Today's post is a guest post by Tara Miller, a fellow writer who enjoys writing on a variety of subjects, particularly on the subject of psychology. This post is about helping your kids to learn how to become earth-friendly in an age-appropriate way. If you enjoy what you read here, send her an email using her email address below or feel free to leave a comment! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy!
Small children can't purchase organic foods or energy efficient appliances. They can't swap out the furnace filter or take a quick trip over to the recycling mill on their own. But they can do other simple eco-friendly tasks around the house and community that can help them sustain the environment. Instilling these following green practices at a very young age will undoubtedly help them on their way to becoming environmentally-conscious and energy conserving young adults.
Switch the Lights Off. As a parent, it's important that the first thing you teach your child is the importance of conserving electricity. Explain to them that leaving on a light when they are not in the room will not only drain your wallet, but it will also encourage the depletion of the earth's resources as well. It's equally important that you explain to your child that leaving appliances or cords plugged in an electrical outlet when it is not in use is also draining power—so unplugging video gaming systems, the computer and cell phone chargers when they are not using them is a must. To help get started them and to make this a habitual thing, why not turning it into some kind of game? Challenge your child to unplug all the appliances that are not being used and reward them with something small if they do a good job—just make sure you warn them to steer clear of the refrigerator and other appliances that need to be on at all times.
Conserving Water. Small children can also do wonders for the environment simply by decreasing their water usages. One of the more common things that children (and adults) do is let the water run while brushing their teeth or lather up soap to wash their face. Instead, encourage your child to only use the water to wet his or her tooth brush and then when he or she needs to rinse out his or her mouth.
To stress the importance, you could always explain that by letting the water run non-stop, an innocent fish or turtle may be drained of the water supply it needs to survive. Or, you can let them watch this short video named "Don't leave the water running". Equally important, you want to try and encourage your child to take showers rather than baths since showers use less water. But you might also want to tell them that singing in the shower and doing other activities in the shower while the water is running (playing with toys for example) is also wasting water.
Walk, Bike, Take the Bus or Carpool. How your child gets to school is usually up to the discretion of the parent, but if the school is close enough why don't you encourage your child to walk or take a bicycle to school? If your child is too young, you can make it a family ordeal and walk or ride your bike to school all together. Using this mode of transportation will heavily decrease the levels of carbon released into the atmosphere—even if your child walks to school only a few days out of the week. Taking the school bus or organizing a carpool can be equally as effective at reducing smog—it'll save you a bundle on gas money too.
Recycle Together. Lastly, if you recycle allow your child to participate. Small children love being included in everything from cooking, washing the car to yes, even recycling. Allow them to help by sorting the different materials and explaining why we recycle in the first place. This one should be a breeze since even someone as young as 5 years-old knows how to identify a can made for plastic bottles from the one made for paper.
This guest contribution was submitted by Tara Miller, who particularly enjoys writing about psychology degrees. She welcomes your comments and can be reached at: miller.tara23@gmail.com.
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
Compassionate Parenting: Needs Explained - Celebration
Celebration: to rejoice in or have special festivities to mark a special day. To observe or commemorate with ceremonies.
By being able to celebrate and commemorate large or moving events in our own way, we learn to sort out and validate our own emotions. Rejoicing in the larger occasions and instances of life make them more memorable and they can help to create smaller celebrations.
Large celebrations
The larger celebrations, such as birthdays, baby showers, bridal showers, bachelor parties, etc, create a fun and somewhat spontaneous atmosphere that helps people to relax and accept things beyond their normal routine.
Celebrating birth, birthdays, Christmas or other holidays, is a great way not only to commune with others who is also a large part of the celebration, but a wonderful way for to feel like a part of something more.
Celebrating the passing of a loved one, be it a family member, friend, or beloved pet, can also assist in the healing process. Being able to freely grieve a personal loss, or even an impersonal loss, in an individualised way can make it easier to rationalize emotions and remember the memories more fondly.
Small celebrations
Smaller celebrations can be anything that isn’t lifestyle changing, or has a very small affect on lifestyle. For example, celebrating the completion of a short story’s final draft, or being able to out-drink friends at the bar. It can even consist of smaller victories than that, such as eating a healthy meal or writing a journal entry.
Anything that marks a pebble on the path to achieving a goal, no matter how small, should be celebrated.
