Living in the Bible Belt, the question "where do you go church" is akin to "hello, how are in you" in other less religious locales. I truly do not care what another person's religious beliefs are as long as they do not attempt to proselytize me and as long as their faith does no harm to others. Maybe your grandfather insisted his beliefs were private because he did not wish to be target of proselytizers. Being a nonbeliever surrounded by believers can be lonely and sometimes intimidating or just downright annoying if they are the aggressive proselytizing type. I do not believe that religions or any other philosophies or schools of thought should be automatically respected and be above scrutiny.

I am firmly convinced that there is no consciousness that is separate from physical body although I concede that there certainly are happenings that are unexplainable currently with our limited knowledge of physics. I have seen no objective evidence of reincarnation or soul-recycling. I do not find that depressing. The world makes more sense to me without a deity belief. Not believing in gods or goddesses does not detract from the awe, mystery and beauty of the universe or from humanity's capacity for both terrible evil and incredible kindness.

I do not have a problem with it. If the child had identified with a harsh, sin-focused punitive proselytizing faith, I would have been mildly disappointed but kept my trap shut. As it was, I facilitated my kid's interest in religion by driving him to temple and to related events. Said child grew away from that particular faith as he grew up. The faith had a strong emphasis on participating in social and political justice fights so I'm not sure how much of it was truly religious for child and how much was a bonding experience over shared interests. I'm going for the latter because child no longer attends religious services of any kind.

I disagree that people need to have particular anatomical attributes to wear certain types of clothing. My upper arms do not stop moving when I do, but I refuse to give up my tank tops.

Miniskirts are appropriate as long as your derriere hangs no lower than your kneecap.

Here's a new rule: do not post where undercurrent is strong.

We have them in every room of house except bathrooms, dining room and book nook. We also have one in upstairs hallway, in a couple of large closets and in garage.

My only issue with ignore feature is that it makes conversation rather disjointed.

I was puzzled when I read this thread too. It seemed to have two major themes, nonparents giving advice and publicly declaring a board exit, so I responded to both. Usually I only read first post before responding, but this time I scanned entire thread. Like you, I am definitely not in loop, but that's ok. I like it that way most of time.

I'd like to say I start day out by gathering fresh wholesome from my garden, preparing wholesome meal for family, tidying the home to a lived in but clean look, settling in to study higher math or to read enlightening literature that challenges the intellect of both homeschooled and after-schooled students but here is what truly goes down: Yogurt or cold cereal often in a foam bowl, kids off to classes, race to work for hours, pick up takeout on way home sometimes, clear a path in the common areas, do bare absolute minimum to keep common area passable, and wind down with family time, internet or book before starting cycle all over again. When I homeschooled, we were a tad closer to my delusional ideal.

Based upon your description of her, she sounds anything but impressionable. Thus, I would not worry about having unduly influenced her decision one way or the other.

Meh. Those things happen. Emotions can get out of hand here sometimes. People get miffed, delete posts, declare that they will take board break or delete account. When the ruffled feathers are smoothed, they're back in ten second, minutes, days, maybe months until the next blowup that they get too emotionally invested in. Most people learn which type of threads to avoid because it pushes their own personal buttons. At one time, swan songs were supposedly against board rules. Not sure if that was ever an official policy punishable by lashing with noodle. Someone here compared it to the paraphrased film/novel line, "The first rule of Fight Club is to not mention Fight Club."

Generally I do not mind childless people offering parental advice as long as it is solicited. Parenting is largely skilled interpersonal relationshipping, and some people simply are naturally more gifted in that area.

Every generation since the dawn of time probably has claimed that the younger generation is more insolent than the elder one. Didn't Socrates or Aristotle make this same claim? No, I do not believe that the the whippersnappers of today are less respectful than those of yesteryear. Now if I can just remember my own words the next time I encounter a smart alec kid ..... :laugh:

Yes, all of them narrated play when they were younger.

Thanks for pointing this out, Laura. I have had highly irregular cycles for most of my life, but my medical professionals never considered it pathology since I was otherwise strong and healthy and apparently had no problems conceiving even after going two years without a menstrual period. Without going into detail of my own personal experience, Moxie, I did want to assure you that there certainly are cyclical/hormonal issues that render NFP very difficult to read/interpret, even for experienced user. I used NFP for years although not for religious reasons. I used NFP precisely because it was natural non-hormonal family planning technique and was disappointed when it was no longer a feasible option for me. Feel free to PM me if you wish. If you and your husband do decide to seek out other family planning alternatives, I would recommend DB (double barrier - one for female and one for male) method since it increases likelihood of preventing pregnancy and does not alter the reproductive system. I hope the two of you can come to an agreement on this extremely personal issue that is in best interest of you and your family. I can only imagine how you are suffering with this issue. I can sympathize with your frustration and anger. :grouphug:

What factors determine whether a country is Christian? A country where Christianity is the predominant religion among the religious?

Oh, my. My household hygiene standards are probably considerably more lax than others here. However, I would be so disgusted by someone changing a feces-filled diaper in eating area that I would leave and let management know why I was leaving. Too bad that Starbucks felt it necessary to apologize to the parents.

No, I have not called police (or CPS) on unsupervised children.

I would have to know more about the situation before I would term it "dysfunctional." I would like to think I could confide in a sibling about marital problems without it being general knowledge, but if I felt it would be a burden to her, I would forego telling her. Why should her marital problems be "freely known?" Personally I would not confide in my parents about marital problems because I would not want them to have lingering resentment toward spouse after problems had been resolved. I suppose same could be said of siblings but I think a sibling would have a little less of a mama bear outlook than a parent would if that makes sense.

I would feel compelled to take kids home safely. They could be hit by car, especially the toddler. Original poster, how did you decide to deal with the matter?

I'm sorry, Janie Grace. It's difficult to watch those kind of situations unfold. My husband's sister-in-law had a brother who followed a strict patriarchal leader to the tee. At last count, he and his wife had produced fifteen children which his faith community and his sister's family fed and clothed although he gave credit to his deity for providing. Apparently his time was consumed by studying religious texts to the point that he could not work full time.

I agree with you, op, that calling police or CPS seem over the top at this point. Are you absolutely certain about the ages of the three children? If eldest is six, how old are the two younger children? 5 and 4? I doubt they could outrun. Catch one of them and escort him/her home with stern instructions to not venture into your yard again without your permission. The police would ask if you have talked to the parents. I'd try a little harder to track down parents. You could leave a note on their door. How deep is this fish pond? Make sure you are not in violation of any municipal ordinances about enclosing it. Put up no trespassing signs.

No, you definitely should not respond. In fact, you should not tell her under any circumstances "if certain people made better life choices..." at all. That comes across as pretty judgmental. Perhaps she regretfully knows she is not cut out for homeschooling. There is no shame in acknowledging one's limitations. Maybe if she persists with the "I wish I could homeschool," you could gently ask her what constructive changes and sacrifices she could make in her life to make homeschooling happen. Besides, how your children would have fared in public school is all speculation anyway unless they have spent a significant amount of time in public school. My guess is that you are a responsible nurturing parent, and your kids would grow into responsible generous knowledgable people regardless of education route you chose.

double post