This will probably be hugely unpopular, but it's what I did with my disrespectful dd. I took everything out of her room. Toys, bed frame, everything. I took pictures and her bulletin board off the walls and left her with only her dresser and mattress on the floor. She had books, because I couldn't bring myself to take those. ;) She came out of her room for school, meals, and bathroom breaks. I told her that she was not entitled to her things and that if she didn't deserve them she couldn't have them. I told her I was only legally obligated to provide food, clothing, and shelter and she had that if nothing else. I'm not going to lie, it was tough. And it didn't immediately work. She thought it was cool to be able to jump on the mattress and she had a lot more room to play. After a few days it began to sink in. It helped us, but I wouldn't say it's for everyone.

:iagree: My kids are in dance, but at a Christian studio. We teach them that dance is a form of praise and DWTS goes fully against that teaching. We don't want to confuse the message, kwim?

:iagree:

Our church is somewhat similar. The Sunday school teachers often bring donuts or kolaches with Capri Sun type drinks. I am the Wednesday night teacher for ages 4-12 and we often have a snack. It is usually graham crackers or something similar, but once a month we have cupcakes for the kids who had a birthday that month. I think I could handle it graciously if a parent came to me with concerns about the snacks if it was done politely. Maybe suggest water instead of soda and handing out portions rather than "buffet style" goodies. I wouldn't attack the teachers and demand change and I wouldn't go behind their back to the pastor. They are volunteers doing what they think is a kindness out of their own pocket (in our church anyway) and are often discouraged by lack of parental participation. Just my 2 cents. :)

I respectfully disagree. If it is just a little extra weight, just help her deal with it without bringing it to her attention. If it is a lot of extra weight, I guarantee she knows. You won't be "helping" if you sound critical. And to a 13 yo girl, you can't say, "I noticed you've put on a few pounds" without sounding critical.

She probably isn't the only one of your children that does, right? Is it a piece of candy from other church members, or is it the pot luck type? If it is candy I would prob. allow each child one piece and tell them they have to save the rest. We have a candy jar at home that the extra "church" candy goes into and our kids don't really notice that I throw much of it away. They are alllowed to eat a piece occasionally, but not daily. If it is the pot luck stuff, that gets tricky. My kids are not allowed to get dessert until they finish a decent meal. Then I go to the dessert table with them and make sure they don't fill their plate. They may choose one dessert and a cookie or something, but they can't take it all! We only have pot lucks every couple of months so it isn't a huge issue with us.

I wouldn't make it about her at all. My mom put me on my first diet when I was in 5th grade because I told her some kids at school called me fat. I love my mother dearly, but she has struggled with her weight her whole life so she doesn't have the healthiest ideas about how to deal with it. I ended up with food issues and a serious eating disorder in my late teens. As some other posters have suggested I would just make healthier choices for my family. Get rid of the junk, but don't say "we need to lose weight," just emphasize making better choices. Tell your dd that you are going to start walking for your own health and you would appreciate if she would go with you to help you stick to it. Just set a good example and she will likely pick it up.

It's disgusting.

http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/2011/03/guest-project-dragon-tails-sewing.html This may be too young for your dd's party, but I think they are adorable. They would be great for pictures if you just made 1 or 2.

I just went to Amazon to check out the reviews on the Micro Tek products and it looks fantastic. Can you tell me about your experience with it? I looked at the pjs too. I can see how that would help prevent the scratching. I think I will look into the dietary changes, but the elimination diet will be really tough. He likes to eat bugs and grass outside. I babysit a toddler and he follows the baby around cleaning up beind him. He loves bananas and broccoli and will probably pout when I take those treats away. We don't feed him regular treats and we don't feed him from the table, but he does get goldfish crackers and things from the little guy. I normally use Capstar and Frontline Advanced for flea control, would I need to stop giving those to see if that could be the problem? Surely if it was the irritation would be at his neck, right?

Thank you for the tip. When the sun is out again tomorrow I'll take him outside and check, but I haven't seen flea "dirt" when I'm bathing him. We are using a shampoo from the vet with benzoyl peroxide, sulfur, and salacylic acid. I took him to the vet for this last month. They did a skin scraping to test for mites and didn't find any but treated for it anyway just in case. He had an infection from scratching so he was on antibiotics and a steroid and did great for a little while. Now it is back and I'm trying to take care of the itchiness before he infects it again.

