My daughter is 9 and she does not have a cell phone. But she's always somewhere with an adult I know and if she needed to contact me from a friend's house, Girl Scouts, art camp, her cousins' house etc, they would get her in touch with me. When she plays outside, it's only on our block where I can see her if I look outside, or in our backyard. When she starts going off of our block by herself, to the park or wherever, where there isn't a phone and isn't necessarily a known adult with her, then I would like for her to have a cell phone. However, it would likely be one of those "firefly" type ones, where calls can only be made to and from a few select phone numbers, not some fancy phone with internet and cameras and where she can call anyone she wants. I don't think she needs one of those until she's much older- perhaps even paying her own cell phone bill ;)

Thanks for the replies. My kids were not there when she said it, it was just myself, my husband and my MIL. Thank goodness. I would have been even more upset if she'd said it in front of my kids!!

My MIL is out for a visit (flying home tomorrow, thank goodness). We just got our host packet from The Fresh Air Fund, because we're hosting a child for two weeks this summer in July. We've already been matched up and have been in contact with the child (a girl who will turn 10 shortly before she comes) and we're all really excited about it. This is a program where impoverished inner-city kids from NYC get a chance to go to host homes and experience some of the summer outside of the inner city. So my mother in law is sitting with us as we're glancing through the packet and she starts saying "Oh that's such a nice thing you're doing." I said "yes, but I also think it will be a lot of fun and that the girls can learn from each other." And she goes.... brace yourselves.... "Is it a girl the same age?" (as my daughter) "Yes." "A black girl?" "Uh. Yes." ...."Well you can't help that. That's all you'll find." OMG. Really? I had to make an excuse and get up and walk away. Ugh. How offensive!!! I know I probably should have said something but I just couldn't bring myself to start drama with my MIL on her last day here, she's not young, my husband is already a little sad that this is the last time (supposedly) she's willing to get on a plane and fly out here and he has no idea when he'll see her again. But ugh. She always manages to say something that offends me (like when I was starting to wean my son at 15 months of age and she said "he's too old to be nursing anyway") but this just takes the cake.

Oh they are so cute. Glad you found someone to take them and help them! You guys did great in the meanwhile :)

How about starting a "social group" here on this forum and seeing if there are kids in a particular age range who would be interested in coming onto the social group on our accounts and discussing their books or whatever? I have a 9 1/2 y/o daughter who might be interested! :)

Enchanted Learning is one I like (enchantedlearning.com); it's got stuff for preschoolers through elementary school aged kids. It has a lot of free stuff. You can also get a subscription for twenty bucks a year which I found worthwhile.

As I mentioned in the other thread, my daughter just finished up fourth grade and I have never assigned her a book to read on her own. We use the Oak Meadow curriculum, and for fourth grade it did "assign" a specific book approximately every three weeks, but we always read them aloud together. I've also selected other books that I wanted to read aloud together with her- some because I think we'll enjoy them, some because I think they might raise issues or questions or discussions that are best done together, some just for fun. I have never assigned her a book and told her "you have to read that book by yourself." The books she reads independently are books she selects to read on her own. We visit the library regularly and own a lot of books and she likes picking out her own books, and she likes reading. So she reads what she wants to read. And sometimes I guide her to books we will read together. But I don't "assign" independent reading books as of yet and don't see a need to.

My daughter just finished up fourth grade. So far, I have never assigned her a book to read independently. If it's something I'm going to "assign" (or if it's something I have an interest in or that I think will raise issues or questions we should discuss together), we have always read it together. The books she reads independently are books she picks out to read on her own.

You have a three week old baby! Relax for a few weeks. At least! You can look up (for example) "fourth grade language arts worksheets" or "fourth grade math worksheets" on the internet and find free printable ones. Read to them, and let them read on their own. Get educational audiobooks from the library. Watch educational shows together on The Learning Channel, The History Channel, the Documentary Channel, etc. Give them free reign of a bunch of craft supplies. Let them help when you're making dinner and whatnot. Let them play educational computer games. Let them play board games together. Let them run around outside with magnifying glasses and binoculars and sketchpads and colored pencils and whatnot. Re-evaluate when your baby is six or eight or twelve weeks old and see how things are going. Don't stress too much. Everything will be fine :)

This is me. She says she did, but I can't remember it. I've had my nose stuck in a book on my own as far back as I can remember though and still love to read to this day. All the women in my family do!

