From my own personal experience working with families: If you want to be treated as a professional, and not as a doormat, make up a contract using the excellent tips given in this thread. Present the contract to every new client, along with a verbal summary of your offerings and expectations. Give them one free session, and then require the signed contract and payment before the next session. I would like to respectfully observe that in many cases where kids without learning disabilities are substantially behind, the parents don't always play nicely with the school schedule - pulling their kids for out of town vacations mid-term, allowing multiple days off at a time to spend doing a hunting/fishing/farming activity with family members, letting the kid go to bed at an inappropriately late time at night, and taking days off or going in late frequently just because the kid doesn't want to go or is difficult to get up in the morning. (Sometimes these are parents of kids with learning disabilities) I'm not saying these experiences don't have value or learning potential, just that they don't work well for the academic advancement of the public school student who is on a strict timetable with regard to the general education curriculum. These parents frequently don't provide much support with homework, either, and when they discover how far behind their kids are they tend to blame it on the school. They may wind up being the same parents who have "tech problems", cancel at the last minute, are late or just no-show on your tutoring sessions, etc. Bending over backwards because you want to save the kid won't work in these situations, so you might as well establish boundaries. If you don't value yourself, others will think you are not valuable and will treat you as valueless.

She got her first Pfizer last Thursday. Only symptom was a sore arm for a few days. We are eagerly awaiting her second.

Hydroquinone is a skin bleaching agent that causes age spots to fade away over a number of weeks or months. I've had good success with it on brown skin patches (not raised) along my jawline. If you stop using it or spend a lot of unprotected time in the sun they can return. I got it at Walgreens.

Butch was at the center of that controversy...

CROCKPOTS SINGAPORE VS SAXON

Could also be a recurring symptom of long COVID.

11:30 tomorrow morning! Yippee!!

I've served on my county court system's juvenile restorative justice panel, so I'll tell you what we've done there. When a teen has been caught doing an illegal, nonviolent first-offense crime by the police, they can be referred to the juvenile restorative justice program instead of going to court. If they follow through with the program, the charges are not put into a criminal record, but if they fail the program they go through the court process. The process begins when a panel made up of selected injured parties is convened; injured parties include the juvenile offender, parents, actual victims of the crime, and community members who represent concerned members of society. The group meets in a circle with the program leader, and the youth confesses the crime they have committed. The panelists then take turns expressing the ways that particular crime impacted them, greater concerns about the crime as it relates to the youth, and suggestions for reparations that can be made or actions the youth can take to learn a lesson. In the case of a minor drugs charge, youth have been asked to research the impacts (personal, social, etc) of that drug (and others) on minors, give a presentation about that topic to a group of their peers, and write letters of apology to parents and siblings and/or friends who were aware of the situation. They often are required by the program leader to undergo some amount of counseling as well. After the youth has completed their program, the panel reconvenes. The teen presents what they have done for reparations and learned from the process. This is followed by congratulations and encouragement by the panelists, and a small refreshment-type party for the group. This is a sobering process for all of the parties involved, and it emphasizes the gravity of the situation even if it is something that we might think is relatively benign (like pot). Of note - even in states which have legalized marijuana (if that's what the offense was), it is still illegal for minors to possess and use this and other drugs. Under current federal laws, a juvenile who is arrested, charged, and convicted of a drugs crime will NEVER get federal financial aid for college. This is a major life consequence that should be impressed upon the kid.

"Inappropriate" in an ATI kind of way? Is that what this is? Are you supporting ATI and trying to change other poster's perceptions that the Duggars and their ilk are only "inappropriate" and not downright depraved? What do you mean by "calling it creepy crosses the line into safetyism that I'm not willing to cross"?

Having been a lurker throughout this entire thread, the only dogpile I see is from people defending their use of the word "creepy" when they are being told how they should and shouldn't feel. And who the heck is "pinball"? An EKS sock account? Seems rather a pedantic defender of EKS AND the Duggars. Why are they both defending the Duggars in this thread?

Did you ever find someone to do your work? I wouldn't assume they don't want the work; I would assume they are completely booked, and will use your small job as filler in between big jobs. DH is a residential construction project manager, and he tells me about the scheduling process. Smaller jobs just have to wait until they have an opening in the schedule. They aren't going to pull their crews off of a whole-house build they've been working on for the past six months in order to do your 1-2 week job. And they have another three whole-house builds under contract, which are being scheduled to begin anytime in the next two years as the crews become available. Here in New England they are also likely to save small indoor jobs for wintertime inclement weather, and focus on the big outdoor jobs while it's not -15. DH has also been counseling clients to purchase and store their building materials once the contract is signed so that they won't be stuck with huge overages on their final price as construction supply costs continue to climb. The contract price for materials quoted is subject to change based on market price fluctuations.

