My 17yo spends alot of time on the computer!! She's taking classes at the community college so half of it is time spent for classwork (including study groups, etc.) and the other half is talking to her friends at the college. I would guess she spends maybe .. 4 or 5 hours a day online. She doesn't watch TV much at all...and she doesn't play video games. My 14yo and 9yo play video games...but only in the evenings, after dinner. I would say they play around 3-4 hours of video games per night. They don't watch TV...and they don't go online at all. My 14yo sometimes plays computer games, but not very often...maybe a few hours a week. My 6yo has several computer games that she plays (nothing online), and she plays them for around 2-3 hours per day...but scattered. Maybe an hour in the morning...and hour after lunch...and an hour before bed. She watches some TV...maybe an hour or two (she likes shows like "Dora the Explorer" and "Blues Clues")

My SIL named her son Clarence. I'll never forget my first reaction when I heard it. But it's grown on us over the last 13 years! I have a homeschooling friend of mine whose oldest son is named Blue, and whose youngest son is named....are you ready for it?....Roland Stone. They call him Stone. Again...they've grown on me, as time has gone by but....my kids have VERY traditional names and it takes me awhile to get used to names that are unusual!

:iagree: I don't like coming to the general board anymore. It's just...exhausting. And no one wants to be informed, really. They just want to bash the other party and sling the same mud that I can watch on CNN anytime I so choose.

I'm mayo, too!!! Not a bad condiment...as condiments go... :D

What about a hand-held video game, like a GameBoy? You can buy used GameBoys and games at a used video game store and save some big $$$, or borrow one from a friend for the trip. We went on vacation last week (7 hours each way) and my boys played with their Nintendo DS the entire way down and back home....but didn't touch them at all during the vacation itself (too many fun things to do on vacation!!), so if you're a "no video game" person, you could make that stipulation that video games are only for long trips, or only to be used in the car (or on a plane), etc.

In our county, if a child is gifted in any area...even if it's only in one area...they qualify for the gifted and talented program. It could be nothing more than being good at art and they're in the entire program. I much prefer the way they did it when I was in school! I was always in what they called "superior" classes for English, because that happened to be my "bent", so to speak. But I was in "average" classes for everything else. If a child was struggling in one area, they were placed in "remedial" classes for that one subject. I had a discussion with a very good friend of mine the other day, who teaches in one of our county's public schools, and she told me that parents object to those "class labels" because they are hurtful and affect the self-esteem of students. I have another friend whose son is in the gifted and talented program. He's the same age as my 9 year old (who is working 2-3 grade levels ahead in our homeschool) and she's always telling me to register him for school so he can get into the G&T program, but...what her son is doing in the G&T program isn't really what I would consider accelerated learning .. or learning at a higher grade level. It's more along the lines of more in-depth or even 'creative work' at the same grade level he would be in if he wasn't in the G&T program. He also does many, many "group think" projects, as she describes them -- working together as a team to come up with the answers. So, to answer your question, yes...the guidelines for G&T have changed.

Look up top where it says "User Control Panel" and then look for "Social Groups" and then look for the "Weight Loss Support Group" in the list that pops up! It's a public group, so just click on join! Hope to see you there!

Shameless plug here...but I started a Weight Loss Support social group here on the boards!! To find it, go to "User Control Panel" and hit "Social Groups" and look for it! I'm hoping we'll come up with weight loss strategies and support for those of us looking to take off some pounds!! (The suggestions in this thread are great!)

Anyone who's interested in losing weight is welcome to join! I'm hoping we can offer recipes, exercise suggestions, etc., and cheer each other on!!!! I'm hoping to lose 50-60 pounds ... baby weight that I've never managed to take off in 17 years! :blushing: I was a size 4 when I married and I haven't see anything CLOSE to that since then -- and that was in 1989!! I'm hoping others will join me!! (And it doesn't matter how much weight you need to lose -- or if you're just interested in maintaining the weight you are --- I would LOVE those who have managed to lose weight and keep it off will join us and give us tips!!)

