Mommage

Should Good Grades Come with a Price?

Do you reward your child for good test grades or report cards?  I admit I've done it in the past, so from experience, I know that it may or may not be a good idea, depending on the child.  I did reward my daughter for good report cards, and it never turned into anything other than good grades equaling a few bucks.  However, when I tried the same approach with my son, I discovered it can be tricky business with the potential to backfire. That's when I realized it's not always a good idea to lead your children to believe that you're willing to compensate them for something they have a responsibility to do.

What works for one child may not necessarily work for another.  Reading this article helped me understand some of the pros and cons.

(Almost) Back In the Saddle

Time flies.

I've been on maternity leave since mid-November, and next week Monday I go back to work. I've already gone back to work a couple of days in the past week, but next week I'm officially back all five days.

On being the "Me Expert"

It started very innocently, or at least my awareness of it did. One day I told my husband, “I’m not feeling very well; I’m gonna go lie down,” and he replied, “What’s wrong this time?” That stung a little; I knew I’d been poorly for the last week or so, but it seemed my husband thought that was extreme.

“This time?” I snapped. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, hon,” he said, and now I could see the worry in his eyes. “Just that you’ve been sick two or three times a week for months.”

I scoffed at him. “Months, right. Don’t let me sleep past four, ok? I’ve got some homework.” As I lay there, though, I started going over things in my mind. How many times had I been sick in the last few months? What exactly was going on? The longer I thought, the more symptoms I remembered, until finally I had quite a laundry list of ailments: nausea, dizziness, headache, and a kind of bone-aching fatigue that absolutely prevented me from getting through my day without a nap.

Hasta La Vista, Baby

Over the last few weeks we've been tuning into Fox on Monday nights to watch Terminator:  The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  It's a great show.  We love it, but the kiddo asks a lot of questions about SkyLab and John Connor and the Terminators themselves (itselves?).  We DVR'd the last episode and watched it on Friday night. 

Quite frankly, I was rather stunned by the intensity of some of the scenes.  In this particular episode, we saw one of the Terminators undergo a process to get new human-quality skin.  It's just a little gross, especially the part when the scientists cuts through the newly formed human skin to reveal the eye sockets. 

That's when it really occurred to me.

Handcuffed at School

A five year old kindergartener at a public school in Queens, New York, was put on a chair and handcuffed behind his back by a school safety agent.  According to this report, he allegedly threw a tantrum and was taken to the principal's office where he apparently knocked items off a desk.  The police report says the child was "punching his teacher and swinging wildly at school aides, that he smacked the assistant principal in the face, ran into a corner, and began to throw things on the floor."  The boy suffers from asthma, has speech problems, and may have attention deficit disorder.  He had two other tantrums the previous week and was transported by EMS to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

The Union representing the safety officer said cuffing the child was the last resort, because this particular child could not be controlled.  The New York Civil Liberties Union calls this an example of "criminalization of the classroom" and says that school officers have a history of going too far, and that the situation with school discipline is out of control.

No one ever wants to witness a child in handcuffs, but I definitely see two sides to this issue.

Is Tourism Affecting School?

Here in Virginia we have a very popular amusement park called Kings Dominion.  I recently came across an article that surprised me. Apparently Kings Dominion controls the world date for which my children return to school in the fall.  I never new that.

The county that I live in starts school each fall on the Tuesday after Labor Day, but just one county over starts the last week in August.  Well it turns out that the Commonwealth of Virginia has a law called the "Kings Dominion law", that forbids school districts to start school before Labor Day unless a waiver is requested and granted.  This left me scratching my head, as this made no sense to me, then I started to see the bigger picture.

This is yet another way to squeeze every penny possible out of tourism.  It seems that Kings Dominion not only cashes in on extra admission during this period, but also cheap labor.  By the middle of August most of the college students that Amusement Parks rely on to staff the rides and other areas of the park have returned to school, so by having this law in place they also get the bonanza of cheap labor during this period in the form of High School students that cannot return to school until after Labor Day (interestingly enough the park is only open on weekends after Labor Day). 

I am not sure why this surprises me or even why it irks me but it does.  I would rather have my children start school at the end of August and get out earlier at the end of the year, as it is right now they go through the middle of June.

--Contributed by Renee

The Ego Boost

I think I'm an attractive woman. I don't mean to sound conceited or arrogant; I mean, I'm not the most beautiful woman in the world. Men certainly don't fall at my feet when I'm walking, but based on the attention I've received in the past, I know I'm not bad to look at. I don't get hit on all the time, but when I do, it's a nice reassurance that I haven't quite lost "it."

Mom is Super but not Superwoman

Michele recently wrote a letter to Sears via Planetfeedback, regarding an issue with a malfunctioning dishwasher that created a dangerous situation in the kitchen where her toddler was present.  As I was reading the responses to her letter, I realized that some people actually think it's possible for a parent to keep an eye on their child at all times. 

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Potty Training Help!

Not me!  My son.  He is not interested in potty training.  I have asked begged him to start potty training.  I have tried bribing him (SpongeBob, Batman, and Cars) with Big Boy Underwear.  I have pleaded with him and put him in pull-ups.  I am so tired of buying and changing diapers.

How can you motivate a kid that obviously is not interested?  I want to make it a good experience for all involved.  By the time my daughter was his age she was potty trained.  I remember with my daughter that I was actually surprised at how easy it was!  Are boys just different than girls when it comes to potty training?  Are they harder to train?  What gives?  Why is it so hard this time around?  My husband and I have set a date to start placing him on the potty and stop with the diapers, but I do not want my son to be resistant to it because he is not ready.  I really want to do it at his pace, but I am sick of changing diapers already, and feeling like a failure!  Anyone have any advice, or any resources they can recommend?  I used potty training for dummies the first time (and will this time also), but was wondering what the other moms out there recommend?

Contributed by Renee

Ah, The Pure Bliss of Sleep

I used to know what sleep was, and I used to get a lot of it. I used to go to bed when I wanted, sleep as long as I needed, then get up generally refreshed and ready to face the day.