I opened a pack of juice boxes while we were waiting in line b/c DD's blood sugar was low. She was so paranoid because we hadn't paid for it yet. Lol! But that's my only exception. I usually have snacks in my bag for toddlers that need to eat while shopping. But I would feel really weird giving my kid something we hadn't paid for yet. In fact, at one store I watched a tense interaction between a cashier and young adult. The cashier told the girl she wasn't supposed to open packages she hadn't paid for yet. The girl got really loud and angry and made a big scene about how she was going to file a complaint at customer service- and she did. I felt really bad for the cashier because the girl was definitely over the top in her reaction.

On a whim I picked up the audio book on cd for the Spiderwick Chronicles to listen to it in the car. We've just started it, but my kids are loving it.

I love babies. I was the annoying niece stealing away all my baby cousins at family reunions. I loved babysitting as a kid. My first 4 kids are reaaaaaally close together so I think I missed out on some of the awesomeness due to the chaos. I loved and adored all of them as babies buy I have enjoyed my last two toddlers so much more than my olders as toddlers. I am pg with what might be our last. I'm sad and relieved at the same time. I am so over being pregnant, but it breaks my heart to think I won't have any more babies.

I think you're reading too much into that quote, unless there's more context I'm not aware of. My main goal in homeschooling is teaching my children to be good, honest, God-fearing people. It's just a bonus that I also get to teach them academics, which at the moment happens to a bit ahead of theor grade level.

I have heard that pasteurization and homogenization really change the milk and I think that has a lot to do with why it bothers a lot of people.

It seems weird to make the distinction based on whether it was a paternal or maternal grandmother. My g-grandma was Nana, but everyone called her that regardless of whether she a maternal or paternal grandmother to them. My grandma had a fairly unique nickname that all the grandkids called her. My mom was "Grandma *childhood nickname*". For my kids the rest of their grandparents are simply "grandma/grandpa lastname" when referencing said grandparent. But when talking them in person they are just Grandma or Grandpa.

Also, if you're worried about the sugar in yogurt, you can buy probiotics in capsule form.

I took my DS off miralax bc I didn't think it was helping the overall problem and I didn't like how long he'd been on it. Now I've got him on a really good probiotic, a cup of prune juice in the morning, and digestive enzymes twice a day. Every couple days I give him a magnesium supplement. He also quit drinking milk except when it's in something. We seem to be able to achieve the same "pudding-like" consistency the GI wanted. Also, I read that adding fiber supplements sometimes contributes to the problem because it adds bulk. Which is why we haven't done that.

I thought this was an interesting read. I know most of the posters here will dismiss it because of the source. But I thought the information about the demographics of the city to be interesting. And I haven't read it elsewhere, but I wonder if it's really true that he switched the clock so it counted down instead of up.

I have not. But I am super paranoid about ever doing it. I'm not naive enough to think it could never happen to me. I am constantly counting kids.

For strep throat I've tried a homemade cayenne pepper/honey/garlic mixture that helped. It's kind of gross, but it worked for me. If you google it, you can find a bunch of links to the recipe.

I spent a few minutes googling this as I've never heard of it before. I agree that there are some similarities, in that high-level officials are allowed to do whatever they want. However, there are still many differences that you can't really compare British and Afghan culture. (And as some have pointed out, it is more specifically Pashtun culture within Afghanistan) For starters, there are stories of Afghan children being raped and then sent to live with their rapists because of the shame they brought to their families. That's a culture problem unheard of in Britain or the U.S. I know we have an issue with blaming victims, but not to that degree. Nobody in the U.S. would ever send a child (or adult) to live with or marry their rapist. The article linked earlier mentioned how their culture of separating men and women in everyday society contributes significantly to this culture of Bachi Bazi because normal, healthy male/female relationships just don't happen. (There was a story in there of a man who couldn't figure out why his wife wasn't getting pregnant and it turns out he only knew about anal.) It's a much bigger issue than just a few high-level perverts not being prosecuted.

