The old socialization question again

I've had this question twice this week...and I still feel good about it

http://www.wendypriesnitz.com/blog/questioning_socialization.html

Another good site.

I am really hoping that our term will start up and my daughter will begin meeting other "Home learners" I'm sure it will happen but I still feel the pressure....then I can say with even more reinsurance that ..... we're OK.

Poetry Day

Well we've started off with nursery rhymes "Five little Monkeys jumping on the bed". Then my daughter said she remembered one about a BIG boat and all the animals going into it...I've not been reading nursery rhymes to her for a year or so but I knew the one she meant.

We talked about Noah and his Ark. I told a rough story about this...she was worried about the idea of only having two animals...only a Mummy and a Daddy....where is the baby? What happens if the Mummy or Daddy dies (our Big Daddy Chicken is very unwell at the moment and has not fathered any chicks yet)...how would there still be elephants or lions if one of them got sick and died.

Wow some very interesting questions from my little 5 year old. We talked a little more then she'd obviously had enough and has gone to process all this.

All from reading a nursery rhyme

A day in our life 26th April 2011

Goodness me....it is not even lunch time yet.

Before we start our day we always have story time....Famous Five I hope my daughter gets sick of them soon (I'll probably write more about this later)

We've started out the morning with a little drawing...which is extending from another small Unit Study on the Titanic.

We moved onto trying to put glue onto the outside of a glass which would then have beads stuck to it to create a vase. My daughter was getting very frustrated with this as the glue would not come out fast enough. She said "I wish we could just take the lid off" I took a deep breath and said "well why not" so we did and the first squeeze it went every where...I suggested a tooth pick to draw on the side of the glass...she suggested a cotton bud which was much better.

I resisted the temptation to show her how to make flowers or other such cute things which could be expected of her.

We sprinkled beads which she got really sick of quickly...and then wanted to thread them....oh dear more frustration with not being able to get the cotton into the little hole.

My son was working on cutting and gluing.

Phew....moved onto making some lunch. I started the bread dough while my daughter tried to make a hammock out of a sari using a stack of books at one end while she held the other down the bottom of the stairs. She started putting in her soft toys....and then convinced her brother to hope in...I had my back turned and was just looking to see him sit down and fall down the stairs. No major he tried it again...I convinced him to leave his sister who was getting frustrated with him.

We started to work with the bread. I broke a little bit off for each of them which they rolled out and sprinkled with cheese and onion. My daughter did not want to share the same baking tray as all the others we'd made and found her own...got her own knife cut them all to shape and put them in the oven on her own....

Move onto water play. By now I'm a little grumpy as my last favorite dish was nearly broken and just needed to sit down a short time.

Splat...a whole yogurt container of water all over the floor.

Ok Mum needs a little food and we'll read a little more Famous Five.

Count to 10 under my breath

Unit Studies in balloons

Ever since my daughters birthday....she has been doing "scientific experiments" with.... balloons. I brought a few too many packets of balloons forgetting how many I already had.

We started out with bashing them and seeing how far you could through them. How many times can you clap.

They were used in 'battle' against another friend.

They were counted and favored over colour.

They were shared and given away.

They were put in the car and transported to grandparents places.

They have been popped.

They have been cried over.

Then my daughter wanted to blow up her own balloon....sigh...huff. Ok.

I blew the first breath into it and then handed it over...then she did the rest.....she let it deflate and watched it race around the room. This happens many times to excited her baby brother and her self.

The neck of the balloon was manipulated to make horrible noises.

She looked at the state of the balloon after there was no air inside.

I joked and said that was like Mummy's tummy after she and her brother had left it. She had to skuish my tummy.

Then all of a sudden she blew up her own balloon.

Balloons in the bath....the different feel of them wet dry underwater out of the water....even through my poor washing machine.

Balloons under construction.

She remembers reading a National Geographic about earthquakes (well I remember the book and the articcal she remembers the picture) and wanted to see if she could make a building that would withstand the shaking.

I don't know if it worked but she had a lot of fun.

We've had water balloons....that bounce...or break

They have bitten them chewed them.

It has been never ending for a month....I can still hear the squeals now as they are in the bath.

What more will they do.

I don't know

What have they got out of this only time will tell as the little experiments they have done now will come into play as they move onto more study.