Celebrations do not require going out and getting hammered, or even buying a chocolate bar or trinkets. A celebration can simply be to do a little happy dance (see the lotto 649 happy dance) or doing something that normally would be saved for a larger success. Each and every success in life, and even the failures on the path to success, should be celebrated and rejoiced in
Celebration and personal freedom
The act of celebrating, for either a small or large event, allows for some personal freedom and also opens the door for conversation. It also offers the personal choice on how the event affects each person’s present and future.
Celebrating the known aspects of life, such as birth and death, allows each person to accept the unavoidable with a more pleasant and positive attitude. To accept change and celebrate it increases and solidifies the quality of self-talk as well as the level of self-worth that each person has.
Create the silver lining for each dark cloud, and they will seem more void of despair and hopelessness. Consciously choose the response to life and its events based on what type of outcome is desired.
Peace and serenity,
Simply Me
Enjoy the Compassionate Parenting series? Click the link for a full list from the series.
Things my kid says: Plastic is bad for the environment
 |
| Dressed up in hand-me-down clothes, so cute! |
To which she replied, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world,
"I do like dolls, but they're made of plastic and that's bad for the environment."
Powerful stuff, I'm very proud of her. I have never once told her that her dolls were cheap plastic from foreign countries, or that they were made of a material that takes tens of thousands of years to decompose.
She recently began learning about materials, and what things are made of. So we were talking about it at home about a week ago, and she asked what plastic was. I told her [paraphrased] that plastic was made of oil and is bad for the environment. I told her that it kills animals if they eat it and that it is taking over the ocean.
She thought on that for a few moments, somberly, and then looked at me and asked, "what is made of plastic?" I told her, many things are made of plastic, and M and I make the choice not to buy them as much as possible.
She seemed content with that.
She put together on her own that her dolls were made of plastic and that she didn't want any new ones.
I am so proud of her. She can form independant thought and deduct information from many sources. I have never lied to her about where things come from, and she understands as much as she can about where her food and clothing comes from. Each time she asks me a question, I provide her an honest, age-appropriate answer.
Some might think that my answers are not age-appropriate, but I think that I know my daughter and her level of understanding better than pretty much everyone else. I know I can be candid and honest with her, and I know that if I take my time to explain new things, she will understand them.
She knows that she can ask me just about anything and I will give her an answer.
That is something I am proud of, and will continue to be proud of.
Peace and serenity,
Simply Me
Compassionate Parenting: Meeting needs - Part 1
All people (that includes you and your kids) are always doing their best to meet their needs.
Think of an incident with your child that didn't go well. What did your child do? What need was s/he trying to meet? What did you do? What need were you trying to meet by doing what you did?
Quote is from my e-mail subscription to NonViolentCommunication.com
This week focuses on meeting needs. Misbehaviour in children is oftentimes just a way for them to express themselves. They don't understand societal or personal rules because they just haven't experienced them often enough. Not to mention that people often do not take the time to explain any rules to children, they just say "because I said so" and call it good.
Because I said so is the WORST excuse you can use to get your child to respect your rules and decisions. It shows that you don't have a valid reason, or that you don't respect them enough to explain anything to them. Children are "why" machines. They need to know why something is important. How can they make their own assumptions and inflections on rules and pressures if they don't actually understand them?
Not meeting needs and expecting others to fall to their feet to meet yours is something that people learn and do right into adulthood. Is it fair to others to not listen to their own needs while expecting yours to be fulfilled? Can you think of a poor experience recently with another person that ended badly? I'm sure it has happened, no matter how compassionate you are, everyone makes mistakes.
Remember that others have needs to, so try to meet in the middle.
Here is something that happened the other day with my family. My wife (W), daughter (Em), and a kid we babysit (Z).
W and I were heading out the door to pick up the kids and grab some groceries we needed for dinner. It was an emergency grocery run, as we hadn't made it to the store earlier in the week to pick up our usual fruits and vegetables. W asked me if I wanted to get dropped off at the daycare then walk home, and she would go to the store and get the groceries. I decided that we should all go along, in hindsight a poor decision. Em and Z were very excited and energetic, and were not listening at all. They were hitting the price signs and running all over, nearly running into other shoppers all the while. I tried many times to explain to them that what they were doing was unacceptable, and they needed to calm down. They didn't. We finally made it to the cashier and finished our shopping. On our way out the door, W snapped at the kids because she had enough, they were being disrespectful to both W and I, and it was enough. Harsh words were said, and the behaviour did not change all that much. We finally made it home, and W decided that she had a long enough day (she had a very rough day at work) and that she was going to lie down for a bit.
