The Most Dangerous Toys of 2012 | Parenting - Yahoo! Shine

The Most Dangerous Toys of 2012 | Parenting - Yahoo! Shine

Calling the Birds Back to the Nest - a Worried Mother

Dad doesn't understand, the boss doesn't care, and you might be guilty of brushing off a concerned mother yourself.  Worried mothers, unlike birds, will call back their sons and daughters to the nest.  So why do they do this?  Simply put, because they feel like their children are making unwise decisions.  When you see that a son or daughter is going back to mom and dad's house it is for any number of reasons, but the main concern for mom is, "My son/daughter can't take care of his or herself apart from me at this time."

Sometimes mothers have this instinct that begins to grow as her child grows.  "He is getting older now, uh oh.  The girls, the parties, the drugs...oh I hope he doesn't mess up his life!"  Moms have similar concerns like dads when it comes to their daughters.  Therefore, if she doesn't feel comfortable with what her son or daughter has done with their lives so far, she will call her child back to the nest.

Now we can name-call judge, ridicule or come down hard on a wayward young person or an irresponsible older person moving back in with mom, but no matter how we feel, that mother is going to protect her son or daughter. 

Sometimes we end up being foes of mothers because we tell them what they should be doing with their children when they are in this Mother Bird mode of thinking.  "Why are you permitting him to come back home?" we say.  "What do you think he will do?  How many more times are you going to let your daughter come back to you?"  The mother responds, "As many times as it takes until my child puts my worries at ease--until I know that my children can take care of themselves!"

No sense in warring with a mother bird who sees her chics are in danger--best to sit back, be quiet, watch the movie, and just go along with the program.  Otherwise, she just might start pecking you!

Nicholl McGuire maintains a blog for parents with newborns, toddlers, tweens, and teens living under one roof together.  See here.

Children of darkness have a chance to become children of light

As mothers, we don't plan on our children growing up to be the next menace of society, but things happen along the way that either a child will rise above his or her circumstances or he or she will fail and fail again leaving us scratching our heads, "Why?"

I thought of this blog entry when I looked at my son who seemed to always show up at the wrong place at the wrong time.  From heated discussions to a hot kitchen stove, he was always a part of something that us adults would advise him not to be in.  I couldn't help but to reflect on my many uncles who also were always in the middle of the action growing up.  I found that they all had a pattern once the grew up to become men,  they were problems more often than solutions to others.

What is it about that evil force some call Satan that moves us to be in the wrong places at the wrong times in life?  What is it about it (him) that makes humans follow all things we think are fun, exciting, sweet and nice which really only turn out to be painful, dark, confusing, and worthless? 

The child in the middle grew up to be a man that died young.  It has been said that he was troubled all his life.

 

I sat back and pondered this short piece before typing it, and I found that the thought that stands out most in my mind is, "Somehow the children of darkness tend to be more sensitive to enemy schemes from as early as the newborn period and that by no fault of our own some are destined for trouble no matter how much light we cast upon them." 

What is it that baby stares at upon a face and then becomes visibly frightened?  What images does he or she see when there is none that we can see, yet he or she cries even after all needs have been met?  Why is it that a toddler who appears to be at peace when we leave his room, suddenly comes running to us about something being in his room that we cannot view?  Why do we prepare for bed at night and feel as if something is near, on or around us that tempts us to think or do something ugly, evil or dark to someone else? 

Oh, I could go on and on about the evil that men, women and children do, but rather I just leave you with these thoughts, mom and dad. 

1.  You are not alone when that thought pops into your mind every now and then while looking at your son or daughter that says, "What on earth did I help create?"

2.  Dark paths, spirits, magic, and overall evil is real and you have every right to keep your child away from all of it especially when you know he or she is acting wrongly.

3.  People, places and things we once loved, we will not anymore when we find that they are causing more harm than good and attempting to put our children on unrighteous paths.

4.  You were once a child of darkness despite having a faith now and that just because you believe doesn't mean that you won't be tempted by evil.

