Parenting 101: Bed Time Stories...

Oooohhh, I have been tempted...



Do you ever get the feeling that your kids may be just a little too spoiled? Or maybe call it entitlement... Whatever you want to call it, sometimes they just think they deserve to have what they want and that's it. I suppose I was the same way as a child, as were pretty much all of us. It's not a fun part of parenting...

Who doesn't want to see their child happy and enjoying life? Of course we all want that. But does that give us the right to hand everything to them on a silver platter? Not really... I think we would be doing them a dis-service by not teaching them that earning those things that they would like is much better than just getting them outright.

Recently Webkins have been on the scene and are a constant source of the "can I have that one?"'s When several have been received as birthday or Christmas presents, they are enjoyed, but not to the extent as those that have been earned as a reward. There's no physical difference in one from the other, other than the obvious that it's a different animal. It's the psychological feeling of truelly earning something that makes it that more special. There's an emotional bond there that doesn't get created when the item is just thrown at them from one fo those "Can I Have That?" moments.

I Love my children. Eventhough today was one of those mornings where the daughter decided it was time to awake before dawn... In relation to yesterdays post, sometimes that little break we get at night doesn't necessarily get us as much sleep as we really need. Early morning's like today must be some kind of Murphy's-Law-like balancing to make me pay for having some adult time... *Sigh*

Another day, another ulser... Just kidding... :)

Parenting 101: Bed time

In a way, Bed Time seems to be evening parole for parents.

Don't get me wrong... Children are a joy and a cherished commodity. However, after 12 to 14 hours of a child dominated day, a little break is also a cherished commodity. Call it Mommy/Daddy time, call it a respite, whatever. It's just nice to have a little down time for a while.

So what do those parents out there like to do during their break?

We like to take some time and veg out in front of the television to catch up on whatever shows may interest us. Some snacks, a little soda... And one or the other of usually falls asleep on the couch for a while. It's a system that we've been refining over the past few years...

Parenting 101: Television

I know I've discusses the topic of television with kids before... This comic sums up exactly what I see on a daily basis.

Jonah has an accute case of Media Deficite Syndrome. As you can probably imagine, this is where someone has the inescapabe urge to have some kind of media around him at all times. Television is the most common, but of late the Game Boy Advance and PS2 are at the tops of his list.

Considering it's the Winter Break from school it's completely natural for him to immerse himself in these things that he doesn't get to do as often while school is in session. I'm curious how things will go once he heads back to school next week...

Here's a perfect comic for the topic.

Parenting 101: Chores

I recall being a kid and having special things that I needed to do around the house. Starting out at a younger age it was something as simple as cleaning my room. To a young person, this can seem to be a daunting task as the accumulation of clothing and toys on the floor can resemble the aftermath of a hurricane or tornado. I now understand why my mother would describe my room in this manner. Of course her most common description was that of a pig sty. I guess this came from her growing up on a farm. All I can recall about pig sty's is that they smell very, very bad.

So now that I'm a parent it's difficult to get my frame of mind back to when I was Jonah's age. I was brought back to my youth this morning while speaking with Holly. In the eternal pursuit of candy, Jonah decided to get some candy for himself and his sister from the top of the refrigerator. Having been caught and punished several times in the past, this did little to keep him from trying once again.

It took me back to when I was about his age and would use the drawers like steps to get up on the counter to get to a large container of candy stored on top of the refrigerator. There was this one type of candy that was like taffy that was peppermint flavored that was my father and I both enjoyed. I recall getting caught several times, but I also recall getting away with it as well.

I guess sometimes in the eyes of the child, the chance of getting caught is worth the chance of getting away with some candy. It's times like these that Jonah and Brielle actually get along. When the sneak-factor kicks in, they bond together pretty well. I guess there's hope for them yet...

I kind of strayed from my initial topic, but this Calvin and Hobbes comic reminded me of things that I had to do as a child.

Have a great weekend!

Parenting 101: Procrastination

I found a series of Calvin and Hobbes that fits the season just right...

To start off, I've been a procrastinator all my life... I say this not to brag or be proud of it, it's just the way I've been for as long as I can remember. This is an atribute I'm not particularly fond of, yet I put off doing anything about it... I suppose this is the very definition of a paradox.

Anyway, in the spirit of procrastination, Some Calvin...

Parenting 101: Remembering the good old days...

Jonah has quite the imagination...

Lately he had been playing a lot of video games which then get his mind into the mode of games he would like Santa to make for him for Christmas. It's very cute! Although sometimes that's all he talks about and trying to get his mind focused on other things can be a bit of a challenge.

Imagination is an awesome thing. You can transport yourself to anywhere and be anything with the blink of an eye. There are many mediums that take advantage of peoples imaginations. Books have been around for many many years where television and video games are still infants in the grand scheme of things.

Many people believe that television and video games are the harbingers of death in relationship to imagination. If you try to apply this to Jonah, it's the complete opposite. I keep suggestion that he write all these ideas down so that when he's old enough to start learning to program he can make these games and get himself into a great career. Considering he's 7, the programming for games will change 5 or 6 times before he hits college to learn all this stuff.

I know that if he uses his imagination as a method of making a living he's going to do very well.

In the spirit of imagination, a little Calvin & Hobbes to brighten your day...

Parenting 101: Quick List

Currently the blogger site does not have an option to group blog entries by category, I'll put this notice out with links to all of the current Parenting 101 Blogs and any others that are similar with Calvin and Hobbes on the scene. Hope you all enjoy these!
Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes
Pre-Parenting 101
Jonah in the funny papers... Friday, February 24, 2006
Jonah, Once again in the funny papers Monday, February 27, 2006
Jonah / Calvin at dinner Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Sometimes, they are just too smart for our own good... Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Jonah was hoping... Thursday, March 02, 2006
Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes
Parenting 101 Blogs
Parenting 101 Friday, March 03, 2006
Parenting 101: Dinner Monday, March 06, 2006
Parenting 101: Dinner table manners Monday, March 06, 2006
Parenting 101: Listening Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Parenting 101: Bath Time Thursday, March 09, 2006
Parenting 101: Reading between the lines... Friday, March 10, 2006
Parenting 101: Snacks... Monday, March 13, 2006
Parenting 101: True.. But Why?!?! Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Parenting 101: Mornings Friday, March 17, 2006
Parenting 101: The things we do for our kids... Monday, March 20, 2006
Parenting 101: Where do babies come from? Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Parenting 101: Dinnertime Fun Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Parenting 101: Tonight's Bed Time Plan... Friday, March 24, 2006
Parenting 101: Housework Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Parenting 101: Starting a Club Thursday, March 30, 2006
Parenting 101: Finance Monday, April 03, 2006
Parenting 101: Home Improvement Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Parenting 101: Where do they get these ideas? Thursday, April 06, 2006
Parenting 101: Testing Boundaries Friday, April 07, 2006
Parenting 101: Shaping their minds Friday, April 14, 2006
Parenting 101: Television Thursday, April 20, 2006
Parenting 101: Labor Pains Monday, April 24, 2006
Parenting 101: Driving Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Parenting 101: Only the facts... Thursday, April 27, 2006
Parenting 101: Shopping Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Parenting 101: More Questions Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Parenting 101: Bed Time Friday, May 05, 2006
Parenting 101: Meal time Monday, May 08, 2006
Parenting 101: Questioning your reasoning... Monday, May 22, 2006
Parenting 101: Summer Vacations Friday, May 26, 2006
Parenting 101: Just a little fun... Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Parenting 101: Couldn't be closer to the truth... Thursday, June 01, 2006
Parenting 101: Writing stories Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Parenting 101: Lunch on a daily basis... Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Parenting 101: Reading and what they learn... Thursday, June 15, 2006
Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes Parenting 101 Calvin and Hobbes Calvin & Hobbes Matt Engel Matthew Engel Matt Engel Matthew Engel Matt Engel Matthew Engel comics
I hadn't realized how many of these I've made so far. Once again, Enjoy!
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Parenting 101: Writing stories

Jonah has really gotten into creating his own books. We recently went shopping for office supplies and bought Jonah his own ream of paper to write his books. Considering he had already gone through several reams of our printer paper, we figured this to be the best idea.

He starts off by drawing the pictures of the story and then goes through and writes out the story. He has several stories written already. All of them are quite good, of course being his father I guess there's some bias there. But for just turning 7 and still in the early stages of reading, both Holly and I think he's doing very well.

The first story of his that I have scanned in is a variation of the Three Little Pigs that we all grew up with. I'll post some of his original stories soon. I haven't had the opportunity to scan them all in yet. Please forgive the quality of this first book. I'm working out the bugs between Adobe Acrobat and my scanner.

Here's the story in Adobe PDF format. The Three Little Pigs - By Jonah Hercules (More stories to follow...)

If you don't have Adobe Acrobat reader, you can download it from here:

Parenting 101: Couldn't be closer to the truth...

It's always a pleasant surprise when the kids do something by themselves that you usually have to ask them 5 or 6 times to do.

Brielle is still in the molding stage. Holly says that because she is a girl she likes to help. I'm not sure if it's because of her gender or not, but she really does like to help. Generally the help is counter-productive, but she's happy to help and is excited about the praise she gets.

On the flip-side of this is Jonah. There are times when he takes care of all the things we normally have to ask several times for. These times generally have use getting to the point of a time-out or loss of some kind of privledge. It's always a pleasant surprise when he does things when he is not asked. If only it was that way all the time, but I don't recall doing that either as a child, so I guess I shouldn't expect it from my own children.

This Calvin comic fits this situation perfectly. Enjoy your day!

Parenting 101: Just a little fun...

Sometimes a Dad's gotta do, what a Dad's gotta do...

I Love my children. I preface by saying this in that some things you think of doing, you never would becuase you love your children. Although in your head it seems very funny...

Both Jonah and Brielle are funny and loveable in their own ways. They are two great kids. With a third on the way, we can't help but wonder what he will be like. We'll be finding out soon enough. June 23rd appears to be the date to induce labor.

As for some of the fun things you think of saying or doing with your kids, several of the Parenting 101 blogs deal with pulling your kids leg every now and then. This one is no exception.

Sometimes you just want a little peace and quiet... Or to give them a small taste of their own medicine...

This Calvin comic reminded me of how Holly and I direct one or both children to the other to get them out of our hair for a few moments...

Parenting 101: Summer Vacations

It's almost Summer time...

Soon the kids will be home all day and people will get to take vacations. I'm not sure if we'll be doing much traveling with the little one coming in the end of June, but other people will be traveling.

I recall the days of being trapped in the back of my parents Caprice Classic as we drove to Northern Michigan or across the border into Canada on one trip or another. My father was a Real Estate Appraiser how would take jobs with the State of Michigan to value property for road expansion projects. A number of summers took us to different parts of Michigan while my Dad checked out buildings and vacant land stretching along endless highways.

On several occasions my Mom would come along, on a few it was just he and I on these trips. I have some very good memories about these moments in time. When I was older, around 17, my Dad took me up to the upper peninsula of Michigan to Marquette and several of the outlying towns.

There is a part in Marquette where there are walking and biking paths. We went out to one of these points and found an area to walk out on. There was a section where you could walk out and look down to see Lake Superior and the caves created by the never ending waves crashing up against the limestone.

I recall scaring the bejesus out of my Dad when I walked out on an outcropping of rock and looked down the side of the cliff. I don't recall if there was a railing or not, but it really surprised my Dad that I did this. In retrospect it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I was 17. That's my excuse.

My memories of traveling when I was younger are a bit more cloudy. I have this feeling that it was a situation not too dissimilar from Calvin on one of his road trips with his parents. This is so true of Jonah and Brielle is starting to follow this path as well.

Enjoy the Calvin and Hobbes!

Parenting 101: Questioning your reasoning...

Kids are wonderful... but sometimes...

Parenting 101: Meal time... (comic)

Could not be more true to reality...


This happens in our house about every other week. One minute it's the greatest thing ever, then it's worse than liver and onions...

Parenting 101: Bed Time

Bed times are a blessing... and a curse...

7:00 PM
"Come on Brie Brie, it's time to change your clothes. Give Jonah hugs and kisses Good Night!"
Starting a whimpering cry, Brielle starts to chant the mantra, "No Night, Night. No Night, Night." She begrudgingly gives her older brother hugs and kisses all the while chanting her claim that she doesn't want to go to bed. That's about as bad as it gets. Although it tugs greatly on the heart strings, she goes to bed pretty well.

8:00 PM
"Jonah, it's time to turn off the TV, brush your teeth and get your comfy clothes on." At this point Jonah finds every excuse in the book to delay bed time. Generally we have to repeat the above statement 2 or more times before the television turns off. Then he came up with all sorts of "important" questions that can't wait before he brushes his teeth.

After the teeth are scrubbed clean he comes out to give us hugs and kisses goodnight. This is generally accompanied by several more questions that couldn't possibly wait till morning or his head would certainly explode.

After being shipped off to bed we have to remind him to stay in his bed several times as we hear him roaming around the upstairs trying to do anything other than sleep. The occasional trip back downstairs with the most important question followed by us being exasperated and telling him he will lose TV time if he doesn't keep himself in his bed.

All of this usually lasts until 9:00 or so. Sometimes a little later... Then it's just us time.

Unfortunately we are generally exhausted from the day and veg on the couch. I'll Rub Holly's feet while we watch House, American Idol, Medium or any other of our favorite shows. Then off to bed to put an end to a long day and refresh us, if only marginally. for the next long day ahead.Calvin is always getting himself into trouble. This is probably what we have in store for us in the not too distant future... Enjoy.

Parenting 101: More Questions

Jonah has some interesting insight for a 6-year-old. Well, almost 7. He turns 7 tomorrow, which he is VERY excited about.

As I was saying... He thinks of things on multiple levels which amazes me... We were watching something on television the other evening, and he made a comment about how before Adam and Eve sinned everything was in black and white. Then everything was color after the original sin.

Where this came from, I have no idea... But anyone that has any background with religion and knows the story of original sin will have an idea of what this is about. I was floored. That a 6-year-old would come up with such a comment really made me think about it in a different way.

A couple of years ago when Jonah was in Pre-K, they were learning about music. Beethoven to be more specific. Jonah commented that Beethoven's music was rather dark. We asked if his teachers had said this, and he said no, that it was dark like the basement to him...

Another music angle on this was even earlier. Holly and I were married in 2002. Jonah was 3. For a while before the wedding, we had different kinds of classical music playing in the car, trying to figure out what chamber music to use during the ceremony. Pachelbel's Cannon in D was one such piece. About 2 years after we were married, Jonah was humming the tune in the back seat on the way to or from somewhere. Holly was surprised that he remembered the tune.

He just said that he liked it.

I'm going to start putting more of his deep thoughts out here to both remember the moments and share with all of you. The boy is definately bright, there's no doubt about that.

Jonah has also taken to writing books. We have been encouraging him to do so and he's becoming quite the artist now as well... I'll be publishing a few of his books on the web in the near future. He's very excited about making these books and thinks it's great that I'll put his stories on the web.

When it comes to questions that Jonah asks, sometimes its more fun to make things up. This is too close to reality...

Parenting 101: Shopping

Shopping with children should be considered cruel and unusual... for the parents.

I remember when I was young and wanting to go shopping with my Mom. Usually I would beg and plead for some kind of trinket, or a pack of baseball cards. That's the only part of the shopping experience I really recall. I do recall my Mom telling me that I couldn't come shopping, and now that I have kids of my own, I completely understand why.

It's as if the automatic doors leading into the grocery store transmogrifies your child into a tiny monster that has no concept of self control.

"Mom, I want THAT sugar packed cereal with the guy from my favorite cartoon on the front of it"

"Dad, can I have those popsicles with the super heroes on it?"

Then the daughter gets into the mix... Instead of sitting in the cart seat, she wants to walk. Unfortunately this means that she tries to run away from me at every possible opportunity. And she thinks it's funny...

It IS kind of cute, but not when you are dodging other shoppers trying to grab the screaming 2-year-old.

Maybe the next phase of shopping centers will have a setup like McDonalds and Burger King have developed with the huge indoor playground with hamster tubes to crawl through and balls to jump into. This could be supervised by one parent while the other can leisurely pick out the correct groceries.

This could make the shopping experience a bit more enjoyable for the parents as well.

The alternative, which we recently received coupons in the mail for, is having the groceries delivered to our door. For about $6 we can have everything we would normally shop for brought right to our door at a time we specify. We may test this sometime soon. My only concern is the quality. I don't get to choose which tomatoes that I think look good or how fresh the asparagus looks. We'll see...

Until then we will continue the battle of grocery shopping.

Parenting 101: Only the facts...

Jonah is very smart. I try to fool him every now and then with something silly and funny. Most of the time he sees right through me and calls me out on it. If Holly hears me trying to mess with him, much like Calvin's Mom, she puts a quick end to it.

Now I don't do it to be mean or try to make the kid less intelligent, because I know he's very smart. I like to try to pull one over on him every now and then. That is one of the joys of being a parent. You can mess with your kids every now and then. Hey, they do their best to mess with us so sometimes a little payback is in order.

Brielle is still too young to pull little pranks on, but rest assured she will be messing with us in no time. She already has me wrapped around her little finger. Much like Jonah has his mom is wrapped around his entire hand...

Of course I say all this in jest. The kids are fun to play with, and we always try to give the most accurate answers to all of their questions. Jonah's are much more complex than Brielle's questions. He's pretty deep. Trying to word the answers in such a way that a 1st grader can understand it is a bit challenging of course.

As always, enjoy a cup of Calvin & Hobbes with some coffee...

Parenting 101: Driving

As the weather is getting nicer and nicer, so we are traveling a little more on our Island.

Actually, we have been car shopping and are trapped in the tiny Avalon where the kids are in their stage of being buddies one minute, teaming up to try to annoy the parents as much as possible, to being enemies the next fighting over every possible thing you can imagine.

At the end of June the family will be growing a little larger with a new baby boy joining us. With this comes the need for something that can hold a few more bodies. My 2-door Blazer is on it's last legs and is not easy to get kids in and out of.

So we are looking at either the Toyota Highlander, or the Honda Pilot.

They are comparable vehicles and are about the same price. We are currently in the price factor phase. Whoever can give us the better deal will be the victor and win us as customers. The vehicles are a bit more spacious so we should be able to separate the kids a little better and have a little more peace of mind while we make our travels. Hopefully this will allow us the opportunity to make a trip back to Michigan in the future.

As for Traveling, enjoy some classic Calvin and Hobbes... Couldn't be more true... Except generally Holly is driving...

Parenting 101: Labor Pains

This weekend was a wet one... It drizzled on and off all day Saturday and poured pretty much all day on Sunday.

Of course the kids could not go out, so staying in was the only option. This is a recipe for disaster. Constant running through the house, screaming at the top of their lungs and smashing into things. The yell for us to tell them to stop throwing/kicking balls around the house and things getting knocked down after repeatedly saying stop throwing/kicking the balls!!!

This Calvin and Hobbes seemed to fit the mood pretty well.

Hope your weekend was much drier than ours...

Parenting 101: Television

At one time, the kitchen was THE room in the house that the family would congregate in. Since the introduction of the television, the shift has been made to the living/family room. Or wherever you happen to have a television plugged in.

I love television. Since marriage has decreed that the remote ownership shifts to the wife, I get to watch what I'm told that I like. I think it's in the vows somehwere between honor and sickness and in health... This is of little consequence since I generally enjoy whatever I watch with my lovely wife.

As for kids, television is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, as a parent, it's easy to fall into the trap of letting the television be the babysitter. If it's an occassional thing and under the right circumstances this is fine, but in large quantities is not so good. They need the interactive experience of playing with others. So this is the challenge to interact more with the kids instead of letting the television show them their role models.

Within these social interactions lies in the "Play-date". I'm not really sure where this term came from. I can discern from the words what it means, but we never called it a "Play-date". My phrasing was, "I'm going out to play with Scott and Johnny!" or, "Tomorrow, Scott and John are coming over to build a fort!"

The phrase play-date never left my lips. Now I have nothing against the phrasing although it still feels aquard to say. As I have come to thinking about this subject I have to analyze what is different now compared to when I was a kid.

I suppose it all comes from our new enviroment on the East Coast, although I think the term is widely used everywhere now...

As for integration of television into the family unit... Well Calvin usually has something that fits. Jonah seems to be doing this a lot lately as well... For a long time, Jonah has been reciting back funny parts of his cartoons. Sometimes they make sense, most of the time I think you really had to see it to get the humor. But we laugh just the same... Lately he's been adding background theme music to his activities. It's quite funny. Although I have to wonder if we should be concerned about it or not...

Enjoy some Calvin with your day...