I don't have a grown child. But I can tell you that my husband loves his mom's cooking. He doesn't get to see her often because she lives in Florida and we live in PA, but when we go there to visit or she comes here, he's always making specific requests. And she's always willing to oblige! He loves that about her (and I certainly don't complain either)! :)

At 3 and 4 my son would be occupied for relatively long periods of time if I handed him a pile of paper, a one hole punch, and some child safety scissors. Glue and different shapes cut out of construction paper works too but could get messier. Sometimes stamps and paper will keep him occupied for a while, too. Three is a tough age! I always swear that the "terrible twos" are just practice for having a three year old :D

Because it's fun :)

Thanks, I'll check those out! The Anita Blake books get better as you go!

I've only had half a cup of coffee. Speaking of. LOL. It's a little early still for me. But do you mean that a choice could be would I let my mother save my son, and I would die? (er, not to hijack the thread or anything, sorry, lol). Nance, who is going to heat up this half cup of coffee so she can finish drinking it.

I really enjoyed those books, too! I haven't watched the TV show though. It is on my list of shows to rent from Netflix, though :D Might I also recommend the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series, by Laurel K. Hamilton? And the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward? (However I will say that they both have a lot more graphic sex than Twilight or Sookie Stackhouse books do. Consider yourself warned.) :)

Loved the books, enjoyed the movies, not in the closet... and on both teams. LOL.

Me too. Love, love, love those books. I've read them more than once, I cannot wait for the next one to come out, and I recommend them to everyone. Great books!

That's not unanswerable. I'd save my son. Sorry, mom!

Internet. And I love your screen name! :D

I love Oliver, Tobias, Matthias, and Nathaniel of the ones that were listed so far. How about Gideon?

I'll tell you what, when I start writing anything longer than a shopping list, MY hand gets crampy and tired and my handwriting gets very sloppy and I can't stand doing it. Thank goodness for typing! I can type very quickly, and it's always legible :D I try not to make my daughter have to do TOO much handwriting. I mean, she can write, she knows how, but outside of school, who ever really handwrites anything anymore? Everything is done on computers these days. I'm not saying a kid shouldn't know how to write. But is it really that important that they then do tons of handwritten work all the time? Copywork and whatnot? Personally, I don't think so. I have my daughter do some writing. She keeps a daily journal. She usually handwrites her book reports or other types of reports. She keeps a brief log of what she does for social studies or science. Sometimes she likes to handwrite and mail letters to people. But there's a limit to what I'll give her to handwrite. And if she reaches her own limit on that, I don't like to force the issue. I've also let her dictate things to me for me to type, I've let her type, I've allowed her to write in smaller sessions like if she was going to handwrite a report, where she'd break it down into sections and do it over a few days, etc. Sometimes she'll ask me if she can dictate a story or report to me so I can type it, then we'll proofread it and edit it together, and then she'll write the final copy into her book, instead of having to write more than one draft, etc. I also agree that it may be something you are not thinking about for which OT, PT or a doctor may be required. So I'd keep that in mind, and I wouldn't be too hard on him and start blaming it all on attitude or something.

I agree, don't bother responding. She's obviously not at all open-minded and has an extremely narrow viewpoint when it comes to the issue of education. No matter what you say, she's never, ever going to change her mind, so it would just be a waste of your time and energy. It wouldn't affect her opinion, it would only stress you out. Like others have said, delete the message, don't respond. Go about your life and just try not to think about it. I know you'll want to dwell on it for a while but just stay occupied and keep telling yourself that you are happy with your life and your choices, that they are good positive ones, and all that matters is you and your kids- it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. This will blow over and you'll calm down in a day or two and find yourself thinking about it less. Don't let someone like that impact how you feel about yourself, your kids, your choices, your life. Put it out of your mind. You ARE doing the right thing! :)

I don't prepare a report card, but I print out a certificate of promotion for her "graduating" her to the next grade. She gets a gift, we always give our kids small gifts for "graduating" a school year. And we'll usually do some sort of fun activity or outing to celebrate; this year it was a backyard 'party'- very low key! Where she invited a few neighborhood friends and cousins over, just for fun, and we put on the sprinkler and filled the kiddie pool and they played with water guns, and we grilled hot dogs and provided chips and juice boxes and had ice cream cones for dessert, and my husband did face painting for the kids, it was nice.

I love summer!! :)