So, what needs was Em trying to meet (and Z, for that matter)?
Do you have an example of an incident (either with another adult or a child) that didn't go well? Analyze it. Break it down. Figure out what possible sources of issues were, and see if you can create a compromise. Just because that one situation has passed doesn't mean that there won't be more that may arise. Deal with it ahead of time, and predict issues.
Peace and serenity,
Simply Me
(this post is a part of November's blog carnival against child abuse)
Enjoy the Compassionate Parenting series? Click the link for a full list from the series.
Think of an incident with your child that didn't go well. What did your child do? What need was s/he trying to meet? What did you do? What need were you trying to meet by doing what you did?
Quote is from my e-mail subscription to NonViolentCommunication.com
This week focuses on meeting needs. Misbehaviour in children is oftentimes just a way for them to express themselves. They don't understand societal or personal rules because they just haven't experienced them often enough. Not to mention that people often do not take the time to explain any rules to children, they just say "because I said so" and call it good.
Because I said so is the WORST excuse you can use to get your child to respect your rules and decisions. It shows that you don't have a valid reason, or that you don't respect them enough to explain anything to them. Children are "why" machines. They need to know why something is important. How can they make their own assumptions and inflections on rules and pressures if they don't actually understand them?
Not meeting needs and expecting others to fall to their feet to meet yours is something that people learn and do right into adulthood. Is it fair to others to not listen to their own needs while expecting yours to be fulfilled? Can you think of a poor experience recently with another person that ended badly? I'm sure it has happened, no matter how compassionate you are, everyone makes mistakes.
Remember that others have needs to, so try to meet in the middle.
Here is something that happened the other day with my family. My wife (W), daughter (Em), and a kid we babysit (Z).
W and I were heading out the door to pick up the kids and grab some groceries we needed for dinner. It was an emergency grocery run, as we hadn't made it to the store earlier in the week to pick up our usual fruits and vegetables. W asked me if I wanted to get dropped off at the daycare then walk home, and she would go to the store and get the groceries. I decided that we should all go along, in hindsight a poor decision. Em and Z were very excited and energetic, and were not listening at all. They were hitting the price signs and running all over, nearly running into other shoppers all the while. I tried many times to explain to them that what they were doing was unacceptable, and they needed to calm down. They didn't. We finally made it to the cashier and finished our shopping. On our way out the door, W snapped at the kids because she had enough, they were being disrespectful to both W and I, and it was enough. Harsh words were said, and the behaviour did not change all that much. We finally made it home, and W decided that she had a long enough day (she had a very rough day at work) and that she was going to lie down for a bit.
So, what needs was Em trying to meet (and Z, for that matter)?
- She had just gotten picked up from daycare, and so was excited to go home and play. Instead of being able to go play (as we usually did) she was dragged along to the grocery store where she wasn't allowed to do anything. This did not match her needs.
- She also wanted to be moving and expressing herself through her actions, and probably felt that she was being held back and contrained. She wasn't given enough time to understand what was going on and why her routine was being thrown out of whack, she was just thrust into the situation and expected to handle it.
- I wanted some interdependance, and wanted to be able to get responsibilities done (grocery shopping) and still spend time with W and Em
- I wanted to get the shopping done quickly so that we could go home, and didn't give the kids enough time to process the change in routine.
- I wanted the kids to listen to me when I explained things to them, and respect me.
- I particularly want to ensure that my daughter knows that she is loved and respected, and that she can express her feelings and needs to me whenever she may need it. I want her to forgive me even though she doesn't act as though she remembers what happened.
Do you have an example of an incident (either with another adult or a child) that didn't go well? Analyze it. Break it down. Figure out what possible sources of issues were, and see if you can create a compromise. Just because that one situation has passed doesn't mean that there won't be more that may arise. Deal with it ahead of time, and predict issues.
Peace and serenity,
Simply Me
(this post is a part of November's blog carnival against child abuse)
Enjoy the Compassionate Parenting series? Click the link for a full list from the series.