A day in our life 21st April 2011

Some days I really do wonder if I do anything at all. I have big worries....I always worry. We started the day out with Dave reading the news paper. I'm not sure if our daughter was listening to him or if it is that Christchurch just seems to be in the news a lot that she's interested

She drew this green triangle like thing with the blue patch above and told me that the green was Christchurch and the blue was the sky. I asked her if she wanted to label it (and old wash over from the drafting days of landscape design for me).

Yup... so I called out the letters for her as she wrote them down.

We talked about how people were fund raising to rebuild Chch after the earthquake and I described how a bolder rolled down a hill and right through a persons house. We talked about money and I wrote down on a scape bit of paper a little diagram of a bolder rolling down the hill...smashing the house...I drew a rough outline of NZ and talked about the distance from our town to Wellington...then catching the boat over the straight then from there down to Chch...how many days it would take and how cold it was there compared to our house.

I wrote down how much some one had donated $50,000 I talked about how Chch was often called the 'garden city'.....and then felt that maybe as my daughter looked away I had gone a little too far.

She asked me to leave her alone.

She called me back to show me she had added to her picture some trees and shrubs....wow cool. I love the trees.

We spent some time hunting in the garden. Both children picked their own apples and started munching on them. Both are very aware of each other and try to do everything the same...but both seem to help each other in getting what ever they deem as equal too.

My daughter loves to play 'House' or 'care for babies' she has a lot of soft toys. She is not very interested in much else in the area of play at the moment and has never really played alone till her brother started to play alone.

My daughter has often helped me with the washing and will fold nappies with me. Today she was using a rag to fold into a nappy for her teddy...she had done it previously with a different rag and it worked fine...she as really confused at why it was not working with this one.

"Mum why when I fold this it does not work out into a triangle?"

I unthinking looked over from my own pile of folding and said "cause that is a rectangle not a square". I could see the change in her face as she moved the corners back and forward a few more times before discarding that cloth and getting a square one.

I don't remember hearing her working on the black board but all of a sudden there was a square which she very proudly told Dave all about once he finished work.

At the moment there is a lot of chicken care with our daughters new "babies". My father dropped off a 'heat lamp' the other day and our daughter was so keen to use it but most of the day it was so warm they didn't need it. We talked about why they need heat but it kind of does not seem to go in and she wants to take them outside to play in the courtyard...sigh.

I have over the last few months been very aware of rushing or being too tense and have made a great effort to keep calm...it works some times.

My Mother was helping my daughter collect some dry grass for the chickens the other day and my daughter was recounting at how she was told to take bigger lots and to hurry along.

As I helped her today I was aware that I kept saying 'Oh just watch out for my fingers' but tried to keep the rush out of my voice...I wonder what she'll recount to Dave when he helps her.

In the last part of the day my daughter decided she was going to work in her office (aka her bedroom). I played along with her as I cleaned up handing her 'memos' aka books/papers/art works etc. She worked hard for about half an hour writing out her full name on tickets and writing out letters which were posted into the laundry basket which she later collected then filed.

She did a bit more writing then came out and showed me her last bit of work for the day.

Wow.

Up until today we have only had letters which she has been working on trying to sort them into words. But today after showing her on my little bit of scrap paper this morning a dollar sign - for the first time - which she at the time to me did not seem at all interested in wrote out $34 dollars. I don't know where the 3 and 4 came from as we've never wrote them before or even worked with them except when talking about what is 3+3+3+3 and on and on.

My son not to be outdone went to his office - the post office??? He was working hard with my Nana. He had a cellphone in his pocket (nappy) and was on his bike saying all sorts of wonderful things.

Dave and I talked tonight about how our children at about 2yrs are "Me do" our daughter and "Self" our son. Our son really wants to be the same as his big sister and do everything. He climbs up onto the kitchen bench and starts helping. Today he was mixing he bread dough....think calm and let him do it. This evening both children wanted to help so I got them buttering the pop-a-dom which he just loved.

So there was a heap more in there...but really its time for bed.

Unschooling a complete life?

I have a problem with food at the moment. I love food. I love cooking. I love Thai and Indian. I have two young children....who get into everything (as children do) and don't eat anything (as some children don't).

I've been web surfing around trying to up date my blog list...to find people who have interesting things to say and can often help me over the problems I find.