I've been missing her, too!!! I was just thinking about her the other day and wondering where she's been!

My teens are great!!! I agree with another poster that it's the younger ages which are the hardest on me!!! (My 6yo -- oy! She can really press every button!!) But my biggest gripe with my 17 year old is that she doesn't keep her room clean -- in the grand scheme of things, that's nothing compared to what some parents deal with! And my biggest complaint with my 14 year old is that he's too obsessed with Star Wars -- again, not a big deal, when I think about what he *could* be obsessed with! ;) I've really never had any problems with my teens. My oldest has been taking classes at the community college since she was 15 and she's found a good group of kids to hang out with....so she hasn't had to deal with drugs or drinking or anything like that...she said that a few of them smoke but they've never asked her to try it...so I have no complaints!

Jane Healy has written two books along this same vein. Both are very popular and should be available at your local library. One is called "Endangered Minds: Why Children Don't Think and What We Can Do About it", which studies the effects of television on children. The second one is called "Failure to Connect: How Computers Affect Our Children's Minds", which studies the effects of computers (and likely video games) on children. Hope this helps!

I agree with Ellie that it could be something you're eating, if you're nursing... or it could be something that she's sensitive to. My youngest had a similar reaction at around the same age when we started her on Cheerios (made with oats) and she couldn't tolerate wheat in any form for years and years -- she's now 6 1/2 and she can only handle it in very tiny amounts. But I would start with a visit to your family doctor / pediatrician first, to rule out a yeast infection. Hope she feels better soon!! :grouphug:

Yes, thanks to Guitar Hero, AC/DC is often heard in our basement!! And the kids think it's great -- which makes the hubby and I chuckle. "Dirty Deeds" is my favorite AC/DC song. My hubby's favorite is "Hells Bells" -- if it comes on the radio, cover your ears because the volume will be cranked! -- my oldest dd loves "Back in Black" and my boys love "TNT" Btw....That's the best thing about Guitar Hero! The kids are finding out how cool rock music is! As an example, I'm at my brother's house for a party and "Slow Ride" starts playing on the radio and my youngest son pipes up with, "This is my favorite Foghat song!" My brother stared down at him and said, "You're 8! You shouldn't have a favorite Foghat song!" I blame it all on Guitar Hero! :lol:

We always put up the tree Thanksgiving weekend because it's a 4 day weekend and we can take our time doing it! We bake ALOT at Christmas time and give some of it to folks we see in our daily lives (for instance, my youngest daughter's therapists, our Tae Kwon Do instructors, our neighbors, etc.) -- but we always bake lots of bread, cakes, fudge, and especially the decorated cut-out cookies! We always drive around and look at all the lights!! We do this just about every weekend...we try to hit every neighborhood in the county! We always leave cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer...and Santa leaves a thankyou note, signed with a lipstick kiss (the kids have never asked why Santa would wear lipstick, but hey...it makes the kiss visible!) We always give the kids a cute new pair of pajamas on Christmas Eve, so they're wearing them while they're opening the presents on Christmas morning. For the last 4 or 5 years, my boys have ordered the Lego Advent Calendars and they love them!! So that's always a must-have, starting the 1st of December!

My 9 year old is like that! He's the hardest one to buy for because he likes everything 'okay' but nothing really excites him. He loves unusual gifts. The "I Spy" / "Where's Waldo" type books are some of his favorites. He loves puzzles and figuring things out. I'm seriously considering giving him a chemistry set this year -- and I hope he won't blow the house up! :lol: He also likes typical 'active boy' toys. He has a pedal go-cart that he loves to take down the driveway. Rollerblades and skateboards are another favorite of his. He likes footballs and basketballs and baseballs...he's now into wearing those team jerseys, so he'll be getting one of those. Keep the ideas coming, everyone!! I'm making a list! :D