Compassionate Parenting: Resolving problems by encouraging independance
One of the actions you can choose that will ensure more co-operation than conflict in your home is to encourage your children to think things through for themselves and make their own choices.
Next time you are tempted to solve a problem your child is having, ask your child what his/her ideas are about how to solve it.
Each week I get a new tip in my e-mail from NonViolentCommunication.com, and each week when I read it I try to see the correlation between parent and child, and between other people. So far, each tip has been able to be related to both children and adults.
Which really does make sense, because children are just small adults, waiting to shine and trying to grow.
So how can we help children and adults grow? By nurturing them, treating them as equals, and letting them make their own mistakes about life. No one will learn a task the same way that you have, and that is perfectly alright. Each person needs to try things their own way to find their personal preferences and abilities to complete it.
Allowing others to try things their way when it's regarding something that you may be involved in can be a challenge. Even more so if you allow yourself to think that your method of doing things is better than anyone elses. Instead of trying to push someone towards the method or answer that you want, try instead to ensure that they have any and all the information required to make a truly educated decision.
Not only will this help them grow in terms of gaining abilities on how to do things, it will also grow the co-operativeness between the two of you, and it will allow the other person to be able to trust you to help without interfering.
The best gift you can give someone is the gift of your time with no strings attached.
Peace and serenity,
Simply Me
Enjoy the Compassionate Parenting series? Click the link for a full list from the series.
Next time you are tempted to solve a problem your child is having, ask your child what his/her ideas are about how to solve it.
Each week I get a new tip in my e-mail from NonViolentCommunication.com, and each week when I read it I try to see the correlation between parent and child, and between other people. So far, each tip has been able to be related to both children and adults.
Which really does make sense, because children are just small adults, waiting to shine and trying to grow.
So how can we help children and adults grow? By nurturing them, treating them as equals, and letting them make their own mistakes about life. No one will learn a task the same way that you have, and that is perfectly alright. Each person needs to try things their own way to find their personal preferences and abilities to complete it.
Allowing others to try things their way when it's regarding something that you may be involved in can be a challenge. Even more so if you allow yourself to think that your method of doing things is better than anyone elses. Instead of trying to push someone towards the method or answer that you want, try instead to ensure that they have any and all the information required to make a truly educated decision.
Not only will this help them grow in terms of gaining abilities on how to do things, it will also grow the co-operativeness between the two of you, and it will allow the other person to be able to trust you to help without interfering.
The best gift you can give someone is the gift of your time with no strings attached.
Peace and serenity,
Simply Me
Enjoy the Compassionate Parenting series? Click the link for a full list from the series.
Compassionate Parenting: Right vs Wrong vs Who cares?
You are the editor of your thoughts.
Are you choosing thoughts about who is right and who is wrong and spending valuable time and energy analyzing, judging, blaming and criticizing?
This week, focus on you and your child's needs. With this refocus, you can spend your valuable time and energy finding creative strategies to meet those needs.
Quote is from e-mail tips from NonViolentCommunication.com
Can this be used when dealing with any day-to-day interpersonal situation? Absolutely.
Who among us can say that we don't have an underlying, pervasive need to be right? I will openly confess it right now, I often feel that I'm right when discussing pretty much anything, and will sometimes verbally argue with others who I feel are wrong.
But are others truly wrong? Just because I am right, does not automatically make them wrong. There are as many perspectives on a situation as there are people involved or observing the same situation.
So when you find your own defenses firing and the need to fight, take a small breath and try to see it from another perspective. There is almost always a happy medium, and attempting to force your own way can be like trying to move a mountain with your bare hands.
Don't waste your time judging or critisizing when you could be working together towards a peaceful resolution that keeps all parties happy.
You can make that happen. You can change any situation you're put into towards a positive and helpful resolution. All you have to do is try.
Peace and serenity,
Simply Me
Enjoy the Compassionate Parenting series? Click the link for a full list from the series.
Are you choosing thoughts about who is right and who is wrong and spending valuable time and energy analyzing, judging, blaming and criticizing?
This week, focus on you and your child's needs. With this refocus, you can spend your valuable time and energy finding creative strategies to meet those needs.
Quote is from e-mail tips from NonViolentCommunication.com
Can this be used when dealing with any day-to-day interpersonal situation? Absolutely.
