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Amy in NH

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Posts posted by Amy in NH

    So. Hypothetical question

    in The Chat Board

    Posted · Edited by Amy in NH

    When your ds was a toddler, did you take his lack of consideration for you, and the resulting behavior, personally? Because the reality is that teens are in the same egocentric stage as toddlers. Their brains are in a state of physiological re-wiring, they are psychologically completely focused on self identity creation, and they are not thinking about your desires for the laundry one bit. These are the realities which you can read about in human development textbooks.

     

    So what works best on the toddler brain? Passive aggressive or emotional responses where we take their behaviors personally? Or kind and compassionate and Dispassionate teaching about empathy and knowledge along with hand-over-hand skill building? At my house we do a lot of working alongside our teens to make things right when something has gone a bit wrong. Is it exhausting? Yes. Just like parenting toddlers is exhausting. But that's what parenting is all about - giving of ourselves in a selfless manner even when we don't want to. Blaming, chastising, taking it personally, making it about you, none of these things help.

     

    How long did it take for my neurotypical kids to learn to eat properly at table? With practice every single night? Years and years.

     

    The younger kids still throw both clean and dirty clothes on the laundry room floor. One of them is 14yo! We're still working on it. C'est la vie.

    • Like 3

    What is the cheapest way to have a smart phone?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    It is important to know what network will give you the best service. A sprint or att network doesn't work where we live, but the Verizon network does. It might be opposite elsewhere. You can get different models of a phone like the s5 depending on which network you'll be using. Ours has a cdma SIM slot and also gsm capability.

     

    Make sure what you are getting is compatible with your real options.

    • Like 4

    What is the cheapest way to have a smart phone?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I bought a cheapo smartphone to use on tracfone, but you really do get what you pay for. I suffered for a year or two before replacing it. Did some research and ended up with Galaxy s5 unlocked on Verizon network for ~$150. Tracfone SIM ~$10, and 1 year plan is $100. They give triple minutes/texts/data for all smartphones. I used WiFi and messenger most of the time, so I don't use my data much at all.

    • Like 2

    It is really frustrating living with a germaphobe JAWM

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I'm sorry. I'm emetophobic, and as much as I try to keep it from affecting my family, I know it does. When one of my son's baseball teammates threw up during a game due to heat sickness, I helped his mom get him cleaned up and cooled off... then didn't eat for two or three days. And when I don't eat, it's hard to get a balanced meal made for everyone else. I know we don't go as many places or do as many fun things because I'm so scared of falling ill.

     

    Unlike the previous poster, who had a fear of dysentery that went away after having kids, mine started after having kids and got worse after being hospitalized with... ironically... dysentery from shigella. I contracted it from a science museum after touching something contaminated, which then got on the stroller handle. I washed my hands before eating, but still had to push the stroller from the bathroom to the picnic area. I passed out at home and ended up admitted to the hospital for three days.

     

    I'm a bit traumatized by it all. I wake up in a panic several nights a week, with my heart racing, wondering if that little noise I just heard was a child vomiting in bed. I could feel myself start to panic earlier when my son wanted a Costco sample and had to fight off the intrusive thought, "He touched the cart and then his food. He touched the cart and then his food."

     

    Before the hospitalization, I could talk myself into thinking, "The worst thing that can happen is a day of vomiting." Now I know it can be worse, albeit rarely. I don't quit driving because of the risk of accidents, so why do I avoid people and food because of the risk of norovirus? I wish I knew.

     

    Oddly enough, I have a sore throat and feel influenza-achy right now, but it doesn't bother me. It's not puking, which is irrational given how much worse respiratory viruses can get, but that's what matters.

     

    I hope the counseling helps your DH. I might be in the same boat one of these days. And I hope that your son (and anyone else who gets that cold!) feels better soon.

    This time of year I wear thin gloves throughout each public outing, then wash when we get home. I ask my kids to do the same when we are shopping. No need to maximize risk of exposure.

    • Like 1

    Sprite is Lemonade?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? We don't, we just don't.

     

    Mint jelly is not for spreading, it is for melting onto lamb. It has a similar culinary function to cranberry sauce with turkey. I actually grew up with mint sauce, not mint jelly - it's a liquid.

     

    A large percentage of the US has jellied cranberry sauce from a can with their turkey.  It comes of the can as cylinder and is cut into round slices for serving.

    Sprite is Lemonade?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Skivvy is the non American term. It is near impossible to buy them in the US. My son wears them almost as a long undershirt in the winter.

    He also wears singlets which are sleeveless undershirts.

     

    Impossible to buy what?  Underwear or turtleneck shirts?  :D 

     

    I find both in many stores, and annually dump a load of outgrown turtleneck shirts on the local consignment shop.

    • Like 2

    Sprite is Lemonade?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    19yo dd tells me that Aussie toothpaste is not mint, like it is here in the US?

     

    Wrt lemonade, all "ade" is a cool refreshing drink made from fruit juice. Imo, carbonated beverages are not refreshing in the sense that they do not quench thirst.

     

    Wanted to add "pants" to the list. Means trousers, not undergarments, in the US.

    Facebook cracks me up.

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I really wish I could find my 4th grade teacher. We were stationed on Okinawa at the time, and I went to an off-base Christian school. Mrs. Freeman was the best teacher, and now that I homeschool, I can see that a lot of what she did really was "classical" before that was really a thing. She really emphasized memory work, and I can still recite so many of the things we memorized that year (Bible passages, several verses of the Star-Spangled Banner, the Presidents, etc.). She was a very young teacher back then, newly married to an enlisted guy, and I later heard they had adopted a baby from Korea. Her name is too common though. I'd love to tell her how much she influenced me!

    Mrs. Freeman was also my favorite fourth grade teacher in public school. She was Miss Roach and then got married at the end of the year. She was a young teacher who allowed me to work at my own pace. Differentiated instruction was not even a thing in the late 70s. I actually had her for two years due to a variety of factors. I loved her.

    • Like 1
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