Just to clarify: These are imaginary, future, grandchildren. They don't plan on kids for years. But these names have been picked out for over a year now. I can't wait to meet these two little angels some day so Thanks! Another comment: About the kid who changed from his dad's name of Bob to something else. If that happened to my husband, he'd be crushed! He'd feel his son didn't identify with him enough or wasn't proud enough to be his son to put up with the a little "Bobbie" or "Bob Jr." I would feel terrible for the dad who's kid said, "I don't want your name." I know a kid who changed his name from something else TO his father's first name - JAN! No lie. The kid adored his dad and at a very young age, took on this first name to honor him. (he was less then 15 or so). Now THAT's something.

:iagree: I would put up a pretty big stink if one of my kids wanted to change his/ her name. But I just can't imagine it happening. All my kids, even my son, have already picked out (at least tentatively) names for their own future children. The names they have chosen are special to them and have been chosen carefully. I'm sure they would understand how hurtful it would be to have that disrespected. Naming a child is a parent's right. FYI: My future grandchildren by my son Boy: Sayer Allan Girl: Lane Marie

Thank you for the warning. I had no idea. Disgusting.

:iagree: Or the hospital. If I heard someone call a special needs person "retard" out loud I'd have to get physical. :cursing:

:lol: Never heard this before. Funny. I think the artwork is disturbing, ugly and inapropriate.

:iagree: Easy and delicious!

:lol:

:iagree: I wouldn't cuggle a child who was crying because his sister wanted a peanut butter sandwich. At the very least, I'd completely ignore him. I like the "you must be tired" idea. But no coddling & doting to reinforce unreasonable behavior.

You won two ways! You won the game AND you win the "Good Mom" award!

I just hope it wasn't called "art" and funded by tax dollars. Rediculous. But - Love all the jokes!

Fleas from outside on the concrete? It would never occur to me.

Don't know. Mine never cried like that. I would find it frustrating as I'm sure he does, poor thing. I hope he grows out of it. :grouphug:

Hi Lisa! From Lisa!

Our family culture: No dating till your 16. Dating is defined as going out somewhere with a member of the opposite sex alone. Being allowed to hug and hold hands. Group activities during the teen years are decided on a case by case basis depending on who, what, where, why, when. Few that are unchaparoned are allowed. We just said no. You can "like" whom ever you want, but we don't say "my boyfriend" ect. until age 16. Facebook type sites are monitored and if there is boyfriend/ girlfriend type talk, it would be disallowed. But this is all known and talked about all along. (example: my DD 10 even asked my permission to confirm her own sister as a sister on FB. She totally understands and accepts our parental authority.) Kids younger then 16 are not left alone with members of the opposite sex. (Especially ones they like.) This isn't that difficult. You have to be willing to say no. You have to be willing to go along. I was always home. I always knew where they were and who they were with. It's a known family rule, long before they'd even be interested that it's inapropriate for children to have physical affection with members of the opposite sex. Our daughters agreed with our values and held purity as a personal conviction so it was never a problem. Our son was just never left alone with girls. :D But seriously, I don't think he went on his first date till he was 17. And while he was a little more interested in holding hands/ hugging (and more?), he remained a virgin till he was over 20 and with his fiance, so I guess he agreed with most of that value after all! (He's 24 now. The wedding is in June!) FYI: Age 16 is no magic number. Our oldest had her first boyfriend at age 16. They were both Christians "committed" to purity. We discussed it with them. But it turns out they got into some heavy making out that now, my daughter regrets. She has told me she wishes that she had not been allowed to date and that she was not mature enough at age 16 to stick with what she believed. She felt immensely guilty. She feels her little sister's dating age should be 18 and is sincere about it. She was the most amazingly mature 16 year old you'd ever meet, hands down, no question, everybody said so. I trusted her 100%. Just a caution.

Very well said. :iagree: 100% I never left my young children with anyone other then my mother or MIL (that was a mistake!) and only once or twice, my sister or DH's sister. Ever. My youngest has only been watched by my mom and her siblings. As far as the church nursery, I took my baby in and stayed. At age two or so, I did start to leave them, but it was always with someone I knew, no strangers in a big church. My son, I never left till over age three. There's nothing wrong with leaving kids in the nursery. I just didn't want to. Even though I'm the victim of a pedophile, I'm not overly concerned about the nursery in that way. There are always several people in there at a time. But if right now, you don't want to leave your kid, don't.