Who among us can say that we don't have an underlying, pervasive need to be right? I will openly confess it right now, I often feel that I'm right when discussing pretty much anything, and will sometimes verbally argue with others who I feel are wrong.
But are others truly wrong? Just because I am right, does not automatically make them wrong. There are as many perspectives on a situation as there are people involved or observing the same situation.
So when you find your own defenses firing and the need to fight, take a small breath and try to see it from another perspective. There is almost always a happy medium, and attempting to force your own way can be like trying to move a mountain with your bare hands.
Don't waste your time judging or critisizing when you could be working together towards a peaceful resolution that keeps all parties happy.
You can make that happen. You can change any situation you're put into towards a positive and helpful resolution. All you have to do is try.
Peace and serenity,
Simply Me
Enjoy the Compassionate Parenting series? Click the link for a full list from the series.
Compassionate Parenting: Apply it to everyday life
I was doing a lot of reading yesterday, and came across a few websites and articles about compassionate parenting. Reading through them gives you that "well duh how did I not think of that??" feeling, and to be honest, made me feel like a bad and mean parent.
Not a happy feeling. But then I got to thinking...
If we can be compassionate towards our children, why can't we be compassionate towards one another?
Is it so hard to take a little bit of time out of our day to take notice and care about the feelings and emotions of those around you? Particularly those who you are close to?
When we are upset, we tend to get selfish and self centred and feel that the world is being mean to us. It's not, it's just our emotions playing games, and interpreting things wrong. Try thinking back to the last time you were angry. Take a step back and think about why you felt that way.
Say you had a fight with your significant other about dishes. Was it really about dishes, or was there something else? Were you being defensive because you don't like being argued with? I get that sometimes, I will admit it. I'll get defensive because I don't like being shown why something I've done is wrong.
But that's life. We have to do things wrong sometimes to learn. Learning is the most important we can do as humans, because it advances us and makes us pay attention to what's around.
Can you take a step back while you're upset? Not always. But if you realize after the fact, and discuss it with the person who made you upset, maybe you can find a way to keep it from happening again.
Isn't it worth a little extra effort if it makes everyone's day easier?
I'm going to try. Are you?
Peace and serenity,
Simply Me
Enjoy the Compassionate Parenting series? Click the link for a full list from the series.
Not a happy feeling. But then I got to thinking...
If we can be compassionate towards our children, why can't we be compassionate towards one another?
Is it so hard to take a little bit of time out of our day to take notice and care about the feelings and emotions of those around you? Particularly those who you are close to?
When we are upset, we tend to get selfish and self centred and feel that the world is being mean to us. It's not, it's just our emotions playing games, and interpreting things wrong. Try thinking back to the last time you were angry. Take a step back and think about why you felt that way.
Say you had a fight with your significant other about dishes. Was it really about dishes, or was there something else? Were you being defensive because you don't like being argued with? I get that sometimes, I will admit it. I'll get defensive because I don't like being shown why something I've done is wrong.
But that's life. We have to do things wrong sometimes to learn. Learning is the most important we can do as humans, because it advances us and makes us pay attention to what's around.
Can you take a step back while you're upset? Not always. But if you realize after the fact, and discuss it with the person who made you upset, maybe you can find a way to keep it from happening again.
Isn't it worth a little extra effort if it makes everyone's day easier?
I'm going to try. Are you?
Peace and serenity,
Simply Me
Enjoy the Compassionate Parenting series? Click the link for a full list from the series.
Saving the world during back to school? Why not?
Inspired by The EcoDiva's 16 green back to school tips, I am going to share the green back to school things I did this year for my daughter (who is starting grade 1 in September), as well as the things I plan to do throughout the school year.
Green things I did:
How about you, other lovely people? If you have children, what things have to done to lessen the impact of the dreaded back to school shopping without busting either your wallet or the environment?
And those of you without kids, do you take advantage of back to school shopping season to stock up while the awesome sales are going on? Buy up your favourite clothes, stationary, backpacks, etc?
Any new ways of taking advantage of the sales that are out there are always appreciated and will be spread to friends and family.
Love and serenity,
Simply Me
**Post Consumer Recycled Materials
Green things I did:
- Bought pencils in bulk
- Purchased a fabric pencil case, even though the list said to get a hard plastic one (no way!)
