, get active or clean the house, does the whole family have to follow suit?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
One of you guys asked last week (and I can’t find the name) if families had to adhere to whatever New Year’s resolutions the parents make. I think it’s a great question.
Have you made your children participate in your resolution? When does it apply to the whole family and when is it just an individual goal? Do you want to involve the family to help keep you motivated? Is it fair to drag the kids into it?
Do your kids’ resolutions apply to you?
Permalink | Comments (18) | Categories: Family Life
Dumping a mom friend?
Have you ever severed a tie with a mom friend? Is it because your child didn’t like theirs any more or you didn’t like the mom?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I have been worried for the last two weeks that one of my best mom friends was dumping me. I had called her like four times over the holiday break to try to get the kids together and never even got a call back.
My friend is pretty blunt so I felt like she would tell me if she was mad at me, but then I started wondering if maybe her daughter didn’t want to play with my daughter any more and she didn’t know how to break that news.
I have another friend who had that happened. Her son no longer wanted to play with an old friend, and she stressed and stressed about how to cut them off.
My friend called yesterday and her family had just had multiple illnesses over the holidays. I was relieved we were all still in their good graces.
Have you ever been dumped by a mom friend? Do you know why you were dumped – was it you or your child? Which would be a worse reason? Have you ever done the dumping? How did you handle? Were you forthright with the reason?
Permalink | Comments (62) | Categories: Ethics of rearing kids today
Do your kids write thank you notes?
Christmas has been over for more than a week, have your kids sent out their thank you notes? Are phone calls, e-mails acceptable replacements?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Do you make your kids write thank you notes for holiday and birthday presents? Are e-mails or phone calls acceptable substitutions? What do you think the practice of writing notes teaches children?
What age did you start requiring the notes? What do you make younger children who can’t write do? Do your older children do it themselves now or do you have to ride shot gun?
My mother was a stickler for writing thank you notes. Any little gift, no matter how small, always deserved a thank you note. Our 5-year-old daughter is working on her writing in kindergarten. So I’m making her do thank you notes this year for her Christmas presents. So far, she’s written two. I tried to make it fun by using construction paper and letting her decorate with stickers, but there were still a lot of threats involved in the process.
I have a huge problem with e-mail thank yous for actual sent presents. There’s one person in particular I know who does this, and it makes me crazy! I also have an issue with form notes printed on a computer with your item filled in. (I wouldn’t mind that from a child, but I’ve gotten those from adults. Tacky!)
What are your requirements for a thank you to count?
Permalink | Comments (56) | Categories: Ethics of rearing kids today