5.  Keep praying for your children, no matter what, and don't fall for foolish statements like, "All children are like that...boys will be boys..."  Every child is different to a certain degree and each has a certain path set before them that may or may not include you, your wise teaching or Jesus Christ.

In closing, it is my sincere hope that men, women and children will come to know truth and that they will not settle for lies regarding relationships, education, health, wealth, etc.  We all deserve to know that all that appears to be right is not, and that it is our responsibility to say and do the kinds of things to help others do better in life--even if that means some will cry, shut us out or don't like us through the process.

To God be the glory!

Nicholl McGuire is the author of Know Your Enemy: The Christian's Critic, get the book!

37 things you should hoard – or is it 55? Who needs to buy a book when we have google? « Sussex County Angel

You might have come across a book online about things you will need in case of a disaster, well it turns out that many have used it as a discussion on their sites and have also added much more to think about.  A commentor by the name of Geoff Mcpherson on the Sussex County Angel blog site, had the following to say below:

"Silver one ounce ingots/bars are better than paper money–especially if financial crisis hits. Silver and gold never lose all their value. Silver is more easily used as cash..gold too difficult to measure small dollar amounts with…a nugget , for example, could be worth $300..and that’s 1/6th of an ounce. Less than a pea size. Silver, on the other hand, is routinely made into one ounce ingots that are currently between 30 and 40 dollars worth.
Water–dried foods are worthless if there’s no water.
SHARPIE PENS: Write on your cans of food what is inside…in case the labels become wet and fall off..this will help immensely when eating from cans…and for bartering with them.
MAPS!! In case you have to “hoof it” out of where you are, you can avoid the major roads and go overland. Get Forest Service Maps of the local public lands. There are hundreds of thousands of miles of dirt roads in the nations forests. Learn how to use a compass and how to read a topographical map.
DUCT TAPE; In Alaska, it is called “hundred mile an hour tape” = you can fix a bushplane wing with it, and can fly up to 100 mph before the tape will blow off. IT has thousands of uses down here, too.
STOCK PILE PRESCRIPTION MEDICINES….IF YOU POSSIBLY CAN. TRY OFF-SHORE PHARMACIES IF YOUR HMO or DOCTOR WON’T HELP YOU. You can’t be any help to your family if they’re trying to keep you alive or healthy..you’ll become a liability instead of an asset.
FIRE STARTER KIT—matches, lighters, etc. Learn how to start a fire BEFORE your survival depends on it.
WATER: it’s every bit as important as you can imagine. It bears repeating. SAFE WATER can either be boiled or sterilized. CHLORINE BLEACH or CHLORINE GRANULES (spa or swimming pool supplies) can be used. Learn how much to use. Be careful with this product; it can be dangerous. Use the sharpie pen to label it as dangerous/poison –see? you’re already using that sharpie pen!!
CHLORINE BLEACH : cleans things, including blood spills from others. Yuk.
LEATHERMAN TOOL, Buck Knife, Machete.Ax or Hatchet.
FIRE ARMS: you can feed your family with a .22 rifle and at the very least, you can feed your dogs and cats with small game.
FIRST AID KIT
PET SUPPLIES:
READING: Survival Guides and Self-help books
BINOCULARS: I can’t stress this enough, it goes along with the fire arms requirement…you’ll need to spot other people before they spot you. You’ll need to assess their intentions before they come too close. Be careful. In a perfect world, everybody would behave nicely. The world is not perfect.
Fishing gear: hooks and line,,,weights and tackle…you can bet that game wardens will be too busy to enforce catch limits..
LEARN HOW TO DRY MEATS and make JERKY…
In short, if you have any camping equipment and experience, you’re better off than your cousins who don’t. Think of survival as a long camping trip. With consequences."

To learn more click the link:  37 things you should hoard – or is it 55? Who needs to buy a book when we have google? « Sussex County Angel

Teaching Children How To Behave When Visiting with Older Relatives

When babies are born, many mothers record their miles stones.  We know that during the developmental process a child begins to start something new, like he or she smiles, rolls over, crawls, says first words, walks, and notices his or her environment more and more.  But somehow over the course of life, we forget that we too have milestones that we reach.  We discover what we want or don’t want in life and we start journeys toward whatever our goals are.  However, there comes a point that as we progress in life, we eventually regress.  All the time, patience and energy we once had in our youth is just not the same. 