I have been to Sandra Dodd's web site often reading about the how tos and the whys and other tips...I read about Chores and it really made me feel a lot better and do a bit of a step back and think of the Continuum Concept...how people work together because the want to. My feelings that I have about having a tidy house come from how I was brought up...my anger and grumpiness and also guilt. I don't want to pass that on to my children. I like having a clean house I just need to get over it and not make others feel bad. Kids are kids and they do clean up (I've seen them often) as long as we don't make them feel guilty or pressure them.

I've also printed this out and put in on the fridge

Principles of Unschooling

1. Let go and Trust

• Let go of learning, as a focus, a concern, an issue—trust that it happens
• Let go of control of your child—trust they know what they need
• Some examples: no chores, no bedtimes, no eating controls, no limits on media

2. Joy and Connection as Primary Goals

• Parent's job (since it isn't the controller of the child) is something like being the Provider of Joy. When in doubt, go for the option that offers the most joy
• Family Relationships. Make deposits here, not withdrawals. Relationships based on respecting needs and interests, empathy and fun together. Being each others allies not adversaries.

3. Being a Better Person

• Principles over Rules - you must model principles (rather than enforce rules) therefore you must LIVE them (which makes you a better person). Some examples: Freedom, Golden Rule, Kindness, Respect
• Staying in the Moment - mindfulness, play, connection, and joy all happen in the present moment, not the future (worry) nor the past (fears). Kids are already the masters of this so learn from them. Childhood is not a preparation for life, it IS life.
• Being someone they want to spend time with

4. Tools for Daily Life

• Create a Rich Environment: strew stuff they might like (but don't be attached to them liking it)
• Ride the Waves: of interests and passions (yours and theirs), as well as the flow of the day
• Follow Your Heart: and encourage them to follow theirs.
• Creative Brainstorming: about any situation until everyone's needs can be met as well as possible

I still have problems with letting go! Argh! I don't know why as every time I do let go things are soooooo good! I'm happy the kids are happy....Dave is happy. So why do I not do it more often?

In grained? I've been taught? The age old saying "thats just the way it is".

NO!

I need to work harder on this....as an example I find this REALLY hard Some examples: no chores, no bedtimes, no eating controls, no limits on media.

I don't mind about the no chores stuff as I can see it is working in my life right now.

I'm not that keen on controls over eating as I had this when I was small and it really did my head in...I'm gluten intolerant and have only found this out since having my son....I've also a bit of an intolerance to dairy. So as a child I naturally stayed away from these foods making me a very hard child of the 70's to feed...my Mother went round the twist....and was also trying to provide only healthy options like vogals bread (Very heavy grain bread).

But sleep has been an issue since my daughter was born. Lack of knowledge on my part but also lack of sleep and time to myself is a really BIG issue!!!

Both my children need a LOT of Mummy time. I believe me I give it. So I feel that I really need a break. We have a set bed time and a routine which we follow "No Cry Sleep Solution" which I feel has given our life back sort of.....BUT maybe if I let go completely it might be different?

Fear? Sigh. This might be another issue which might be sorted in this blog?

The issue of food I'm looking at constantly and yes I'm sad to say I even wake up in the mornings in a panic some days thinking "Oh goodness what can I get for my family to eat today".

A friend said "Its not my job to get them to eat it...just my job to get it out on the table"...which my daughter is very good at helping me do and my son is trying his best too (bless his little almost 2yr old cotton sox).

So my children do not like much curry. My husband would like to be a vegetarian and I like a little bit of meat.

So I've been here at this blog http://www.owlhaven.net which lead me to her other blog http://youvegottotastethis.myrecipes.com/taste_this/ its always good to get other peoples ideas oh how to get around issues.

Its been an interesting few days just looking around and seeing what others do. I'm really looking for other families with children our age or a little older so I can kind of see what they are doing....I guess I just have to look a little harder.

Ok goodnight

Thats a dozen....discovering numbers

My children love to be out in the garden. Yesterday was a challenge as the wind was so strong my son often asked for me to hold on to him. Our garden is a work in progress and has been for a very long time and probably will be with two small children.

As the wind was blowing so much a lot of fruit was falling on the ground. Feijoa are in season at the moment and a much loved fruit by my daughter. We started collecting them just using our pockets but by the time we got to the second tree we figured out we needed to get our baskets.

So we came. Both children squealing in excitement, I don't know if it was the wind and getting pushed over or for the amount of fruit they were gathering.

My daughter said in a very excited voice

"Wow Mum there must be a dozen here" I smiled as I understand she is trying out words and understanding how big some numbers really are.

