“President Obama” and “school” have been coupled together in a number of news headlines this month.  First, he gave a perfectly harmless, but peculiarly ill-timed, speech to school children about non-controversial topics, such as “staying in school”.  Then, some knucklehead teacher in New Jersey decided to have her class sing creepy praise songs to the president, substituting “Barrack Hussein Obama” for “Jesus” in some instances.

Now, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is proposing longer school days and a longer school year for American kids, an idea that the president had put forth months ago.  There are two distinct parts to this proposal, and I think each should stand on its own merits. (more…)

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Danny White with AnointedFighter.com has decided to take the best of two worlds, martial arts and religion, and combined them into a very unique system called ChristJitsu.  The lessons and life principles of the Christian faith now have the excitement and recognition system of the martial arts world.

ChristJitsu plays on the popularity of martial arts, especially mixed martial arts and their Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.  Relax parents, kids won’t be learning to prize fight in a cage.  Instead, Danny claims they will be learning to fight in the cage of life.  ChristJitsu translated means, ” the way of Christ.”  The students will be learning important life lessons founded on the humility of the Christian faith. (more…)

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Tonight, I am going to my middle school’s first dance of the year, and I’m so excited.  Earlier, I was talking with my mom, and we were talking about what I would consider the dos and don’ts (mainly don’ts) for parents of middle schoolers going to dances, and I decided that you should know, too. (more…)

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Parenting is the greatest job in the world, no doubt about it.  As we the parents blog and talk and debate about parenting, what do the kids think?  Isn’t a vital part of parenting listening and responding to our children?  Or is that just my cheesy rationale for letting my son write half of this article?

Anyway – My son Max recently decided that he wants to be a writer like his dear ol’ dad.  This is, of course, in addition to being a meteorologist (quite unlike his dear ol’ dad), which has been his lifelong goal since about a year ago.  Max has written his first article in order to shine a little light on the 8 year old’s take on parenting, presented below with minor editorial notes from Max’s dad.

Parents are great i love parents because they love me. [Dad's note: Awwwww.]
They watch me play with me help me read with me do math with me and feed me watch movies with me play video games with me protect me when I’m scared. [Dad's note: Yep, we do all that.]
My dad always plays pokemon cards with me.  [Dad's note:  I do, see here.]
My mom paints with me alot.  [Dad's note: Better her than me.  She's the artistic one in the family.]
They also swim with me alot. [Dad's note: News to me.  I thought we hardly ever went swimming.]
The help me right stories.  [Dad's note: If the boy's going to be a writer, I guess I should teach him to spell write right.  Or maybe I'll just get him a really good editor.]
Sometimes my mom takes my socks off and blows on my feet.  [Dad's note:  Um, that's not as weird as it sounds.  Really.]
Parents are great. [Dad's note: Yeah, we rock.]

I hope this article has given you helpful insight into how your kids can be used for getting out of doing your own work…ahem… that is, insight into how children view parenting.  Yeah.

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Do you have a child with a birthday that falls in the autumn? Here are some party ideas that work wonderfully in the autumn for many ages:

Pumpkin picking and decorating: Get a few parents to help you carpool the children to a nearby farm. Then, let them each pick out a pumpkin of their own. (To avoid spending too much, mention a maximum weight or show them an example of the perfect size.) At home, have some decorating supplies (paint, glitter, glue, googly eyes), and you’ll have many decorated pumpkins that can double as party favors. Older kids could try carving the pumpkins, too.

Corn maze: Search online for a nearby corn maze. Depending on the number of invitees there are, you can split the party into smaller groups and make it a competition, but it helps to keep everyone a winner.

• Root beer making: One of my favorite birthday parties was when my parents took a group of friends and me to Incredibrew, and we made our very own root beer! We got to design the labels ourselves, and each friend got a pack of four to take home and enjoy.
• Autumn-related mini-games: To supplement a party, you could fill a jar with candy corn and allow the guests to make a guess when they enter. Whoever makes the closet guess wins the jar! You also could have a contest to see how many words each child can make from P-U-M-P-K-I-N P-I-E or S-C-A-R-E-C-R-O-W. How about a round of pin-the-nose on the jack-o-lantern or pin-the-stem on the apple? And don’t forget the classic, bobbing for apples, but make sure the apples are sized relative to the guests. It may be impossible for a 5-year-old to pick up the same apple that would be the perfect challenge for a child that is a few years older.
• Costume party: Last but not least, if the birthday is close enough to Halloween one of the greatest sources of fun can be when the guests show up in costumes. Let them have a fashion show or a story-telling contest about their characters!

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