I feel the same way. I think only part of it is about the licensing costs though. The cable companies still wield far more power, and the programmers have to bow to them.

And again, I think cable companies still have many of these programmers by the you-know-whats. Netflix and their ilk are a huge threat to the cable companies, and the programmers still need the cable companies, so the cable companies ultimately still hold most of the cards. Their goal is to make it impossible for people to dump their cable. If people insist on dumping cable, they'll try to get us by increasing our Internet rates according to usage or decreasing the data limits so we can't stream as much. It's a shame, really, but that's the market, I guess :(

I struggled SO MUCH with this. Looking back, I realize I missed so many transition points for that kind of thing. Of course, I think grandmas have 20/20 hindsight too. I have a lot of opinions on how the moms of younger kids around me do things too :lol: But yes, I need to be reminded regularly to check what responsibilities I can hand off to my DDs. This article was yet another reminder! It's funny, my parents were very hands off in my life--not as a philosophy, just because they were young and didn't have great role models and were both working and trying to make ends meet. I have a few things I can think where I sort of wish that they'd been more present, but for the most part, I don't blame them, and I think that kind of bringing up stood me in good stead. Homeschooling makes it harder to do that with my girls, since we're always together. Again, I've been thinking about this a lot lately :tongue_smilie: I own a few of the books the article mentioned, but I want to see if my library has some of the others. Another good book, sort of on this topic, is The Entitlement Trap. It has some good ideas (and a few hokey ones) for getting kids to feel invested in the way the family runs and in taking responsibility for their own decisions and actions and needs.

Interesting...and terrifying. It's something I've been thinking a lot about for the past year, actually. Thanks for linking. Does anyone else think it funny that the author cleaned up both of her son's messes after he botched the original jobs she gave him in order to help him learn more responsibility, without registering at all that cleaning up the mess made from a job poorly done is PART of the responsibility?

Oh. my. goodness!!!! Wait until I tell DH! I had no idea this was happening, how completely awesome :w00t: Now, if we could just get them to pick up Firefly where Fox left off...

Thanks for the input, everyone. The reason she does the work on her own is because I was originally having her do the work after each subject, but it was making our school day take FOREVER. If I sit there with her, she tends to dawdle and chat and ask questions and not be able to make her way through her schoolwork without handholding, but if she has to go do it on her own, she zips right through it with no problems. Plus, she prefers to do it in her room in her favorite chair with some music on. I'm completely fine with all of that, and once she buckles down, she moves right through the work. It's the getting started that's hard for her. I just wasn't sure whether I should set a deadline for completion to force her start it sooner or let her set her own deadlines and experience natural consequences (like being tired the next day or missing an outing). I like the idea of it having to be done by dinnertime. That should be plenty of time for her. I think I'll discuss it with her too and see what she thinks might help her. I need to read through all the other suggestions as well. Fifth grade is looming, and I'm ready to tweak a few things, especially now that DD6 is in the mix more. Thanks again!

Oh! So sorry, I didn't register anyone implying that. No, I don't think that's the case at all. I know they wanted to be out of the DVD business. And, do you mean that they're filming additional seasons of Arrested Development as Netflix proprietary content?! I just got hooked on AD :D

:confused: I don't think anyone's saying it's a moral failing on the part of Netflix or anything. Some people just don't find the value proposition to be that good anymore. That's a valid complaint. Netflix is not in the position to acquire content that they once were, and it's affecting their selection. A decreased or poorer selection of products is a perfectly normal reason to be dissatisfied with something you're paying for.

They do come on some trips (like to our beach vacation in NC), but they stay indoors. I don't think I'd let them bring the dolls camping or anything, and if they come on trips, I'd say they'd have to stay in the house/hotel room. But otherwise, I do allow it, and I prepare them for potential consequences. If they haven't asked, though, don't suggest it! :tongue_smilie:

Oh no, I'm just seeing this :( Julie, I am so very sorry for your loss. My heart is with you and your family :grouphug:

Oh NO!!!!! How is this even possible? Not everyone has access to Comcast as a cable company! We don't, so we couldn't do it even if we wanted to! Oh, I'm very upset. Thanks for letting me know that though *sigh* And I agree with you about the companies needing to adapt.

Check your local library book sales. I picked up a bunch of awesome movies (a couple of Harry Potter, the 2nd and 3rd LOTR movies, the Princess Bride) in perfect condition for $2 each. I really hate buying DVDs, but these will get a lot of use here.

