Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Getting your kids to sleep already!

Okay, so having an 8 month old means we haven't slept for like 8 months. So we decided enough was enough! I remember that I never did anything to help my 8 year old get to sleep on his own and I was still singing him to sleep at 6, not this time!

Last night was the first night of the rest of our lives. I did the whole bedtime ritual thing, bath, pjs, book (mostly Vince eating it) and bottle (which he didnt' want anything to do with). And then I turned out the light and put him in his crib. I sat by his bed for one full hour while he cried and cried and fell asleep and then woke himself up and then cried somemore. As crazy as it sounds, it was actually a much better experience than our normal routine of rocking and bouncing and tricking him into going to sleep. I had made up my mind, sat down and waited. When he finally went to sleep, I was so proud he did himself. He was out by about 7:15. He did wake up at 11 pm but again, I fed him (didn't him fall asleep with the bottle in my mouth like I was told) and then put him in his bed. This time it only took 10 minutes and he was out. And the best part was, he slept until 6:45 am!

So, I am not sure if this will continue or get even better tonight, but I do know that an hour of crying is worth a full night sleep anytime. The hardest thing as a parent is to not give in, which in the short run makes it easier on us. I just wanted to share my story because I think most of us have something we know we need to break our kids of but we don't do it because we are either afraid it won't work or just too tired to deal with the process itself. But in the end, a couple days or weeks of misery will usually break the habit for the long run. And the benefit of the process itself is that it gives up back the control that we so often give up.

Good Luck!

Monday, September 29, 2008

This whole economic mess

As a mother, one thing I am trying to instill in my children is personal responsibility. Always try your hardest and do you best; tell the truth; act with integrity; follow the rules including the law...If you do something wrong, you will face consequences and hopefully, if you do something right, you will be rewarded. So how is it that the message our society is constantly reinforcing seems to be exactly the opposite.

For years now I have been bothered by the fact that my children in elementary school do not receive grades. It seems like something so simple - you work hard and study and you are rewarded with good grades. But someone decided that our children couldn't handle that truth. Somehow, the fear was that our children would give up if they received a bad grade instead of trying harder. So instead of offering help to these children to ensure that "no child is left behind," we simply took the personal responsibility of learning away. How do we tell our children that they need to go that extra mile when they know it doesn't really matter? Are we teaching them that they only need to do what they can to simply get by? Why should teachers have to dangle prizes in front of our children to get them to try their hardest? Are we failing our children and setting them up on a global scale to fail?

As I look at this economic disaster that we sit in the middle of, again I ask about personal responsibility. How exactly did it get this bad? Did none of the officers at any of these companies have morals? Did none of them care about what was right? And what about us who pay our mortgages every month? How can we blame it all on the banks writing bad loans? Yes, they gave people money without good credit or substancial incomes - but didn't the people who took out the mortgages know they couldn't afford it? And now we are suppose to bail them out so they don't lose their homes? You signed for the mortgage, you didn't pay your bills - you are responsible for your situation. Now I wouldn't begin to assume for one second that all the mortgage brokers out there are on the up and up. But there is always someone out there trying to take advantage of someone. Its up to you to not let it happen to you - again, personal responsibility.

So my family sits here in the midst of the worst economic mess since the great depression and as a country our schools cannot compete in the global marketplace. I did what I was suppose to do - I worked hard, paid my bills and told the truth, but it doesn't even seem to matter anymore. So as a mother, how do I raise my children to accept responsibility when our society tells them its okay to let other bail them out?

Welcome!

So here it is, my first blog! Woohoo! I really just wanted a place for other mom's like myself to talk or complain or get advice. So hopefully I can help by sharing my experiences or offering you a funny story that you can relate to. Either way, I hope you find it entertaining and come back often.