Like a few books I've read. Children really need to see the numbers in real life to try and understand the size....what is 2, 57, 138 and beyond.

So what a dozen really means in my daughters world at the moment is.... a lot!

We talked about the word and its meaning...but I think at the time the excitement of all the fruit was more important.

But to matter there is plenty of time for another dozen talk some other time.

Interested in the Moon

My son can be any were and at any time and all of a sudden shout "Moon...Moon!" and rush to the window and point, or bang on the window if in the car.

While eating his morning tea he will call his crackers "Moon"....bite "Still Moon"....bite "Small Moon Mummy".

My daughter is really excited that the moon is full "Then we can collect Pipi" possibly my Nana has told her about collecting Pipi and relation to the moon. This has been something I've been meaning to do for ages but am not keen to take two kids to the beach, try and collect shellfish in possibly waist deep water....both of them a little too over keen on the water.

But back to the moon.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/time/moon/phases.html

Moon craft...could be good for the art class we're going to have here soon....or just good to do anywayhttp://www.dltk-teach.com/rhymes/moon/mphases.htm

Mobile

• Create a mobile that depicts the phases of the moon in order. A wooden dowel works well as the base of the mobile. Use card stock or poster board to cut out the moon's shape for each phase. Let the kids sponge paint the cutouts to resemble the surface of the moon. Use pieces of string to tie the moon phase replicas to the dowel in the correct order. Make a label for each of the moons for future reference. For further practice, have the kids make a smaller mobile using a wire hanger as the base.

Read more: Phases of the Moon Activities for Kids | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/way_5482039_phases-moon-activities-kids.html#ixzz1JrTsjPtd

We talk a bit about the moon and relation to our gardening....probably not as much as we should. I've also been trying to talk about the different months as well but the confusing parts of Luna Month and Calendar Month are a little bit too over their heads at the moment...hey they are just understanding that Monday comes after Sunday.

Wow the whole time concept has not even begun ;-)

When a simple choice is too much for a child (and a parent)

We are in school holidays now. Getting deep into Autumn and feeling the bite of winter coming.

Finishing term 1 swimming lessons has left a dilemma for me....and my poor daughter.

The last few lessons the swimming pool was very cold. Children were not making it all the way through their lessons, and ended up coming out blue cold early.

Not only do I have one child which is cold and swimming with out me but on her own with her teacher then I have my younger son waiting (he did not want to do lessons as he had a bad fright last year) for his sister to come into the bigger pool to swim with him once she had finished her lesson.

So the cold is one issue. The Aquatic centre has some issue with heating at the moment.

My daughter has made a wonderful friendship with a little boy in her class. His grandmother is delighted as well and would like to keep the friendship going for one more term till he goes to school. I feel a great amount of pressure as I know that friendships like this are lovely. My daughter has said that she would like to have her friend come to our house...and I wish that we were able to do that (this might possibly be an answer...need to get contact details).

"I only want one more lesson with *** then no more lessons....I'll just see him once again".

Sounds so sad and final.

So the friendship is the second issue.

The weather and the constant sickness is another problem that we suffered from last year over winter. Many children came to their lessons not completely over their colds/flu and my children picked up a few and they hung on and hung on...missing out on lessons and making life very difficult.

Sickness second issue.

My daughter has done so well in lessons this term. The class has three people and is run for 20mins with a firm but happy teacher. If we do not go this coming term she will not be able to keep in this class...will she keep all she has learnt?

Keeping the skills fresh.

Is my unschooling feelings affecting my daughters decision?

Am I embracing the unschooling ideas? Should we not just go and play in the pool and let my son and daughter find their own water confidence?

I think I have made a choice.

No more lessons.

But I wanted to involve my daughter and asked her what her choice would be. She said no more lessons but wanted to see her friend. I tried to ask her if she did not enjoy her lessons...she could keep going I'd be happy.

"No more talking Mum....no more questions" she continued to play while I felt confused she tripped and fell not really hurting herself but the tears were very powerful.

"Have I asked you too much" I asked.

"Yes" she brighten straight away with happiness and I could see she almost physically handed the choice back over to me.

Fire in a pot...plant pot

Yesterday while on Youtube (silly me I didn't book mark the page) my daughter saw a really neat "rocket stove" type idea. Someone camping found a crack in the side of a bank of clay (type soil) enough to build a small fire at the bottom and put the billy on the top to boil.