I do agree with this. My bigger concern is with the quality of the material they're rotating into their lineup. I keep an eye on the kids' movies and TV and check in to see what's new regularly. I just looked in the other night and was surprised to see nothing new since the last time I looked. And I'm seeing way more garbage movies--for example, "Chop Kick Panda" :lol: There seems to be a big business in knocking off animated kids movies, making only slight changes to barely conceal the ripoff. There's very little on there that my kids care to watch anymore, and our library selection is pretty limited. Since they're the main consumers of our Netflix materials, it's making the value proposition somewhat limited. I think it must be a very difficult business model to maintain though. I had high hopes for Hulu Plus too, but I wouldn't be paying for that either if it wasn't for DH's love for The Daily Show. I think content distributors just don't really want to give up the control over their products, and the market is evolving so rapidly in so many directions, Netflix is not in the great spot they once were. Amazon is making a big dent in the market, and many networks are locking down their streaming content via the cable companies now. (I was not happy to be cut off from the streaming episodes of The Closer and Rizzoli & Isles last year because I don't have cable service anymore :glare:.)

Actually, never mind, I think I'm wrong

Oh man, I'm sorry. I actually just took a quick look for my stuff on eBay, and it's selling for $20 a pop now :scared: I'm not that desperate, although if you ask me in 6 months, I might have a different opinion! I just got my hair cut to make it last longer, but I guess you can't exactly do that with your face, huh? What a pain in the rear :grouphug:

Did you see if you could stock up on a few more on eBay? I bought up every bottle of John Frieda Wind-Down Creme I could find when it was discontinued. It was sort of comical, but they discontinued that stuff 5 years ago, and I still have 7 bottles left :lol: Makeup wouldn't last as long, of course, but it might buy you some time to search around for something new (though, of course, 5 years later, I'm still searching :glare:).

I'm finding that the selection of movies and shows I actually care to see is shrinking all the time :( I understand why this is the case, but it really bums me out. So far, there's still enough to keep me paying--older TV shows, enough movies I haven't seen yet, documentaries that mesh with school or that the kids will be interested in--but if it keeps going the way it has been, I'm going to burn through all that, and all that will be left will be D-list junk. It makes me sad. I'd be willing to pay quite a bit more than we do for a better streaming selection. It's saving us $100 a month on cable, after all!

:iagree: And what exactly is mall security going to do? Do strip malls even have mall security? Ours don't. And I can just imagine the police response time for this scenario. I'm sure our local police have nothing better to do than drive over to the mall for a "she said, she said" intervention. And that's assuming they'll even come. I don't think that's a realistic suggestion.

No, not really. No one said, "Way to go, Kel, you tell her!" or that she was not responsible for her words. People said that it happens, particularly when you are adrenaline loaded, in mama bear mode, and the person who nearly hit your kid really doesn't seem to give a rat's patoot when you point it out to them.

While I do agree with this, I also believe that letting the driver know she nearly injured someone in the parking lot is pretty important, and that it was noticed and not ignored and not OK. Maybe it will make a difference to the way that woman drives in the future.

Heh. And I don't think you're considering someone else's state of mind enough, simply because her personality isn't exactly like yours. I think it's kind of funny that we're talking about taking personal responsibility, yet people are defending a driver who nearly hit a child and then claimed that the child wasn't watching where SHE was going by saying that the driver simply made a mistake and was probably shaken up herself. How are people not giving the same consideration to the OP? :confused:

Um, yes. If you've never had a moment where you said something without thinking and then realized what you said later, then be thankful. And I never said Kel wasn't responsible for her actions. I said things like that happen to almost all of us, and that she already realized that what she said wasn't right and didn't need lecturing on it. She actually said that in her first post, so hammering on her about it really wasn't necessary or kind.

I mean every poster on this thread who is lecturing Kel on something she snapped and said without thinking about it first. Sometimes, in a heated situation, your words are not a choice. They're an accident. If you've never, ever had a moment where you spoke without thinking first, then you are blessed. But many of us have had moments where our mouths were miles ahead of our brains. It happens. That's why it's called "snapping." You don't plan it. You realize what you said afterward and feel like a jerk.

This thread is taking such a weird turn :001_huh: Boy Kel, I bet you're sorry you looked for commiseration here!

Seriously. I can't believe there's a single person on this board who hasn't lost their temper or had a moment of thoughtlessness and said something stupid before their brain could register it. I cursed loudly in front of my children when some idiot deliberately turned in front of me the other day and I nearly broadsided him (he waved at me as he went by :cursing:). I didn't think to myself, "OK, here I go, I'm about to let fly with the worst curse word I can think of. Hmm, which to choose? Oh, that one sounds good!" It happens before you can stop yourself, or before you've even realized you've said it. Is it ideal? Of course not! But it's not like she made a choice with an uncivil comment. It was the heat of the moment. To berate her for it now is ridiculous. I also can't believe there are people here who are digging Kel for being in the MIDDLE OF THE ROAD and assuming she has the right of way. Yes, of course people have to walk defensively, even if it means forgoing right of way. But at some point we're going to be in the middle of an action where we can no longer defend ourselves, and that's when the other person has to take some responsibility. The driver in this scenario seemed to believe she bears none.