We're definitely going to be watching our pennies, but not drastically. Each child has one 'big gift' as a rule (my 9yo has already asked for "Rock Band 2" for Wii, for example)...and then they each get 8 or 9 more small things -- like Lego kits, art sets, board games, doll babies, etc. Some things we've already announced will *not* be under the tree!! My oldest asked for a Playstation 3 and, with the cost between $300 and $500, that's definitely out! (The nice thing is that she's old enough to understand finances and what's going on with the national economy...so she understood completely when we told her that we just can't afford it right now). I don't know about other families, but my kids love opening presents! They love having a slew of gifts to open, even if they cost under $10 each! So I'll be doing the same thing this year. Seriously, my 6 year old would love nothing more than a dozen packs of stickers -- at $1 or $2 a pack! She'd be over the moon! So I intend to take full advantage of this! :) I'll be shopping at the used videogame store for gifts for my two boys -- you can find some great games out there for less than $20 -- vs $50 each for new games. DVDs are always a hit with my kids and you can find great movies for less than $15 each. And we always give our kids pajamas for Christmas -- they have such cute ones out there for the holidays.

My 9yo LOVES Guitar Hero!! He plays on the expert level, and I'm a very proud mama! (He loves to go to the mall and play in the little tournaments they have and he always draws a crowd because he's small for his age and it's just too adorable!!) Anyway...he's been playing for almost a year now (it was a family game that we gave our kids for Christmas last year) I find nothing objectionable with it -- some of the songs might be a little too 'heavy metal' for some tastes and, yes, the animated girls can be scantily dressed, but...it's animated! So...I vote to let 'em rock on!!! :D

Isn't that nice???!!!! :thumbup: We just did this last weekend!!! We were invited to a party with some dear friends of ours who live 2 hours away and we didn't want to be driving back home at midnight, so we spent the night, and my 17 1/2 year old was in charge at home. It was lovely!! (I'm going to miss her when she leaves for college next year!!!)

My oldest is 17, so I've been very spoiled for the last four years! She's been able to stay home with her younger siblings since she was around 13. When she isn't home (which is quite often, now that she's a teenager with a driver's license!), I don't hesitate to leave my 14 year old home with his two younger siblings IF we're driving less than 30 minutes away. I wouldn't leave my 9 year old home alone, unless it was a short trip to the grocery store and back...and I CANNOT leave my 6 year old alone at all because she has autism.

I have two children on the autism spectrum. My 14yo is more along the lines of Asperger's and my 6yo, who is more along the lines of 'traditional autism'. I can tell you this ... no amount of money or anticipation of joy or explanation about how it makes the trip shorter ... could get my ASD children on an airplane!!! They like to watch them from the sky, but they don't even like to visit airports! Both of them are sound-sensitive and there's no way on earth I'd take either of them on a vacation by plane! (Ever seen "Rainman"? That's my 14yo at the airport!) I would opt for the long trip and make it an adventure!! Plan some short little stops along the way (playgrounds, parks, toy stores, fast food restaurants, ice cream shops, etc.) An RV is an awesome idea!!! My children would LOVE that!! And be sure to take along the handheld videogames! My 14yo loves to take his on car trips. My 6yo doesn't play videogames, but we have a DVD player in the car and she watches movies --- so that is another suggestion!! Movies are great distractions! Both of my ASD children love to sleep in hotel rooms -- but they didn't when they were younger, especially my 6yo. She could only sleep in her own room. Now that she's older, she loves it -- and try to find a hotel with an indoor pool! Both of my ASD children love to swim! I hope this helps!!! Btw...we're leaving today for a week-long vacation in Myrtle Beach! So I'll be following my own advice! :D

Thanks for posting this!!!!!! I'm a proud Obama supporter!!!!! :thumbup:

Same here!!!! Burns my buns!!! :mad:

Joe Biden is a handsome man!! :D But Barney Frank....I'm a Democrat and all that, but...he always looks like he just rolled out of bed, still dressed in whatever he slept in the night before, and happened to wander into the capitol building!!! :lol:

Oh I agree!!!! And what really had ME rolling was that someone on this forum mentioned playing a drinking game everytime Palin used the word "Maverick" in the official / original debate thread!! :lol: Someone also made a comment about how white Biden's teeth are, and that was also featured in the SNL skit! Too funny!