How about Ms. Frizzle? She's got a large book series as well as a TV show.

Yeah, I can do reading on autopilot too. Especially if it's not a book that holds my interest or one I've read several times. I personally don't see the point in changing a pronoun while reading aloud. But that's just me. I wouldn't change it in any book I was reading to myself either. If I felt I needed a book with a strong female character, I would find one to read. However, I don't even look at books in that way and in my imagination I am almost always a strong, female lead. I also don't think it's a big deal if someone else chooses to change stuff up while they're reading aloud to their children or to themselves. Whatever. That doesn't affect me in any way. For my son -- well, I guess gender is just is a non-issue. We both know there are strong female and male people in real life as well as in books. We also know there are rude, deceitful, unkind, weak-willed, etc, people of both genders in books and in real life.

A few of us have outed ourselves. :)

Yeah, I have definitely not visited Game of Thrones in my imagination. lol

See, I just checked him now and he forgot to scrub, so back in he goes!

My 8 year old definitely stinks! And has for the last year. He has always had daily baths or showers too. Now I have to give him a sniff when he gets out of the shower to make sure he scrubbed his pits good. He doesn't seem to mind and often runs over to stick his armpit right in my face to smell without even asking. ;) However, my sister was going to give him some natural kid's deodorant for Christmas! She was well meaning, but enough people told her that would be rude so she just gave it to me. I haven't used it on him. I use the crystal myself and have thought about using it on him too, but making sure he scrubs well seems to help a lot.

I do this too! It is my regular bedtime habit.

I still would like a link to the DVD in question here.

I live in Houston as well and the only places I hear Christian music in public are stores that are geared towards Christians or are associated with a church (such as a thrift store) and Chick Fil A.

Exactly. You think pride would take a backseat in a situation like this. What was the other charity company recently that announced they were fine with hiring those in a same-sex marriage and had so many people stop their donations?

Oh gosh, that made me laugh!

I've never been to a megachurch, but Joel OSteen's church is here in Houston and it's huge! From the outside anyways. :)

I am wondering the same thing. Everything I have read has said there will be a Season 4, but it won't be for a while. IMDB has it for 2016.

I can only hope there will be a season four as there is a lot of mention of it when Googling, though not until 2016 at the earliest.

Dang, you beat me to it! But yes, those questions have been answered by Christians and those who aren't Christian as well. I think the general consensus is that everyone "brainwashes" their kids simply because your kids are going to learn not only what you purposely teach them, but from what they observe of you as well. At some point it's just going to be called "raising your children as you see fit." I think the general consensus is that actual "brainwashing" occurs when the children are forced, sheltered, discouraged from asking questions, and/or not allowed any knowledge of anything outside of what their parents want them to know or being told there are dire consequences for deviating from what the parents are teaching, therefor forcing the children to cling to the teaching out of fear.

This!

My parents were definitely not open to other faiths at all. I can still remember my mom shutting down any interest or questions I had. It drove them crazy when I joined that crazy group. It may partly have been because I started telling them they were going to hell if they didn't convert, I don't know. :) But I assume they were so happy when I finally left that church that they never said anything negative about any avenues I explored after that.

For the last several months I have been stressing choice and consequence with my son. Over and over and over. I hope, so hope that eventually it will sink in. BLA5, I hear you though. At some point you do just have to let go and not worry what everyone else is thinking about you and your horrible parenting. It is rough. It is hard. Then I get mad at myself for treating my son in a manner that is not conducive to anything positive just because I'm concerned about what some stranger thinks. We are currently living with my mom since my ex and I separated a year ago. She engages. It drives me crazy. I ask her to ignore his behavior, to set boundaries and to let him know she won't converse with him when he is talking that way. She is 62 years old and responds and engages and I wonder how she can expect more/better from an eight year old. Then she says my brother and I never did that when we were that age. Ugh, we did. He has consequences for talking in that manner and he knows that and I get told that I am unfair all.the.time. It can be rough at times.

I can't speak for Slache, but I'm thinking that even if she is teaching what you mentioned, it seems she is open to educating her children about different faiths, beliefs, science, etc. I am thinking that there are families of faith who don't ever explore any other belief besides their own and shelter their children from anything else as well and maybe that is what she is trying to avoid and/or why she is asking questions.

I was talking with someone of the JW faith once while we were waiting for some car work to get done. I told her my current standpoint on faith and that I didn't want to influence my son and that he should be able to make his own choice regarding faith and spirituality. She said she thought it was my job as a parent to guide my son in the way of the faith to give him a good backbone, I guess. I thought it was irrelevant since I don't follow or subscribe to any faith, but I understood where she's coming from. I think I can see where Slache is coming from too and I commend her for asking her questions. I think they're legitimate and good questions.

Well, I am not Christian, though I have been in the past and I was raised Catholic. Although many conservative views that get tied in with religious views upset me, I am often open to the faith and fluctuate back and forth and struggle with it a lot internally. That said, I do similar to what you do. I teach and expose my son to different faiths and beliefs. We do use some Christian curriculum because we are taking Minecraft classes that use it. It opens up a lot of discussion. He is all sorts of confused and I feel bad, but I'm confused and unsure myself so I can't give him any clear direction with that. I do want him to be able to make his own decisions as he grows and I don't necessarily want to "brainwash" him one way or another. It is rough around here. lol I was brought up as a lax Catholic, but my parents never discussed theology or religion. They did not encourage exploration or discussion of other religions. I had a very simple faith which was shattered when I joined up with a fundie, cultish type group. I sometimes wish I still had that simple faith! Anyways, although I'm not Christian, I'd thought I'd share my view on it because it is at the forefront of my mind often.

Of course there are lazy parents. There always have been and always will be. I think the point trying to be made here is that one can't tell from a few minutes in a store if the parent is a lazy parent or if there are other issues going on or anything at all about the person, their kids, and how they choose to parent.

Well, I admit it was partly a snide remark, but I am also curious as Luann has never stipulated before as to having an education past high school. So, I apologize for the snideness of it. I am still curious if she does have an advanced education in the subject that is under discussion here. On another note, one thing being a parent has taught me is that I don't know jack about kids. I sat regularly from my teens well into my 20s and I have a sister who is 15 years younger than me. I had a lot of exposure to being with kids. I sprouted off all sorts of bad and unwanted advice when I didn't have any kids of my own. I look back on that now and hang my head. I only have one son and I'm not even an expert on him let alone other people's kids.

I did not know that you have a college degree. Just out of curiosity, is it a Bachelor's or an Associate's?

It was opposite for my ex and I. :) I have no problem with playing/running in public places as long as other people aren't being disturbed. And by disturbed I mean that my kid isn't physically getting in other people's way or hitting/touching them, being overly loud, stuff like that. I usually only let him do that is no one else is really around anyways. Some people will always be annoyed by kids. That is their problem, not mine. There are plenty of things when interacting with the general public that annoy the crud out of me. I just deal with it and continue on with my life. Sure, I bitch and moan about it if it really annoys me. And I really think that may be what Luann was attempting to do in her original post though it was worded rather poorly.