No matter how many hair dyes we use, exercise, or select the “right foods” to eat, our bodies begin to alert us to how important our lives truly are.  So this is the case with our elderly relatives, they have spent many years learning, working, teaching, building, fighting, growing, and more to earn the lines we see on old faces, the curve in tired backs, the gray hairs on wise heads, and more.  So when a child acts disrespectfully toward those who are obviously bigger, smarter, and overall better than they, we, as parents, must sit these children down and teach them.  Some children will learn quickly while others will need some serious prompting, but either way, children must learn to respect authority despite how we might personally feel about certain adults.

So I thought of writing this piece, because I know there will be many family gatherings this holiday season where children will be present.  There will be parents of children who are polite, kind and respectful while there will also be parents of children who simply don’t know any better and refuse correction.  It is my concern that some untrained parents will take offense when an elderly grandmother, aunt, uncle or someone else will take the liberty in chastising bratty, little Sam or Sue or rebellious teen Jim, and when they do, the offended parent will try to excuse his or her son or daughter’s offensive behaviors.  Why take offense?   

Parents have just about all year to train children prior to family events.  From funerals to Christmas, children should be at least somewhat prepared for adults who will talk to them about interrupting conversations with whines or sassy quips.  They should have already been made aware that loud talking, running thorough someone’s home, and acting fussy is unacceptable.   

Knowledgeable parents have back-up plans, consequences or alternatives when dealing with children who don’t behave themselves.  Yet, there will be those parents, unfortunately, who don’t bother to discipline (train) children to:  “Sit and be quiet, wait your turn, don’t take too much food, watch carrying that plate, don’t run like that around granddad, watch your tone when speaking to relatives and friends…” 

   

Children are just that, children--not little adults, when we don’t bother to train them to have self-control, be respectful, and kind to us and others, then we actually cause them harm and unfortunately witnesses will not appreciate seeing them or us in the future.  Sure, we have relatives in our circles that haven’t earned anyone’s polite, “Hello” much less respect, but as we all know, two wrongs don’t make it right.  Let us teach children to be the solution and not the problem.  Tips as follows:

One.  Advise them to say things like, "Please" and “Thank you” when they want something done for them or when someone has thought enough to do give them something.

Two.  Show them the correct way to behave when speaking to others and how to act when seated in the company of others (ie. dinner table, living-room, riding in someone else’s car, etc.)

Three.  Create consequences when children don't demonstrate appropriate behavior and rewards when they do.

Four.  Check your own emotions and don’t be so quick to defend your child’s misdeeds especially when you have not witnessed his or her behavior.  Most children may act one way at home and then do some things totally different elsewhere ie.) tell lies, tamper with things that don’t belong to them, make false accusations, claim that someone was acting mean while leaving out what they did to receive such a reaction.

Five.  When a situation has come up regarding your child interacting with other children and adults, don’t embarrass your son or daughter by “showing off” in front of them as to appear like you have it altogether as a parent ie.) berating, threatening, or staring at them evily.  Rather, call your child’s attention to the matter by taking him or her out of the room and away from prying eyes who have nothing better to do than to gossip about your child.

Lastly, don’t permit yourself to get angry or tearful before others when it comes to matters regarding your child.  You will look unwise and foolish and will give others unnecessary chat about you and your family.  Know-it-all busybody types will love to give you advice (and even prayer and Scriptures) despite having something to do with a child’s emotional outbursts.  Maybe your son or daughter was only trying to communicate a concern when he or she said, “You shouldn’t smoke grandma…Don't say bad words.  Why do you have that ugly sweater on?  I don’t eat that nasty stuff.”   

Sometimes we can control some things, but other things we simply can’t.  Forgive yourself, forgive the child and forgive others for they know not what you put up with!  Then move on.  If they don’t like how you are trying your best to make the visit pleasant consider this, you don’t have to be around those difficult relatives next year!    

Nicholl McGuire is the author of When Mothers Cry and other books.