Sandra Dodd

Holly pointed this out to me. This is by a boy we know who is 15, I
think now. His parents are divorced, his mom remarried and became a
fundamentalist Christian and doesn't want him. His dad threw him out
a year ago for being gay (and because dad's #3 wife-to-be didn't want
the teenaged boy). His step mom had him until recently. I don't
know the story of that ending. He's with his dad's parents now. He
was homeschooled for several years when he was younger, before his
dad's second divorce.

This is the report of something really good that happened to him:

Subject:
CHOCOLATE!
Body:
lolzxzxzxz
so my grandpa called me... and asked if I needed anything from the store
I told him I had been craving chocolate, and asked if he could get me
a bar of it...
so
he comes home with two bars saying, "well, I didn't know if you
wanted normal or with almonds.
" LOLZ!
You wish you had grandparents like me :P

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When Holly sees what other kids consider a big deal, it helps clarify
all kinds of things for her about her own life, and the world in
general. I know she'll be an awesome mom someday.

My article on how to raise a respected child has been translated into
Spanish. There's a link there:
http://sandradodd.com/respect

Some kids have to wait until they're nearly grown to get a little
respect.

Sandra

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

kel9769

> When Holly sees what other kids consider a big deal, it helps
clarify
> all kinds of things for her about her own life, and the world in
> general. I know she'll be an awesome mom someday.
>
> Some kids have to wait until they're nearly grown to get a little
> respect.
>
> Sandra

>

Lizzy (15) and I talk often about how she does not want to be
treated like an adult but like a person. She has taught me so much
about what that means. To be respectful of people and accepting.
Last night we talked about the more traditional punishment method of
time out I used when she was young. That conversation was inspired
by the concept of "Time in" I have been learning about this week
from Scott Noelle's Daily Groove this week.
www.enjoyparenting.com/dailygroove

She remebers being put in her room A LOT. I told her I was sorry
and I am so happy to be doing things differently now. I am so
proud of her that she never gave up on herself. I am also happy to
have made the choice to have more peaceful relationship with her
while there was still time for us to enjoy each other.
Kelly

Sandra Dodd

From Schuyler's blog post about her son's 11th birthday:

"We offered to do whatever he wanted to do and he wanted to hang out and watch The
Mighty Boosh while playing on World of Warcraft with his friend. That was really cool to me
that he likes his life as it is so much that he wouldn't change it."

It's like every day is his birthday, compared to some kids' lives.

Years back a mom wrote about having special holidays for each of her kids, separate from
birthdays, like their adoption day or something. And I thought it was cool, and so for
Christmas I made each of mine a certificate, and they were all different, and it was for
them to create one holiday we all could celebrate each year.

I thought it was a great gift, but my husband hadn't.

The kids agreed with him. They were baffled by it, and none of them ever "cashed it in."

It turns out that what would've been exciting for *me* as a kid, the idea of one day a year
where I could orchestrate something special, of my own design, is for my own kids like
me offering to pour a cup of water into their swimming pool.

Link to that birthday account, with photos:
http://waynforth.blogspot.com/2008/04/simon-is-11.html

Sandra