- Only got one box of freezer bags, and will send them as needed, instead of blinding sending 2 full boxes as requested
- Reusing previously purchased scissors/crayons/markers from her art collection and last year
- Picked the paper duotangs instead of plastic
- Got a paper 2-pocket folder, instead of plastic
- Avoided purchasing a pack of pencils wrapped in plastic, in favour of a box slightly more expensive packaged in cardboard with no plastic window
- Continuing to reuse her stainless steel water bottle, she loves it, it's covered in monkeys
- Not bought pre-cut tennis balls (turns out it was a waste of money, and they're useless for anything aside from putting on chair legs)
- Shopped around for PCRM** in her duotangs/folders/pencils/etc
- Not done any shopping at Walmart (damn the convenience of that hated store!)
- Look around for good deals on stationary and school supplies at all stores, including second hand stores
- Check the internet for any deals at any of my favourite green shopping websites, and look for new favourites
- When she needs clothes, head to the 2nd hand store up the street for clothes instead of Walmart/Childrens Place/etc
- Repurpose her smaller clothes with long sleeves/pants that still fit around into t-shirts/tank tops and shorts (done once already this year)
- Educate her on the perils and concerns with using hand sanitizer (especially since I'm sure the school has them ALL OVER THE PLACE!)
- Keep talking to her about advertising, since she seems to be a royal sucker for TV ads ("you need to get Bounce dryer bars, they're the best! The TV said so!" Oysh, thankfully we are watching more movies lately)
How about you, other lovely people? If you have children, what things have to done to lessen the impact of the dreaded back to school shopping without busting either your wallet or the environment?
And those of you without kids, do you take advantage of back to school shopping season to stock up while the awesome sales are going on? Buy up your favourite clothes, stationary, backpacks, etc?
Any new ways of taking advantage of the sales that are out there are always appreciated and will be spread to friends and family.
Love and serenity,
Simply Me
**Post Consumer Recycled Materials
Day 13 of 30: Someone I wish could forgive me
With 8 days til the wedding, things are getting a little stressed out around here! I think that everything is pretty much done, but every time I think that, something new comes up.
With that, today's tweet is to someone I wish could forgive me. Now, this one kind of goes with yesterday's post because it happens to be to my daughter.
@EmiBear You may not remember it, but I'm sorry. I'm sorry it happened, and I'm sorry I didnt notice it sooner. I hope you can forgive me, I love you
Some things in life are just hard to accept, and looking in the mirror only gets harder when my little girl does something or says something that reminds me of what happened to her. Nothing to severe, not like you hear about on TV. But bad enough for me. I wish every day that I had opened my eyes sooner, and left that *expletive* years before I did.
But the past is the past, and thankfully for the most part she seems to have recovered. She was top of her class in senior kindergarten, and I'm sure she'll be up there this school year. She is happy, smiling, intelligent (sometimes too much so). I love her dearly, and every day I pray and hope and wish that she turns out to be normal. So far so good.
Positivity and love spread across the globe,
Simply Me
With that, today's tweet is to someone I wish could forgive me. Now, this one kind of goes with yesterday's post because it happens to be to my daughter.
@EmiBear You may not remember it, but I'm sorry. I'm sorry it happened, and I'm sorry I didnt notice it sooner. I hope you can forgive me, I love you
Some things in life are just hard to accept, and looking in the mirror only gets harder when my little girl does something or says something that reminds me of what happened to her. Nothing to severe, not like you hear about on TV. But bad enough for me. I wish every day that I had opened my eyes sooner, and left that *expletive* years before I did.
But the past is the past, and thankfully for the most part she seems to have recovered. She was top of her class in senior kindergarten, and I'm sure she'll be up there this school year. She is happy, smiling, intelligent (sometimes too much so). I love her dearly, and every day I pray and hope and wish that she turns out to be normal. So far so good.
Positivity and love spread across the globe,
Simply Me
Computerlessness breeds innovation... or something
Well, as of today, I can say that I have been without home internet, or even a computer, for 2 weeks. The only time I get on the net is on my Wednesday job, where I man a desk. It was hard at first, being without my computer. You become accustomed to having it there, and it becomes part of your routine. I would spend 2-3 hours on the computer each day, and doing what? Mostly playing games on Facebook. Seems ridiculous now. In light of this, I am currently removing all games from Facebook.
