With our kid, a lot of consequences don't work, because he doesn't care. Right now he's under house arrest, he has to either follow dh or me around or be in his room. However, I've had to resort to, "you don't get lunch until this is done, and the kitchen closes at 12:30". I know that sounds like harsh measures, but that's his lowest common denominator. Food. And I can't let chores pile up because he's easily overwhelmed and then shuts down altogether. So, it's like, we do everything incrementally. He doesn't care about missing tv or video games or anything else, but meals.... That's where we have leverage.

Fruit, yogurt, cheese sticks, homemade bread with butter and homemade jam, popcorn. They do get chez-it's, but I'm tired of buying it, so when we runout, we're done. If we are in the car, I'll give them granola bars, but that doesn't happen often.

I have a lazy 9 year old boy. He's not laid back and easy going. He's stubborn, completely self-centered. If he's thirsty and I say, "get yourself some water" he won't do it if it's too much effort. He's bright, good looking, excels at every sport he puts his hand to, though he's completely unmotivated. Part of his laziness problem is (or maybe because of it) is that he cannot entertain himself. He is always at loose ends and then he bugs people and annoys them and irritates them. He doesn't like to read (too much effort, although he's an excellent reader, he's better than many kids older than he is), but he loves to be read to. He is always bored. He likes to play with his siblings, but he's strong and is too rough. His younger brother does not like to play with him often because of this. He really only likes passive activities. When I was very sick once (he was about 4 years old) my mom picked up the other kids, but I said she could leave him because he'd be happy to watch tv all morning. And he was. He would be content to sit and watch tv or play video games all day long, whereas the other kids get bored after a while and go play. He does only have a set amount of time on the tv and I force him to go outside.

Oh, that's funny!

This!

I agree. We have a black, enclosed composter, but when I open it to put new stuff in, there is no smell other than a fresh, earthy smell. Nothing disagreeable. And make sure you water it regularly. But definitely put nothing in except plant matter, although I do put in coffee grounds and egg shells. But those don't seem to hurt anything.

Funny you should ask. This isn't exactly about the Holocaust, but it's a very very interesting book. It is definitely not typical of my reading material, even though I usually read biographies. "The Lost Life of Eva Braun" by Angela Lambert. I've always wondered about her. You know, what kind of woman was she. Who becomes mistress to a monster? There's not a ton of information about her, but I'm really enjoying the book. The author's mother was German and was born a month after Eva Braun was born and was born into a very similar socio-economic family, so a lot of the general information in the book regarding German society of the times the author got from her mother, but there's a lot of other info from interviews from family members, etc. It's pretty easy to read, and while I must not say it's an "enjoyable" read, it's very interesting.

Brown/brown!

I am so so sorry.

I'm assuming that you don't just mean "the bank" but rather easily liquidatable assets. We are not rich, but we live frugally and have saved pretty well,, so if we had to.... We could live as long as we need to.

My 6 year old is a drama queen and a lot of it is manipulation. She wants her own way, she wants to get her brothers in trouble, she wants... She wants... She wants. She's also a perfectionist, so failure gets her all bent out of shape, too. Even if it's just missing one problem on a speed drill.

I am the first one, definitely. I try to make the most informed decision I can, but then I just do it, go with it and don't (or try not to) look back. Dh, otoh, is the second one. Drives me nuts.

I totally agree. You have a fantastic smile!

No, sorry! Bakersfield, California is where we were at. But, how wonderful for that little girl your daughter was playing with. Today there were a lot of happy families at the courthouse in Bakersfield. Lots of finalizations. It was a wonderful time!

Drove 2 hours to court, spent five minutes there and came home, but now it's done. No more foster care, no more social workers, no more interference in our lives. And it's really a neat ceremony. Kind of like a wedding. You say, "I do," and pledge your lives to parent these little girls and make them our daughters "with all the rights, privileges and duties thereof." It's cool.

Go for it. "Dear Abby" would say you're never too old.

On weekdays, it's once a day. Oh weekends when dh is home all day, it's about 3 times in 2 days.

I'm not sure how well you know this person, but I was thinking of a little photo album of loved ones you could make on Shutterfly or something.

I don't have a problem with a paid attendant. But, we have a very small church. Our girls are the only ones in the nursery during SS. So, I would be the only one on the rotation. I might as well just stay home. During church, we have been getting more attendees, but a lot are new people and you can't quite say to someone, "I know it's only your second Sunday here, but you can't use our nursery unless you're on the rotation." So, that leaves us and another family and I'm on the children's church rotation as well. I'm not saying, by any means, that parents shouldn't help out. I think they should. But, when you have a small church with a lot of old people.... This has been a problem we have been struggling with for a long time and it tends to get ignored because there is no good solution.

I love this idea, too, for a natural look, but the kids are quite small and I'm worried about mess. Will put this idea away for future reference.

I can do that. I'm going to Walmart today.

Does anyone have any ideas on decorating plastic milk jugs besides drawing on them with Sharpies. We're making bird feeders at co-op and I can't afford to buy that many sharpies. Any other ideas?

Ugh! You have hit a nerve. We have a very small church and only have 1 nursery attendant, even though I have been harping for years about safety issues, liability issues, blah, blah, blah! No one listens to me. Yes, we have a hard time finding volunteers. So the attendant is paid. Sometimes I think it's going to take some kind of crisis to wake people up.

When I was a kid, there were merri-go-rounds at school. You remember those, right? Those horribly dangerous pieces of playground equipment. It wasn't at my school, but it was at a school where we had our church picnic. And I remember all the little kids would get on that merri-go-round and hold on tight and the big boys would get that thing going and we'd spin around so fast. And the thing was.... we all knew to hold on tight. We were all smart enough to figure that out. No one got hurt. And if you did get hurt you either.... held on tight the next time, or didn't do it again. With all these measures to protect kids, kids aren't learning how to protect themselves. They don't learn how to navigate life. They just go blithely through because when they were toddlers, all the sharp corners of their homes were padded and they couldn't possibly hurt themselves on anything, so they don't learn to avoid potentially hurtful situations.. Then they get to school, and it's the same thing. And then they grow up and think that nothing in life is going to hurt them or should hurt them and instead of learning to avoid things, or deal with danger smartly they expect the govt. to protect them from it. Good grief. It's pathetic.

I really like that. That should be our state's motto. Instead it's "tax 'em more".