We always brine in a cooler and have never had any problems. DH LOVES a brined bird for the holidays, lol.

Have you asked him why he is fighting setting the table? Can he reasonably state why he does not want to do it, and offer a solution - perhaps take over clearing the table and washing dishes? I agree with the others that this is not about getting compliance - this is about a child who is trying to control his life, a life that is out of his control in so many ways. I agree that he needs more time spent with you and a chance to control SOME aspects of his life. However, when you do impose consequences, they must be stuck to by everyone, including your mother. Good luck. You must be drowning in difficult emotions with all that is going on.

I think it's pretty great that your daughter wants to handle it herself. While we want to run in and fix everything as a mother, she is showing independence and maturity by wanting to handle her own social situations. Sometimes it takes getting hurt by a person before we can see how their behavior is toxic. It's better to let her go through it now, and learn how to handle it, than later when she's older and the stakes are much higher. It sure is hard to see our kids get hurt, though.

This happened to me when I was a child. It was very painful and unexpected. I think you should take your son out for the afternoon and do something extra fun, so he doesn't have to know about it while it's happening. Poor guy.

I worked as a nanny for a little less than 2 years. I was placed through an agency. I was a certified teacher who had relocated in the middle of a school year and did not want to sub. I was part of a nanny share between 2 families, each with a toddler. My guys were very cute and sweet, I did care abut them a lot and still wonder how they are doing. One of the families divorced during my tenure with them and it was difficult. I believe hours, time off, and pay schedule and the fact that they were paying my taxes were all in the contract. Probably there was also a termination clause, but I left because I was pregnant so they had a lot of advance warning. I would think 2 weeks would be a minimum amount of notice, 1 month would be better but that might not be the standard.

We have the same problem with my 9yo. It would be great to find a pack of gifted kids so he could get some perspective, but I haven't found any organized groups for gifted kids outside of the gifted classes at school. The worst part of these very well meaning compliments is that my son can get very frustrated if he is struggling to comprehend something, because he has been told he is so smart so often he equates it with effortless knowledge. That's going to change! I am trying to teach my son to respond to such comments with something like, "Thanks, I have to work hard to learn new things just like you." I want my kids to always say thank you to a compliment and not minimize it - that is one of my pet peeves.

Routine stuff - dishes, laundry, beds, pick up - probably 1.5-2 hours, spread across the whole day. A big clean, with everyone helping, takes about 2 hours on the weekend.

I could not read and not respond. I am so sorry for the pain you must be going through. I think I would find a counselor who specializes in abuse issues and ask for help in figuring out the truth. The fact that her stepfather has been abusive at any time lends credence to her account, although the beating she received may not have been as bad as she remembered it to be. (I have a feeling I'm not expressing myself well here). What I mean is, it's horrible that he might have beaten her at all, and he should still hold accountability for that, but it may have been less physically severe than she remembers, which would explain why you don't remember any affects. How sad for all of you.

I am a Girl Scout leader too. How many girls are in your troop? Did you offer up 2-3 possible times to see which would be the most convenient for everyone? It can be very difficult to find a time when 10 families can all attend. It sounds to me like you have made an excellent compromise, and you sound like you really care about this girl, but you also sound really angry and personally hurt about this. I hope you aren't taking this girl's lateness personally. I know a TON of work goes into making a ceremony special, but that is part of being a Leader. Remember that every family works differently. Just as you are judgmental that this family is extremely busy, they may be judging you for over-valuing your one activity - and that would not be fair to you either. Take some deep breaths and try to enjoy your flying up ceremony, no matter what happens! :)

When we lived in California I really missed the traditional autumn season. We cured it by moving north, lol. I guess all you can do is reminisce or travel north if burning apple-scented candles isn't cutting it for you.

Dh and I are both agnostic, and our 9yo ds is firmly atheist, which makes for some very uncomfortable conversations with some of the evangelical Christians in our social circle. We try to be respectful of the religious beliefs of everyone we meet, and we hope that they will be respectful of our positions too.

I have a cousin who is 58. He caught whooping cough at 6 weeks old from his school-aged brothers, who both had a mild case. He was hospitalized, has brain damage, and it ruined his life. Because of his experience, I find the risk of not immunizing far greater than the risks of immunizing. Sure, your older child may get a cough and recover, but a newborn or someone who is immuno-compromised might suffer serious complications or even die.

We have a similar problem with a dear friend's daughter. She is a real bully, but her mother is determined to believe that it is "normal girl development" that she will grow out of. We had to limit contact with just that one child (her younger sister is my 3yo's dear friend,so that was tough to juggle), but a year later she seems to have calmed down a lot. While I think it it extremely important to teach a child to stand up for herself, 7 is a bit young to tell her how to handle a bully and then back off. I'd be in the classroom to observe and help. And if the teacher was offended, too bad. I am a teacher by profession,and just because someone is a teacher does not mean they have great classroom management skills. I have seen plenty of teachers get overwhelmed by just a few rowdy kids.

I'll homeschool each child on an "as needed" basis. My son will probably want to homeschool until he can take community college classes as a teenager, although sports might lure him to high school. My daughter may very well beg to go to school next year, for second grade. I'll do whatever is best for each individual child.

Best wishes to you. :grouphug:

We did a rescue the injured soldier with 2 teams. Each team had to wrap a roll of bandages (toilet paper) around their soldier, then load him onto a beach towel and bring him to safety. When the team crossed the line, they were each given a roll of Life Savers as a prize. The other popular game we did was giving each kid a balsa plane to assemble, and then having them try to land their plane on the Aircraft Carrier by throwing it from our deck onto a picnic table several feet away. It was pretty hard and some kids stuck with it a long time. Have fun!

We had a great vacation there 2 years ago!

My mom would have been 81 this year. She was the BEST mom in the world, I miss her every day.

I have a degree in Special Education and taught kids with multiple disabilities before I had my own. However, I am a firm believer that homeschooling does NOT require teacher credentials.

I think you need to directly speak to the coach. There may be an innocent misunderstanding. Don't react until you know for certain that there is problem. Screw up your courage and give him a call!

We have Grammar Island and like it, however, the teacher's edition is a huge waste of money. It's almost an exact duplicate of the student book.

Good thoughts for the healing of your beloved dog! What a terrible thing to happen.

I just successfully helped my 6yo drop some weight, putting her back into the healthy weight range. She never knew her weight was a problem at all. We NEVER said a word to her. All we did was make a new policy that all snacks would be fruit or vegetables. Even raisins, that have a high sugar content, at least have fiber and nutrients in them. Sometimes we made smoothies out of lowfat yogurt and berries. ALL the people in our family are expected to eat this way; it's healthier for everyone. We looked for the healthiest versions of food - some yogurt has 200 calories a serving! We don't buy ice cream any more, now it's frozen yogurt. Next, we signed her up for swim team. In the summer, our local pool had a team that practiced 30 minutes 5 days a week. She loved it and the exercise was phenomenal for her. We also encouraged more walking and rollerblading. Good luck! You can do it!