A local/regional bakery which sold products in retail grocery and convenience stores, and had been in business for 80 years, closed abruptly at the beginning of this week. Apparently they were in financial distress, and were bought for dismemberment by venture capitalists. They made the best donuts. So we've been on a quest for donuts all week. I think we bought a dozen boxes of donuts yesterday which we plan to put in the freezer to thaw one at a time. A few years ago my favorite tea was discontinued. I scoured the internet and bought up every last case I could find. I am now down to the last case, and only allow myself one teabag on special occasions. So, nope; you're not alone!

Okay, then they're living "the easy life" on the unemployment money I didn't collect when my temporary winter job contract was canceled due to COVID. I was supposed to have earned $10K between December and March, and was laid off at the end of November. Good for them. Maybe now they'll be able to afford a reliable car to get back and forth to work with in the future, instead of a beater that will break down every week. Maybe they'll be able to pay off student loans that would have kept them from buying a home, getting married, or having kids before they're 35. Maybe they aren't fully vaccinated yet, and they don't want to bring a potentially deadly disease home to a family member at high risk. Whatever. I'm not begrudging anyone some money that makes their life easier for a short time when we all struggle so much our whole lives to put money into the pockets of the richest 2200 people in the world while scraping for grocery and gas money. If employers want employees, they need to offer compensation that makes sense, including reasonable work schedules, wages, and paid time off that allows people to have a decent standard of living they can actually enjoy. If there's one thing this pandemic has shown us, society depends on the low-wage earners who do the actual labor in this world. Tax the extremely wealthy, close loopholes on off-shore tax havens, and redistribute the wealth to the people who ACTUALLY create it - the working class. There's nothing stopping us from having policies that support the "middle class" while supporting SMALL local businesses - oh, except the oligarchs and their brainwashed minions.

Didn't read the rest of the responses, but yes I do think they are ridiculous. I also think many people bring dogs where they don't belong, and use the strollers to make it easier for them to do so.

Actually, it does benefit individuals to have enough money to pay their bills without a heap-ton of stress. We're talking about low and middle income earners who have been squeezed over the past 25 years. If so many employers are desperate for workers, taking some time off during a pandemic shouldn't hurt the individual's ability to find work later.

Aw, man! I bet your hubby looks fetching in that style! 🤪

Those brands are spendy and not in our budget. I ordered some inexpensive knockoffs from ebay for dd, and she loves them.

Yeah well you can see how a kid who is taking 10 hours per week of school, and also working more than full time, might want some leisure time too. There should be a work/life balance. I'll also mention that this is the kid who was making $13 per hour at the grocery bakery before taking the HVAC/R job, where he started at $13/hour. At the time he was asking why he should bother working that much harder for the same pay - the answer was on-the-job training for a future career that has way more room for advancement. He's afraid they will tell him "to just suck it up" - but not in those words - if he tells them he'd prefer to stick to a max of 45 hours. He just walked in the door now, at 6pm, after having been to work at 6am, after working 10 hours plus night school yesterday . IMO that's too much for a kid just starting out - people burn out. That's his opinion, too. FWIW, I kept my opinion to myself until he offered his... At least he's young enough that he could walk away and find a job as an electrician instead, because we are here to support him in that choice and its ramifications. We shall see what he decides. But, going back to the OP, I think it's crazy for employers to complain that they can't find or keep workers when they are offering too little (compensation, regular schedules, etc.) or expecting too much (giving up all of your leisure time, etc.). Where did we ever get the idea that people should have to live only to work, in order to have a decent quality of living which they can't really enjoy because they're too busy at work. Salaried positions shouldn't be more than 40 hours per week, even though I understand that is not the norm. There is no spare time anymore, and the stress of it is not good for your health.

I have a kid who has planned to go into the trades since the age of 10. They are now finishing their first year working as an HVAC/R tech, and just yesterday completed a 2/night per week third-year electrician apprenticeship training course. They are considering quitting the HVAC/R job, and maybe even quitting that career, in spite of the fact that they like the work. A year ago they were told the job would start at 7am and be 40 hours+ occasional overtime, but the reality of the entire year has been 50-55+ hours per week, with 2-3 days each week of a 6am start time. They are working that poor kid right out of a future career. Looking around online, that seems to be the norm in the skilled trades - there is no room for quality of life outside of the job. It is unsustainable.

But my teen can work at the local supermarket bakery for $11/hour, and then get another $2/hour COVID pay on top of that. Why would they want do backbreaking work in a hot field for not much money when they can work at the local auction house for $10/hour +tips.

I call him a big doofus.

If you find cramping to be a problem, red raspberry leaf tea (the real thing - not flavored tea) works like a charm. Be warned that it will curdle milk. Also, OB tampons are easier to position, especially if you're not real familiar with those parts...

I started lurking and then participating sometime in 2000, when I lived in Florida.

And that's where anti-racism breaks down and becomes complacent acceptance of racism and adjacent racism. If we know better, and choose not to do better because we fear judgment from the people around us who support the injustice, we must view ourselves as complicit in perpetuating that injustice. Silence becomes endorsement of the injustice. What other people think of you is neither your concern nor your business. Perhaps it is time to find different "friends"?