In that article recently linked from ryot it says that sex with boys is considered a "misstep" while premarital sex with a woman has grave consequences. And apparently being raped (or on the bottom) is far worse than being the rapist. So no, in their culture, it's not viewed as being all that bad.

That wasn't an article I read, though others contained some of the same information. That article was really long and detailed... and depressing and sickening. So much wrong going on there.

It's funny how I interpreted her post so differently. I took it to mean that Dude didn't have appropriate boundaries in place. Or he deliberately chose to cross those lines. I would think (though I shouldn't speak for Quill) that if he had mantained certain boundaries (like getting together with spouses) that the friendship could have been maintained to some degree.

And I have yet to hear anyone else express that opinion either. Only that putting some boundaries in place is a way to help safeguard your marriage. I think it's great that so many people have close mixed-gender friendships. If that works for you, great.

Then clearly I was not referring to your marriage and how you handle all the relationships and friendships in your life. It's funny to me how many people in this thread are essentially saying "well, I've never done that so it obviously never happens."

Sorry, but what goes on here doesn't even compare. Not even close. In her book she mentions how girls out after curfew are subjected to "virginity tests" because somehow that's relevant. Or how girls are forced to marry their rapists in order to not bring shame upon themselves and their families. The author mentioned that she participated in a religious ceremony (I don't remember what it was) but it was considered one of the most holy ceremonies one could do- during which she was groped and fondled by the surrounding men. It was really eye-opening and difficult to read. Headscarves and Hymens I think is what it was called.

Fwiw, I think even friendships can get in the way of a marriage, if more time and energy is spent connecting with friends than a spouse. Not that friends are bad, obviously. But I think it's sometimes easy to neglect a marriage in favor of other interests and pursuits. I think maintaining and strenthening a marriage requires conscience effort.

I'm sure there are plenty of people who disapprove. Hopefully the mothers of these poor boys do. But it's not like they have any kind of voice in their culture. Supposedly it's technically illegal. But when your police and government officials participate in it as well, it's not like anyone is being punished for it.

Yesterday I was reading a bunch of articles about it and I don't remember where I read it. But one article mentioned the practice of Bachi Bazi was popular back in the early 1900s. This isn't new. One article I read was about a kid who had been pulled off the street and raped by a man. Because of his "disgrace" his family rejected him and he had to go live with the man. I just can't even wrap my head around that kind of mentality.

No, they don't. Half of men participate. It's a status symbol to be seen with your boys draped over you. The highest officials are involved. This isn't like the underground child prostitution you hear about in the U.S. This is normal and out in the open. One soldier mentioned walking in on Afghan soldiers on a military base, lying on the ground with several little boys between them. And they couldn't say or do anything.

It's not the way of the warlords. Up to 50% of men participate in the Bachi bazi. It's been going on forever. This is heir culture. Ironically, bachi bazi was forbidden under Taliban rule. For the Taliban, raping little girls and women was okay, just not little boys. But from I understand, the culture of Bachi Bazi goes back at least over 100 years. I read another article about how soldiers were told to turn a blind eye to a lot of things- like men beating their wives in the streets, or boys beating another kid to a pulp. Recently I read a book by a feminist muslim woman. She talked about during the "arab spring" women were taking part in these demonstrations, only to be raped by the men they were supposedly fighting along beside. The abuse and oppression of women and children is so engrained in their culture in general that ousting an oppresive regime does nothing to help women because whoever comes into power still behaves much the same way. I don't know if there is a way to help these people. You can't establish any "semblance of democracy" when more than half of their people are systematically oppressed and abused.

I honestly don't find your specific situation to be that big of a deal. I just would personally put some kind of limits in place. But that's up to you to decide what those limits are. I wouldn't be surprised if SAHD also had some of his own boundaries in place.

You're assuming that it's one spouse imposing rules upon the other. Out of respect for my husband, our marriage and our family, I have self-imposed boundaries in place. DH has never told me I couldn't go hang out alone with one of my male friends. But that would be crossing a boundary I've set for myself, so I don't do it.