I agree with this mostly. My DH is afraid of snakes and I get mad at him when he shows it in front of the kids because I feel that it's just passing on an unreasonable fear. I've no problem that he is afraid. I just want him to avoid teaching our kids to be afraid. (So I chase them down and pick them up to balance it out!) BUT! Some fear has a purpose. Some fears are wise and reasonable. I've no problem teaching my kids to fear something that is inherently dangerous. So on that, I disagree with you. I would want my kids to be afraid to jump out of an airplane and would have no problem teaching them to have a healthy, and IMHO, wise, fear of that!

:iagree: I would never give permission to skydive. I think it's insane. I just think it's crazy. Why? Same with bungie jumping. I've seen enough videos of accidents to say....Um....NO! My son has gone. He was over 18. :glare: If one of my kids does it, I don't want to know before hand. I don't want to see pictures or video. I'd rather just not know about it at all, but if they tell me, I'll be sure to add wisdom to my list of prayers for them. :D

We visited churches weekly for 6 months before choosing. Some of them more then once. Wait till you know its the right one. We just kept going and then, one day, we all said, "Yup, this is it." We settled on a Fellowship Bible Church. Now that we have experience with one, if we moved again, we'd just look for another one. We love it.

We spend a significant amount of time in the car, running into town several days a week and boy do I WISH DD could do some school during that time. Car sickness makes it impossible for her to even read for 5 minutes while driving. She still even brings a book and tries sometimes because she WANTS to read, but alas, it never works. Headache and nausea follow. But some of these audio ideas have never occured to me. I'm going to look in to it.

We must be! (But I hate green! :lol:)

:iagree: I've got no problem trying to pass on my convictions to my children. I am passionate about them and not overly tolerant of differing view points that I believe are unethical or morally wrong. I share that. I do explain the "other" side but also why I disagree in no uncertain terms. I live my moral convictions and expect my family to also. In our house, under this roof, when the kids are young, Mom and Dad choose what is right and wrong and what is allowed and what is not. I say, "We don't believe that's right." Or "We believe in blank." Not until the later teen years does that begin to change and shift in our home - earlier on some issues, more so then with others. So now, I have adult children and they have made their own decisions about a lot of things, many that I can't stand. They are NOT little mini-me's as much as I wish they were. :D But I do respect their autonomy, accept their choices and we all get along great - best friends! I didn't brain wash them with my passion and committment. But I did teach them to be passionate and committed to what THEY believe! edited: I am flexible on lots of things. But on unethical and immoral - not so much. I like what someone said about "family standards" vs. "personal preferences."

This might give you a respite until you are able to move. My DD and I go to a little dinner down the road at least once a week to do school. We take our books in a bag. We arrive about 10:00 am and get a drink. Then we do some school. We get some lunch about noon, take a break and eat, then do more school. At about 1:00 pm we'll sometimes get an icecream cone and then we do more school till 2:00. We get more school done at this dinner then at any other place. It's fun. There are no distractions. We get snacks and drinks. We work hard in between. I even take our read a loud and just read to her in a quiet voice or she to me. WE LOVE IT! About your family - if you ask me, you are both being abused and disrespected. I could never tolerate it. Not for a second. We all make our choices and you've made a choice to stay there so your DH could go to school, but that was a trade off I would not have chosen. I hope you can get out soon. I'm not saying you were wrong. But it was your choice. Just get out as soon as you can. There's no changing them. Try to stay away as much as possible. But - I would never, in a million years let some one take my child away from our dinner table in the middle of dinner to get him take out. Some things you just need to say no to. Don't yell back, but say no untill you turn blue if you have to. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Congrats to your daughters! The kids are so cute! Here's our latest set of kids. These are 5/8 Nubian 3/8 Boer, but really take after the Nubian sire.

I put it on my facebook. I hope it spreads like wildfire. I hope someone with some kind of power steps up to help this precious, precious boy and all the others. "Socially unacceptable." How inhuman.

:lol::lol: