praise about a kid of mine
Sandra Dodd
The nextdoor neighbor at our old house always liked my kids and was sorry we moved away. We still see her some. She was the local historian who came to speak at the Live and Learn conference in Albuquerque. Marty (22, my mid-offspring) has been doing some heavy yardwork for her this week, and I just got this note:
Subject: your son
Date: April 22, 2011 6:12:51 PM MDT
is SOOOOO good at this
he should get a lanscaping business
he's fast he cleans UP after himself......
not counting what a nice kid he is
Mo Palmer
History Diva
------------------------------
I responded:
------------------------------
I love getting my cut of Marty praise. THANK YOU!!!
Thank you very much for giving him the opportunity and the experience, too.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Subject: your son
Date: April 22, 2011 6:12:51 PM MDT
is SOOOOO good at this
he should get a lanscaping business
he's fast he cleans UP after himself......
not counting what a nice kid he is
Mo Palmer
History Diva
------------------------------
I responded:
------------------------------
I love getting my cut of Marty praise. THANK YOU!!!
Thank you very much for giving him the opportunity and the experience, too.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
chris ester
Very cool, "vindication" (not sure what other word to use- I have a
headache) is nice, even though you probably don't need it by now. Whenever
my husband (or I) has doubts about the choices we have made in raising our
children we remember that we are in it for the long game, ie. we are raising
them to be capable, competent, happy adults, not obedient (or any other
adjective) children. Along the way, we hope to have a lot of fun and joy to
share with them.
Chris
headache) is nice, even though you probably don't need it by now. Whenever
my husband (or I) has doubts about the choices we have made in raising our
children we remember that we are in it for the long game, ie. we are raising
them to be capable, competent, happy adults, not obedient (or any other
adjective) children. Along the way, we hope to have a lot of fun and joy to
share with them.
Chris
On Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 8:22 PM, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
>
>
> The nextdoor neighbor at our old house always liked my kids and was sorry
> we moved away. We still see her some. She was the local historian who came
> to speak at the Live and Learn conference in Albuquerque. Marty (22, my
> mid-offspring) has been doing some heavy yardwork for her this week, and I
> just got this note:
>
> Subject: your son
> Date: April 22, 2011 6:12:51 PM MDT
>
> is SOOOOO good at this
>
> he should get a lanscaping business
>
> he's fast he cleans UP after himself......
>
> not counting what a nice kid he is
>
> Mo Palmer
> History Diva
> ------------------------------
> I responded:
> ------------------------------
>
> I love getting my cut of Marty praise. THANK YOU!!!
>
> Thank you very much for giving him the opportunity and the experience, too.
>
> Sandra
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Karen Buxcel
This was a timely read for me today. Just this morning, at our local
Unitarian Unitarian Fellowship, a mom was lamenting over how she had been
nagging at her 17 year old son for **4** days to do his chores. She ended
the story something like this:
"So, finally, I told him... Do the dishes, or pack your stuff and move
out." (I guess he did the dishes). And then she went on to say she hated
to say that and she doesn't want to have to always "use that" in order to
get him to do his chores, and then proceeded to ask that if anyone had
advice about how to raise a 17 year old teenager, she would appreciate it.
My oldest is 12. I wanted to tell her to start using paper plates. And I
wanted to tell her that someday, he will move out... maybe after one of her
threats, and how would that make her feel then? And I wanted to tell her a
whole bunch of other stuff, too, but she probably wouldn't take me as a
'credible' advice giver, since my children aren't teens yet. But I do know
that I would never tell John (dh) to do his chores or move out. And I'm
guessing she'd never tell her husband that, either.
John and I had a discussion about that exchange later when we were alone.
He said something about him trying not to judge other people and a few other
things like that. Of course, I don't want to judge other people, but if I
see someone kick a dog to the side of the road, I would think... "that's not
nice". And if I saw someone abuse a homeless person, I would think...
"that's not nice". And when I see and hear people doing and saying mean
things about teenagers (or any child, for that matter), I will always
think... "that's not nice".
And eventually, after enough of us raise that level of awareness towards
treating children and teens with dignity and respect, things will change.
So, thank you, Sandra, for sharing that glimpse into what kind of whole
human an always cherished, respected, and honored child grows up to be.
Karen
Unitarian Unitarian Fellowship, a mom was lamenting over how she had been
nagging at her 17 year old son for **4** days to do his chores. She ended
the story something like this:
"So, finally, I told him... Do the dishes, or pack your stuff and move
out." (I guess he did the dishes). And then she went on to say she hated
to say that and she doesn't want to have to always "use that" in order to
get him to do his chores, and then proceeded to ask that if anyone had
advice about how to raise a 17 year old teenager, she would appreciate it.
My oldest is 12. I wanted to tell her to start using paper plates. And I
wanted to tell her that someday, he will move out... maybe after one of her
threats, and how would that make her feel then? And I wanted to tell her a
whole bunch of other stuff, too, but she probably wouldn't take me as a
'credible' advice giver, since my children aren't teens yet. But I do know
that I would never tell John (dh) to do his chores or move out. And I'm
guessing she'd never tell her husband that, either.
John and I had a discussion about that exchange later when we were alone.
He said something about him trying not to judge other people and a few other
things like that. Of course, I don't want to judge other people, but if I
see someone kick a dog to the side of the road, I would think... "that's not
nice". And if I saw someone abuse a homeless person, I would think...
"that's not nice". And when I see and hear people doing and saying mean
things about teenagers (or any child, for that matter), I will always
think... "that's not nice".
And eventually, after enough of us raise that level of awareness towards
treating children and teens with dignity and respect, things will change.
So, thank you, Sandra, for sharing that glimpse into what kind of whole
human an always cherished, respected, and honored child grows up to be.
Karen
On Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 6:22 PM, Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
>
>
> The nextdoor neighbor at our old house always liked my kids and was sorry
> we moved away. We still see her some. She was the local historian who came
> to speak at the Live and Learn conference in Albuquerque. Marty (22, my
> mid-offspring) has been doing some heavy yardwork for her this week, and I
> just got this note:
>
> Subject: your son
> Date: April 22, 2011 6:12:51 PM MDT
>
> is SOOOOO good at this
>
> he should get a lanscaping business
>
> he's fast he cleans UP after himself......
>
> not counting what a nice kid he is
>
> Mo Palmer
> History Diva
> ------------------------------
> I responded:
> ------------------------------
>
> I love getting my cut of Marty praise. THANK YOU!!!
>
> Thank you very much for giving him the opportunity and the experience, too.
>
> Sandra
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
--
"You cannot teach a person anything; you can only help him find it within
himself." -Galileo
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sandra Dodd
-=-And then she went on to say she hated
to say that and she doesn't want to have to always "use that" in order to
get him to do his chores, and then proceeded to ask that if anyone had
advice about how to raise a 17 year old teenager, she would appreciate it.-=-
Poor kid. Poor family.
You can't "raise" a 17 year old. He has 17 years of being with her, and if that's the best she's come up with, it might just be too late for them.
-=-So, thank you, Sandra, for sharing that glimpse into what kind of whole
human an always cherished, respected, and honored child grows up to be.-=-
Thanks.
I could tell positive stories like that nearly every day about one of my kids or another, but they would be from a mom's perspective, and people are suspicious of that. So it's nice sometimes to be able to quote a third party.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
to say that and she doesn't want to have to always "use that" in order to
get him to do his chores, and then proceeded to ask that if anyone had
advice about how to raise a 17 year old teenager, she would appreciate it.-=-
Poor kid. Poor family.
You can't "raise" a 17 year old. He has 17 years of being with her, and if that's the best she's come up with, it might just be too late for them.
-=-So, thank you, Sandra, for sharing that glimpse into what kind of whole
human an always cherished, respected, and honored child grows up to be.-=-
Thanks.
I could tell positive stories like that nearly every day about one of my kids or another, but they would be from a mom's perspective, and people are suspicious of that. So it's nice sometimes to be able to quote a third party.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]