"Hey Mum why have we not started on our Rocket Stove!"

Big sigh....yer why not.

Forever....we've had an empty pot at the front door step and then one day we put the brazier in it to keep it safe. Both Dave and I looked at it and wondered if it would work just like that. I was worried that the heat might crack the pot....and also what fun would the kids get out of that with all the work already done.

So following the cob book we have here...we started out. We robbed "more of my sand pit", then some clay of the ever crumbling bank and some cow pen sawdust (well washed by many downpours of rain) and some water.

Mud pies I hear you saying...yup. It was really hard to get some good photos while trying to keep the mud in the right places and get grubby myself.

Dave walked past and said "I think it's almost 60% sand in the cob ovens"....so I went and got a little more sand.

Both kids had a wonderful time singing into the pot listening to the echo. My son was not so keen to get his hands dirty....but my daughter true to form dug straight in. They patted and shaped and grumbled at each other...knocked it down and built it back up.

To finish off with they both had a wash down under the hose...which then led them to become very cold...so to warm up we ambled up the road collecting scrap wood to burn. I was telling them the whole time that they would have to cook their own dinner ;-)

I probably didn't let them do the final stuff of cooking and fire lighting - well fire poking - my daughter did light the fire but I still need to hang back a little more.

Money, Responsibility, Trust and Chickens

Our daughter loved our chickens...who does not love little fluffy chickens. We brought home a Mother hen with 13 babies. These were our first chickens so we didn't really know what we were doing.

Our daughter was in love.

She wanted her own chickens.

We explained that chickens cost money to buy...."How do I get money?" she asked. We talked about earning it and ways to do this.

She settled on having a stall at our local market to sell lavender and salad (two things from our garden which we have a lot of).

I would like to thank all the local peoples who supported our daughter and buying from her.

You have helped her dream come true today.

She ordered her own chickens from the pet store. She asked for 3 (a little unsure if she could afford them as she didn't count up her money before she went). Lucky she had enough to buy the chickens and the food to get them going till they are able to join with the other chickens.

They have no names yet but she has asked if she could use the name of our Mother hen who died as she misses her....so BEL will be one.

It was hard once our daughter started earning money to just leave her alone. She worked so hard that I was really worried it was going to go missing in her room. She would play with it and have is scattered all over her room. Dave kept saying we have to leave her as she needs to learn to look after her own things. But I managed not to take over and control. (learning learning).

We did have a small moment when I put her "Miffy bag" in my bag to take up town this morning...and she said "No it's my bag, my money, my chickens". Ok ok I said to myself as she took it back.

Sitting in the car Dad asked her "do you have your Miffy bag?" panic she didn't. Little lessons all over the place.

So a new venture for our daughter starts today.

Where do I buy school supplies and do I need it?

I've been thinking of running a small art class...so I'll need a few things.

Where do I get it? And the cost...oh goodness

I've started off with the Playcentre shop...but will they post it all the way up to us?

What about the good old Warehouse Stationary? Is the cost any good? possibly not.

Office Max I don't think it even comes close.

Teacher Direct I've never heard of them but well does that matter?

Tutor Education again I've never heard of them and they seem to have everything.

Oh sigh

Then I see all sorts of other things which might be cool to have....do I really need to get roped into it all? It would be nice to have some storage for our things we seem to be collecting. But 'teaching' stuff I don't think I should go over board on that.

Unit Studies and Home schooling (Home education;-)

I've just been talking to a few people (as you do) and reading a few more books (as you do). Today's book "The Complete Idiots Guide to Homeschooling"

So far I'm really enjoying it. I'm not reading it cover to cover just reading the bits I feel I need to know more about.

Before starting down this Homeschool (Home learning;-) track we went to a local support group to listen to all the different ways of teaching and encouraging our children in their learning process. One lady was to talk about Unit Studies...she didn't but gave a GREAT talk any way....but I was always left wondering. Not so much that I dashed home to look it up....but just questioning in the back of my mind.

So

Unit Studies: Concentrating on a Theme!

This really sounds like me (but is it my children?)

Finding a topic that we want to know more about and looking into it in as many ways as possible.

"Rather than teaching the many subject areas abstractly and in an unrelated way, a unit study covers all the curriculum areas, connecting and interconnecting in a way that makes children understand why they need to learn this. Since everything relates to the common theme and connects naturally, studying the various subjects makes more sense. Choose a unit study that your children are interested in, and you can be sure of better retention of the material.