Well I suppose I couldn't be 100% sure that there are no fleas, although I have checked multiple times. We live waaaay out in the country and he does like to play outside. We keep the grass mowed and we treat the yard for all sorts of bugs, fleas included, but we have cows in a pasture to our left and horses in front and behind. Our neighbors have free-ranging dogs and I don't know how well they keep up with flea prevention. Thank you all for your suggestions. I've never had a dog with allergies so this is all new for me.

Just be sure not to put the vinegar on full strength and it shouldn't be too bad. I think it is environmental for Chewie, too. He likes to roll around in the grass. For it too be on his back and lower legs, that makes sense to me. I think I'll try the fish oil and benadryl as well as the vinegar wash. Is there a specific dose for the fish oil?

I don't know what he is allergic to. The vet just said "allergies". We live in a rural area so it probably won't get diagnosed. He has eaten Iams dog food his whole life because when he was younger he had sensitive digestion and got sick anytime we tried to change it, so I don't know if it could be wheat. I use 1/3 apple cider vinegar 1/3 peroxide and 1/3 water for an ear wash, but I never considered using it on his skin. I tried putting a little ACV in his water but he refuses to drink it and gets dehydrated. Thank you for the chewable benadryl suggestion.

It mainly affects his lower back especially near his tail, and his legs between his knees and ankles. In the past he has had itching around his eyes but that doesn't seem to be bothering him this occurance. Thank you so much for the advice, I hate seeing him so miserable.

We have a small Yorkie mix who has developed allergies. He is extremely itchy and is chewing and pulling out fur. Is there some natural remedy or treatment that I can try? I don't like the idea of treating him so often with steroids.

This. Please don't be offended by my general statement, but many of the Northerners that come to our area expect us to be uneducated, superstitious, bigoted, and fat. Many of us are overweight because good food is important here :D and you probably will encounter those attitudes from some people, but I think that is true anywhere you go. If you come to the South with those expectations, I'm sure that is what you find because it is what you are looking for, kwim?

You guys are fantastic! The 1st one is the desk I remembered, but I'm loving the other one too. Thank you so much.

We are moving from the kitchen table into a smallish bedroom. I remember someone posting pictures of their schoolroom with desks her husband had built. It was a bookshelf with a secretary fold down type desktop. I am trying to get my husband to understand what I'm talking about, but he is very visual and needs a picture. Can any of you help me?

This might not be the best plan for everyone, but with my dd I had to set a timer. I tried rewards for getting finished in time, but for her it worked better if she earned extra chores equal to the amount of time she went over. 15 minutes past the timer = 15 minutes of pulling weeds, picking up sticks in the yard, raking, etc. Physical chores made the difference.

My girls had a slide bed similar to the first one. We bought it for my oldest when she was 2 because it looked like so much fun! We put a trundle underneath and she slept there. When she was older she slept on the top and our younger dd slept on the trundle underneath. It was great and terrible. When dd1 was 3 she decided to go over the side and try to lower herself to the ground. She banged her mouth on the rail as she was falling, chipped her tooth, and ripped that flappy thing that holds your top lip to your gums. It was awful. She still loved the bed and flipped out when we said we were getting rid of it, so we kept it. It does take up much more room than you expect. You have to make sure that the slide is in an unobstructed area so they don't crash at the bottom.

His primary job is a firefighter. So he cooks, cleans, mows the yard, gives tours, works fundraisers, and, oh yeah, he works accidents and puts out fires. His part-time job is paramedic and you really don't want to know what all that involves. I don't. :ack2: :eek:

My dh works 2 very demanding jobs so that I can stay home with the kids. He does all the yard work on our 4 acres. He is renovating our garage so I can have a bigger bedroom. He does all the grocery shopping (with coupons :D). He cooks dinner about once a week and lunch when he is home. He helps with laundry and sorts the socks! He vacuums and picks up on Wed. nights, because he knows I don't have time. He helps me watch the little boy I babysit during lessons. He loves our girls and spends as much time with them as he can. I could go on and on, but I'll stop and just say that he loves me and he takes care of us. And he absolutely did not learn that from his father.

I made one with a picture frame, skewers, and pony beads that I already had.

I'm so jealous! We don't even have a library at the moment. :glare: