It is the discussion of careers.

We look at the areas of study our two junior high students seem to be the most interested in, get the best grades in and then talk about what career paths the kids may end up taking.

My husband and I are guilty of assuming this.

Shouldn’t we be asking them what they are most interested in? Yes.

It may not have anything to do with what their hobbies are at ages 11 and 13.

Parents tend to look at those areas where it is predicted the most jobs will be in the next decade: Health care, personal finance, environmental scientists, environmental engineers, hydrologists and the support staff that is required for these green jobs, according to Occupational Outlook Quarterly.

However, when we were in college, the number of students training in and graduating with technology degrees outnumbered the job openings.
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Unisex is the only way to go with it comes to diaper bags. This way, either mom or dad can take the kids out and not feel silly because their bag features a feminine floral pattern or a testosterone-charged NASCAR logo.

The Wife purchased a new diaper bag shortly after our son Peter was born. The gray bag (pictured here) looks more like a backpack. It was given to me as a Christmas present. It is embroidered with our last name and features three separate compartments for diapers, baby wipes, extra clothes and snacks.

I wasn’t thrilled with the Land’s End bag at first. It felt too bulky. However, I quickly learned to like the larger size, filling every compartment with needed supplies. There’s also room for more than a few extras. Things like coupons, pens and gift certificates have found there way into the gray giant

I actually take pride in all the stuff I carry in my diaper bag. My ego gets a nice boost whenever I’m at the park or on a playdate, and I’m able to offer another parent an item from my diaper bag.

“Oh, do you need a Band-Aid? I have one in my diaper bag if you want it.” I’ll mention to the mom tending to her daughter’s skinned knee.

I’ve been toting this big backpack for all this time and never thought to give it a wash - until now. After our family trip to Seattle, I began noticing the bag had a bit of a spilled-milk odor. There were also some stains on the old boy. The inside pockets were lined with crumbs.

It was clearly time to give the diaper bag a cleaning. But I was worried what would happen in the machine. Would the agitate, rinse or spin cycles tear a hole in my precious bag? And would the machine even manage to clean a bag with so many deep pockets?

I decided to give it a shot. I emptied out all of the contents and found a few surprises. (Do I really need to travel with 10 pens?) I also pushed each pocket inside out and brushed away as much debris as possible. Then, I soaked the bag in hot water and Simple Green. After that, it was into the washing machine. The diaper bag emerged clean and unharmed.

I hung it near the furnace to dry and repacked the great, gray bag the next morning. I won’t say the bag looks good as new, but it’s about as close as it is going to get.

He is the husband of Mom’s best friend.

He is the father of a classmate.

She is the sibling of a dear co-worker.

He is your pastor’s son.

She is the woman in uniform your son quickly remembered to salute when he was 5.

He is a college pal.

She is the friend from high school days.

He is the neighbor you only recently met.

She is the neighbor you never had a chance to meet.

The soldiers, both living and dead need to be honored today.

~ By Danielle, Wayne, Tim and Rochelle Simpson

It is Veterans Day, not just a day off of school.

Happy Veterans Day.

Yes, Dad, that means you, too. Here’s a hug from your grandkids and I from across the miles.

What have you, your kids and your family done for a veteran lately?

I’ll be the first to admit, our family has not done as much as we had hoped to this year.
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This entire week, I’ll look at the clock thinking, “Well, the time is (blank) 0′clock, but really it’s more like…”

My kids have trouble adjusting too. They wake up too early and get cranky in the evenings following the time change. To get them in sync with the new schedule, I often make the mistake of keeping them up later. That never helps.

How about instead of falling behind one hour or jumping ahead one hour, we phase in the time change over a month. Keep adding or subtracting 15 minutes each week. Just a thought.

On another topic, did anyone else grossly overestimate the amount of trick-or-treaters this year? I figured there would be hundreds of little ghosts and ghouls roaming the streets. First, Halloween fell on a Saturday. The weather was also descent for this time of year.

To my surprise, the numbers actually seemed down. That just means more leftover candy for me.

By the way, that’s me dressed as Bret Michaels alongside Bubba, dressed as a “meat-eating” dinosaur. Peter is a 3-eyed alien creature, though his costume required a head piece that he pretty much refused to wear.

Finally, we’ve officially made the switch to 2 percent milk. Peter went in for his 2-year check-up last week. He received one vaccination along with a seasonal flu shot. He’s doing well.

As we were leaving, The Wife asked if Peter should still be on whole milk. Our pediatrician said it’s fine to make the switch to 2 percent now.

That’s helpful. I’ve been buying two different types of milk for roughly three years - 2 percent for the adults and whole milk for the boys. Now, we are a one-milk family.

Our family has always chosen whole milk fortified with Vitamin D because Vitamin D helps your body absorb and use calcium.  And, there is the fact that half the family cannot stand the taste of skim milk and 2 percent milk because they say it “tastes like water.” Meanwhile, they do not have a problem drinking a lot of water. Go figure.

Any of the milk varieties out there, in my opinion, tastes better than the powdered milk that my father and I would argue about when I was a teen.

Along with that debate, there is the struggle that moms of teen girls may have as they try to get their daughters to drink more milk or foods containing calcium.

We parents learned way back in high school health class that a lack of calcium will make girls hunchbacks and make both boys and girls more likely to have to deal with bone injuries.

Nearly nine out of 10 teenage girls don’t meet daily calcium recommendations, according to the USDA.

That raises the debate we have in our home: How much is enough?
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I like Halloween. I dislike the whole pumpkin thing.

It’s not so much the carving that I dislike, it’s gutting the gourd that I find gross. Stripping out all of those pumpkin guts is a dreadful job. It’s messy, smelly and slimy. No matter how careful you are, goop gets everywhere.

I took the boys to a pumpkin patch last week. We came home with a pair of pumpkins that were both the size of basketballs. They were a good size and shape for carving, though that didn’t make me any more excited about the job.

The only thing that did make me eager to take on the task was my sons’ enthusiasm. I have two boys. Peter is 23-months-old. Bubba is 3-years-old.

They had just one request for their pumpkins. “We want them to be scary,” they said.

I cut into the first pumpkin, thinking my older son would enjoy scooping out the orange innards. He was not at all interested. I didn’t even ask the youngest for assistance, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be any help.

When it came to carving, the boys scribbled their designs on paper. Then, I did my best to interpret those markings into frightening faces. The image above is what I came up with. I’m rather proud of them.

Of course, the 45-minute cleaning and carving was followed by a kitchen clean-up that lasted 2 hours. Pumpkin guts were everywhere. There was no way to avoid washing the floor. I find getting on my hands and knees to scrub floor tile far more frightening than anything I could carve into a pumpkin.

We parents nag the kids about cleaning their rooms about 10 times (seems like a dozen).

You have even offered cash for the task. Meanwhile, important family things like nail clippers, the lid to a sports bottle, a dog leash, one of my slippers and my hairbrush have disappeared into the dark hole.

You know they are in there because you have checked all the other zones in the house.

Finally, you say, “I’ll help you clean your room.”

You slowly open the door and a new problem arises; it is so overwhelming, you don’t know where to start either.

I tell them, your great-grandmother (whom our youngest never met) would always say: “Make it do; Use it up; Wear it out; Do without.”

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That’s how the VeggieTales Theme Song goes.

Generation after generation, the Veggie Tales have entertained kids of all denominations. Actually, scratch that; the Veggie Tales were introduced when our kids were babies, so it may not technically be considered “generation after generation.”

Our kids always enjoyed those videos and now the young relatives and kids that our kids work with on a regular basis are talking about the Veggie Tales. They are singing the Veggie Tales songs, too.

And that waltzing with potatoes line is exactly what we were singing one afternoon while processing two big bags of potatoes into curly fries to freeze and eat later.

Then, I remembered reading about the Idaho Potato Commission paying people to play a video game.

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Besides feeling reinvigorated towards my job, I also left with a notebook full of tidbits I thought were useful enough to write down. Here’s a glimpse inside my convention notes:

• Aaron Rochlen, a stay-at-home dad and researcher at the University of Texas, shared some of his latest findings as well as some of his personal experiences as an at-home dad. Among his first-hand stories, he noticed soon after the birth of his child that he seemed more adept at parenting than his wife. “I was the more skilled one. I was more patient with the newborn,” he said.
• 
• In speaking about the stigma’s some dads face on the playground and elsewhere from stay-at-home moms, Rochlen said, “Most sexual predators are men, unfortunately. But most men are NOT sexual predators.”
• Speaking of stigmas faced by stay-at-home dads, Rochlen reminded the group that our working wives also face stigmas for going to work rather than tending to their children. He encouraged the group to recognize this stigma and address it accordingly.
• In the breakout session for dads with kids between 18-months-old and 3-years-old, one dad said that to deal with tantrums, he created a “safe room.” This allows the child to have his tantrum, but not within the designated room (in this case it was the kitchen). The child can throw a fit anywhere in the house, outside of the “safe room.” When tantrums erupt, the dad leaves and goes to the “safe room.” The child is free to join him, but only after he/she has calmed down.
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  ]]> http://www.daily-journal.com/bloggers/parenting/?feed=rss2&p=388 http://www.daily-journal.com/bloggers/parenting/?p=385 http://www.daily-journal.com/bloggers/parenting/?p=385#comments Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:42:34 +0000 Howie Ludwig http://www.daily-journal.com/bloggers/parenting/?p=385 It’s normally a bad idea to stay up for the late-night talk shows. I’m a fan of both Conan O’Brien and David Letterman. However, I’m usually dragging the next day if I’m not in bed after the evening news.

  Thursday night, I stayed up past my bed time and managed to catch Letterman’s Top 10 List. I’ve noticed Dave has become more of a family man since getting married to long-time gal pal, Regina, and having a child, Harry (pictured here). Regardless of the recent blackmail plot, interviews on Letterman’s couch seem to focus more on family with Dave opening up a bit about his own home life while asking celebrities to do the same.

  The family theme continued on Letterman last night with the Top 10 List. The list is usually funny and last night was no exception. The topic: Top 10 Signs Your Child Watches Too Much Television.

  10. He’s got a satellite dish on his crib

  9. He wants Neil Patrick Harris to host his birthday party

  8. Can count to 10/9 Central

  7. At bedtime, asks you to read him the Nielsen Ratings

  6. Instead of a security blanket, clutches a Shamwow

  5. Keeps wanting to know why grandpa “got cancelled”

  4. He weighs 135 lbs.

  3. Thinks the capital of Montana is Hannah

  2. Constantly implores you to have your pet spayed or neutered

  1. His first words were, “Your local news starts now!”

  ]]> http://www.daily-journal.com/bloggers/parenting/?feed=rss2&p=385