Here's an example of a very simple unit study on dogs:

> Find three books on dogs: a nonfiction book on the breeds of dogs; a nonfiction book on dog care and training; and a collection of dog stories.

> Collect pictures of dogs and articles about dogs found in magazines.

> Learn to spell the names of several breeds of dogs. Keep lists of your spelling words on notebook paper.

> Make word cards of new vocabulary and meanings encountered while reading.

> Make a graph or chart about dogs.

> Write a short essay about how dogs have been important to humans throughout history.

> Write a short essay about types of dogs typically related to geographic regions of the world.

> Combine your graph, vocabulary words, spelling lists, essays, pictures, and collected articles into a notebook. Include a list with the names of the books you read. Be sure to include your name and the date you compiled your information.

Some purchased unit studies are planned to take about six weeks. Many home-based learners have discovered that once interest is sparked, their studies expand and grow, taking on a life of their own, and research has shown retention to be 40 percent better than that achieved through traditional methods.

The unit study approach is excellent for families with children of varying ages, because all ages can study the same topic, with adjustments made for the ability level of the children. Shared family interests, such as bird watching, sailing, or softball, can be made into a unit study for a fun way to do a trial run.

Using a unit study helps children get the big picture and promotes independent thinking. Children often come up with excellent ideas for expanding on a purchased or family-planned unit study.

Planning your own unit study is not complicated. Making a list of the various subject areas and plugging in the activities, books, programs, and field trips that you could use may be all you need to do before getting off to a running start!

Don't be fearful of learning gaps. Everyone has learning gaps caused by lack of interest in presented material, absence from school, or-for no apparent reason. No one knows everything. However, teaching your child good research skills, how to think, and how to learn is much more important than trying to cover every tidbit of information that someone else has laid out as important....."

This sounds really good and sort of what we are almost doing already with our children's love for bugs. My daughter is catching white butterfly from the garden...then she's not happy with that so she'll get the Caterpillar and try and feed them.

There are moths studied. There are bugs from the floor. There are stick insects on windows. Wasps in the courtyard. Praying Mantis eating wasps and running all over the house. Weta at playcentre and in our own garden shed. Bugs bugs bugs.

Paintings done. Books read. Baking done....all on this same theme and I've not really noticed until now.

WOW...cool we're doing unit studies ;-)

Quit your learning and eat your dinner

I didn't say that word for word but I pretty much said words to that meaning.

Oh sigh.

Its (learning) coming at every direction and sometimes my brain just can't cope.

I used to write posts about my daughters writing I'm not sure I will for a little while because its happening so much over the last few days that it has almost become a regular thing....haha for this month....I'm sure it will change again.

Cooking, reading, showing what she knows, describing to her brother what she knows....

Talking to her brother "Do you remember what we looked at this morning? Through the binoculars? A birds nest in the tree!"

Talking to her Granny "Just wait we'll get my book to see what type of insect that is....did it have pincers at the back? How many legs? Wings?....." both heads look over the photos in Andrew Crows insect book.

I do find we have so many more questions later in the day when Dave gets home and often what to keep working on some project or another.

Just have to go with the flow

Naomi Aldort - Parenting and Social Behavior

I read "Raising our children raising ourselves" a few years ago and while I felt it was a really good book I don't think I got as much out of it as what I could.

Now I have two children and one oh so close to 5 I am beginning to see that this book might be more golden than first realized.

I have also read Jon Kabat-Zinn's "Where ever you go there you are" which has changed my views on reading (and life) so much that I find myself re-reading books and getting so much more out of them.

I really started looking at Attachment Parenting when my daughter was 1 and learnt that it is so important to treat children with respect but also give guidance. Show love and to listen and attend to their needs ...as they are children. I became more aware (and probably need to do more again) on how others affect my children's behavior. I am very aware that I have issues too (we all do) and need to work on them and be aware of myself too.

That is why I am enjoying my parenting books all again as the Sears, Pam Leo and even Jean Liedloff (may you rest in peace and thank you Jean) has lead me through their very helpful discovery's.

When I come to read our headlines I do see our problems not only in schools but parenting.

Misbehaviour by kids rated No 1 social issue todays news paper

I am also reading "The Well Adjusted Child" (only just started) and wow....this post will need to be added too and visited often I feel