Family Bonuses:
In these two weeks, however, I have been spending more face time with my daughter, and my fiancee. The television is sometimes on, but it's less attention sucking than the computer ever was. Emily (my daughter) has loved the extra attention she's been getting, and she is getting much more confident with reading to me. Mel has also been enjoying it. Since I have some measure of mood disorder, the computer was an easy way for me to subconsciously recede into my own mind. Since there's no computer, I am staying more alert and more "in the now" than ever.
Personal Bonuses:
I have also been spending more time focusing on my own personal artsy type projects. I actually managed to complete a card for my mother for mother's day, complete with little cutouts of a flower, and a heart. I also started a new knitting project, which I am hoping will turn out nicely. Emily has also taken a liking to this new attention focus, as just this morning she asked if I was going to do any knitting before taking her to daycare.
In Conclusion:
So, in my 15 odd years as an avid computer and internet addict, I can say with all honesty that I now know what life is like without a computer. And it's not that bad. I do still need my occasional touch with the e-universe, but it's not a daily necessity. I think that when the computer is back up and running, I will see it more as an asset than a personal need for day to day life. If this computerlessness remains, I will definitely need to dig out the old library card for some good old fashioned research using books. Hopefully it won't NEED to get to that point, but maybe a trip to the library would be a good idea.
Anyone else have any epiphanies while I've been offline? Let me know :)
Family Bonuses:
In these two weeks, however, I have been spending more face time with my daughter, and my fiancee. The television is sometimes on, but it's less attention sucking than the computer ever was. Emily (my daughter) has loved the extra attention she's been getting, and she is getting much more confident with reading to me. Mel has also been enjoying it. Since I have some measure of mood disorder, the computer was an easy way for me to subconsciously recede into my own mind. Since there's no computer, I am staying more alert and more "in the now" than ever.
Personal Bonuses:
I have also been spending more time focusing on my own personal artsy type projects. I actually managed to complete a card for my mother for mother's day, complete with little cutouts of a flower, and a heart. I also started a new knitting project, which I am hoping will turn out nicely. Emily has also taken a liking to this new attention focus, as just this morning she asked if I was going to do any knitting before taking her to daycare.
In Conclusion:
So, in my 15 odd years as an avid computer and internet addict, I can say with all honesty that I now know what life is like without a computer. And it's not that bad. I do still need my occasional touch with the e-universe, but it's not a daily necessity. I think that when the computer is back up and running, I will see it more as an asset than a personal need for day to day life. If this computerlessness remains, I will definitely need to dig out the old library card for some good old fashioned research using books. Hopefully it won't NEED to get to that point, but maybe a trip to the library would be a good idea.
Anyone else have any epiphanies while I've been offline? Let me know :)
Parents and children
Almost nothing I see people buying these days is actually necessary. Are people so blind to advertisements that they really think that they need all this crap? Is it like this all across the world, or just in North America? Frightening to think about, no wonder all of our resources are dwindling. People think that changing little things here and there will help, and sure it does a little. But to save what we have left and restart, we really need to rethink our spending and living habits.
Kids out there are getting junk they don't need for holidays that mean nothing to them, stressing out the parents who need to work extra hours or not buy something they may need just to make junior happy. When did children take control of the world? If the kid isn't happy, it'll make him/her grow some character, patience and respect. From what I see on a day to day basis, parents have lost their backbones. This is a serious problem.
If you are a parent, and you know that when your child is unhappy, what do you do? If your answer is "anything to make him/her happy", it's wrong. Children should know what it feels like to be unhappy, sad, disappointed. It's all a part of growing up to be balanced. You should never be afraid to say no to ANYONE, least of all your own child. Remember that sometimes saying no will help them, even if they kick and scream for the time being. I have faith.
Kids out there are getting junk they don't need for holidays that mean nothing to them, stressing out the parents who need to work extra hours or not buy something they may need just to make junior happy. When did children take control of the world? If the kid isn't happy, it'll make him/her grow some character, patience and respect. From what I see on a day to day basis, parents have lost their backbones. This is a serious problem.
If you are a parent, and you know that when your child is unhappy, what do you do? If your answer is "anything to make him/her happy", it's wrong. Children should know what it feels like to be unhappy, sad, disappointed. It's all a part of growing up to be balanced. You should never be afraid to say no to ANYONE, least of all your own child. Remember that sometimes saying no will help them, even if they kick and scream for the time being. I have faith.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)