Every year, after Christmas, families rush to the mall to return unwanted, unloved, or duplicate gifts.  Now, this seems normal, but many kids don’t tell you what they really dislike, and others are just rude when they tell you this.

Many kids don’t tell anyone if they received an item they did not like, had another of, or find goofy.  Now, kids do this for a variety of reasons.  Some kids are afraid they’ll hurt the gift giver’s feelings for telling anyone this, and they don’t want to do that to anyone, especially family.  My younger brother, for example, didn’t tell my parents he didn’t want Tony Hawk Ride because he thought he would hurt their feelings. (more…)

Tweet This Post

One of the many joys and responsibilities of parenting is that we get to be there to  help guide our children as they learn and develop.  At two and three years old, they start to wonder about the mysteries of the world.  As parents, we have the immense privilege of answering some of the big, eternal questions that children pose.

Just for fun, I present here an unembellished transcript of a real conversation that took place between my lovely wife and my recently-potty trained son in a Wal-Mart ladies’ room. For some of you, this might bring back memories of a similar conversation. For others, this is a glimpse into your future. (more…)

Tweet This Post

My son now is entering the discovery years–the age when children start to develop the ability to think things through and learn things by themselves. At this age children begin to understand cause and effect and learn to use past experiences to arrive at judgments. My wife and I have noticed that lately our son has learned to reason with us. A few months ago he used to believe everything we told him immediately, but now he asks questions first before agreeing with us on things. Just like what happened the other night when we informed him that it was time for bed and his time playing with his favorite computer game was up. He said, “What will I do in bed? I am not yet sleepy.”

We do not exactly know what to feel every time he reasons this way, it’s a mixed feeling of amusement and alarm. We are amused that our four-year-old has learned to reason, but at the same time we also are alarmed. I could not remember reasoning that way with my parent when I was four. (more…)

Tweet This Post

As a teen or kid, having and getting together with friends is very important and crucial to growing up properly.

There are many benefits to having kids get together with friends.  First of all, this helps kids build social skill that they will need throughout life.  Secondly, friends are fun, and life should be a fun experience.  Finally, well…friends are friends.  Period. (more…)

Tweet This Post

At the end of the summer I stumbled across Name Your Tune.  It seemed like an interesting idea, a cd of children’s songs with your child’s (or children’s) names placed into the lyrics.  With my children between the ages of eight and thirteen, it seemed more appropriate to have a cd made for my nephews who are two and four years old.

I spoke with Eric at Name Your Tune, and he informed that he would be able to make one cd for both boys.  Sending along the boys’ names and that it was from their Aunt Michele and Uncle Tom (their favorite aunt and uncle, of course), I waited for the cd to arrive, which took only a week or so. (more…)

Tweet This Post