I think it depends on the activity and the child's ability. For instance, my oldest ds fought me Every. Single. Week. on taking piano lessons from age 8 to age 14. But he has talent, a natural ability. So I made him keep going (I'm one of those people whose mom let her quit and I am still mad at my mom for it). This summer, after fighting me on it for 6 years, ds discovered that he LOVES piano. I nearly fainted. However, ds has zero athletic ability. We put him in a few different sports to try out when he was younger and it was downright painful to watch. So we let him quit. There was no point in pushing it. If he'd had the ability we may have forced him to stick it out longer as we see value in it. I guess you have to decide what hills you are going to die on and what will be the greater loss, quitting or not quitting. It will be different for everyone. .

Sorry but that first pic is disgusting. Count me among the "insane" I guess. Yuck. .

I used to think it mattered. Then I moved here and there is exactly one brand of diapers, take it or leave it.:glare: What I learned is that there isn't any difference really between Pampers and some foreign brand with all the packaging in some other language.

Well our mantle was pretty big so our DVD player sat on top of it.

Honestly, lots of homeschoolers feel that way. It's normal. :grouphug:

My dh wouldn't either.

Which part of Malaysia definitely makes a difference!

We went to Universal in Singapore a year ago and it was awesome!!!

How COOL is that? It is brand new, designed and built by the same company that did all the other Legoland parks, and it opens Sept. 15. We are excited!!!! The down side is that it is on the other side of Malaysia from us but that is only a really short plane ride (or an 8 hour drive). So we are going to plan for Christmas break. :D SE Asia is really moving up in the world... A Disney World in Hong Kong, Universal Studios in Singapore, and now Legoland in Malaysia!!! .

My dd is Dec. 26. The last two years we had a birthday party for her ON her birthday and I don't care if people like the idea or not. If they don't come because it is too close to christmas then they don't care enough about her and I don't bother with them.

:lol::lol::lol: :iagree:

That is awesome! I run the WASC accreditation team for my school and We have been through the whole process more than once. I have also served on visiting teams for other schools so if I can help in any way just let me know. I'd be happy to share what knowledge I have on the topic. :D

I went from "glue that holds everything together so no one else has to do anything" To "the one who lives on the other side of the earth" :D

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

Aside from childbirth, it was the most painful thing I have ever experienced. I had 4 I impacted wisdom teeth. I had a twilight sedative. Afterwards I was so bruised and swollen it looked like I had been beaten up. I couldn't eat solids for about a week and I vomited several times, mostly blood that I had swallowed. Then I got dry socket in all 4 areas and the treatment for that was excruciating. Thank the Lord for Vicodin and Percocet. Also have ice packs on hand and don't use a straw as that causes the dry socket. You will be cleaning food out of the holes for a long time. Whatever you do, have all 4 done at the same time. If I hadn't, I would never have gone back for the other ones. Not trying to scare you. Just speaking truth. :grouphug:

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

It DEFINITELY is an interesting stage. I remember the first year I was here and the Olympics were going and of course I was rooting for the USA. Now I still root for the USA but I also root for all these other countries... A diver from GB comes up and I say "Oh! That's Debbie's country!" and I cheer for him or her. A runner from S. Africa comes up and I say "Oh! That's Jasmane's country! and I cheer for him or her. My ds (adopted from Korea) and the rest of us cheered like mad whenever a Korean competed. And you should have seen the cheering going on in our house when Malaysia played China in the badminton finals! :D It has really changed my whole perspective on life in general. I am still a proud American, but I feel like a citizen of the world now, too. Thank you for offering your insight! .

sorry! :blushing: .

I think you handled it very well. :grouphug: Most decisions like this in the teen years are impulse decisions. The best thing my mom did for me growing up was rather than say NO to everything, she said WAIT. If I had wanted to chop off all my hair (and I did) she would say, "OK. Wait one month and we will revisit the topic." Then if I still REALLY wanted to go through with it she would support me. This "wait" philosophy kept me from making many decisions I would have regretted. :grouphug:

They are just beautiful!!!! :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

It is not my stereotype that bothers me. It is the stereotype the rest of the world has of Americans that is most on my mind. I am not losing sleep over it :D but it does make me curious as to why other countries think our love of guns is so distasteful.

I am from a suburb of Detroit and when we were there this summer there were two gun stores within a half mile of my mom's house. Not to mention guns at Walmart. :001_huh: This has been a fascinating discussion. Many have given strong arguments for American gun ownership. I suppose my question now is: why do so many people outside the US find this one aspect of our culture to be so distasteful? Do they have no fear of wildlife, break-ins, government oppression, etc.? Anyone here from another country care to chime in? . .

Honestly, I think deep down this is my biggest issue. I HATE that Americans are thought of as violent, gun-obsessed crazies by the rest of the world because I know we aren't. And yet, when I go back to the states and there are gun sellers on every corner, the news is full of shootings, and people on FB post things that say "Yeah, I love guns and you can kiss my a$$" ... It just makes me cringe. It's like I wish we would could all be a little more, ummm, reserved, I guess, about our gun ownership rather than being so in-your-face about it. And when I defend Americans and their guns and I say things like a PP about our government not oppressing us without a fight, I am met with perplexed faces and comments like "when has your government ever truly oppressed you that you would be so fearful of it happening?" Compared to a lot of countries, the answer is never. You are all probably right, though. Guns are so much of who we are, I don't know how we would turn that reputation around. .

Engagement day to wedding day= 5 months and 10 days.

I hear what you are saying but... I live in a country where people are not allowed to own guns and the fact is the murder rate is drastically lower than the U.S. so it IS possible to run a country where people don't own guns AND don't kill each other. And according to the PP's article, it is also possible for a country to allow gun ownership AND people still don't kill each other. I guess I am just trying to understand this "you'll have to pry my gun from my cold, dead kung-fu grip" mentality that many Americans have and if there is any way to change the rest of the world's perception of our nation as a bunch of "gun toting" crazies. We might start with not allowing Toby Keith to sing any more songs. :tongue_smilie: .