Bring the noise

Knives in School

Within an hour of school starting I receive a strange call from my daughter's teacher directing me to come immediately to class.  Do not check in with the office.  She had no time to explain, but her tone sent chills down my spine.  I raced from my office to the school fearful of what I would find.  

The cheeriness of a kindergarten room greeted me.  The smell of paste, text books, and sweaty children filled the air.  Funny looking pumpkin art covered the wall behind the teacher's desk.  The rosy-young teacher handed me a plastic bag filled with colored construction paper, told me not to open it until I was home, and asked me to take it home immediately.  In fear I followed her instructions.

Upon my arrival at home, I sat at my kitchen table ready to unearth the horrors of the colorful bag.  I gingerly opened the seal of the bag in an attempt to not disrupt the terror inside.  Adrenaline filled my veins as if Pandora's box was poised to pew ungodly evil upon me.  I slowly placed my hand inside the bag and pulled the paper out.  I could feel the weight of something inside.  I quickly unfolded the paper to find the most frightening thing a child could have, a weapon.  

My sweet innocence kindergartner narrowly missed being expelled from school.  The reason she was not is only because of her understanding and quick reacting teacher.  A note inside explained the reason her teacher believed she had brought the knife to school.  We all have wonderful children.  Every single one of us, but not everything they do is wonderful.  My child brought a knife to school. 

Now, before you go into a panic or think my kid is a thug, allow me to set the scene.  In October of 2008 my beautiful daughter was in kindergarten.  Her teacher excitedly told the class they would be carving pumpkins in the classroom.  My daughter, the most helpful of all classmates, was ready to help the cause.  The next morning, without my knowledge, she placed a serrated steak knife in her bag and skipped happily to class.   It made perfect sense to me and the teacher.  She had no clue she had done anything wrong. 

 Unfortunately, it did not matter.  None of it mattered.  The law is the law.  DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200.  The teacher risked her career to ensure my daughter would not loose her spot in her class.  Thankfully, the other students were ignorant of what my daughter had done.  This was her saving grace.  The teacher would have not choice but to turn my daughter in and the board abruptly forcing her to attend and alternative school.

In life we all have misunderstandings.  Many are due to ignorance.  If we spend a little time arguing each side of a story, even if you do not think it is the 'right' side, you may will find understanding and empathy.  We do not all need to agree to have compassion for one another

Baby Bonanza

I have been blessed to have many babies in my life.  I am in love with tiny socks.  They never seem to stay on feet, but they are darling.  Better than baby socks is my baby wrap.  You can buy a wrap style carrier, but through the advise of my friend and neighbor, I made my own. In fact I made 2 for under $20.

The wrap is super easy to make... tying it is a different story.  To make the wrap just buy 12 yards of your favorite color of jersey material.  Most material is 36 inches wide.  Cut the fabric in half.  Now, you have two wraps.

I bought my fabric at my favorite store, Hobby Lobby.  Hobby Lobby offers a 50% off coupon on their website you can use  from your smart phone in the store.  I have also purchased the same fabric through fabric.com.  There are many more choices online.  Either way I was not disappointed. 

The best things about the wrap is you can store it easily in a bag.  I don't use a diaper bag.  I have purses and backpacks, and I grab at a moments notice to throw a few needed items in.  The wrap takes up little space.  The wrap is also versatile.  You can change how the wrap is used.  The wrap can be knotted different ways not matter what you need.  My favorite thing of all is I can nurse my baby hands free.  Many times, she will fall asleep.  She takes a nap with little effort on my part.  

The downside of the wrap is it gets HOT.  In the summer it isfairly uncomfortable and sweaty.  Also, it takes a bit of studying to properly use the wrap. Learning the wrap took about 20 minutes of viewing YouTube tutorials.  Once you practice a few times, it will be easy.  If you do not use the wrap correctly, the wrap can be dangerous.  When using the wrap make sure you child can easily breathe at all times.  

Since I learned about the wrap and fell in love with it, I have made many for other people.  It is a great hand made gift for a new mom

Aliens are real

A good friend of mine once told me that when children become teenagers the aliens take over.  Every once in a while you will see a glimpse of the boy you raised, but mostly you will see someone you do not recognize.  Last night I was reminded of this.

Now, I am not one to fight.  Last night was an exception.  I argued myself to tears with my teenager.  After the dust settled guilt took over. 

Had I overreacted?

Was there a better way of handling the situation?

Will I be able to follow through with the threats I laid out?

Does he still like me?

Will this affect our relationship forever?

I do not know the answers to all of the questions, but I do know I overreacted and could have handled the situation much better.  I don't want to follow through with the threats.  They were dumb threats.  Ridiculous reactionary threats. I am not even going to jot them down here because they were too embarrassing to mull over.  

Fact is parents make mistakes.  Just like every other part of our lives, we don't always get it right.  I don't count my mistakes.  Mostly because I cannot count that high.  The other reason is it would ruin the image of how AWESOMELY amazing I am.  

I am fairly certain we can all reach back and remember a regret or two or twenty.  We are building a relationship with our children.  They are changing, growing, developing, and evolving.  So, are we.  We were not born parents.  We became one.  There was no training.  Everyone does it differently.  What works for you may not work for me.  What does work is acknowledging when you made a mistake.  I apologize to my kids.  Not only do I apologize, but I am sincerely remorseful.  It may not seem like much, but it is important to for children to know adults are fallible. Not only does a parent need to be remorseful but also forgiving.  

Forgive your children.  Mistakes are a part of the human experience.  Without mistakes children cannot learn how to avoid them.  I have been told I am too forgiving.  I forget the things my children do once I forgive it.  Repeat offenders are not caught right away because of my lack of memory of the first three transgressions.  

One day soon my teenagers will be out of the house.  They will build their own lives.  I have a significance effect on how successful their life is.  Teaching them who you are is the best way to teach them how to be an adult.  You don't have to be perfect.  Being perfectly honest is enough.