Family and Friendship

Salute To Young Mothers

It’s so difficult to be a young mother today. There are so many restraints on young mothers that require concern and worry. The media’s emphasis on negative happenings can convince you there is a boogey man around every corner! How do you teach children to be open and sociable – and yet wary of strangers, at the same time? Outside forces are influencing your children and they seem to get exposed to less gentle things so very early.

Yet in most families here in the country, there is a loving young mother doing her best to counteract the downsides: to make life safe and sweet and secure; to assure that her children know they are loved and the benefits of being good, obedient and respectful. It’s hard to know how much of an impression you are making. But you know what? Don’t stop!

Kids learn the lessons you are teaching. They learn from the examples you set by what you do and say. It will serve them well in the years ahead when they have hard choices to make. You are setting their moral compass and that’s never easy.

To those young mothers, accept this salute for the fine job you are doing as you juggle home, job, volunteering and most of all, caring for your children and helping them to grow and prosper, meeting each day’s challenges.

Thanks for all you do, young moms. Never give up. We’re counting on you!

[Show #292]

Making Time

An email arrived from a friend. It was an unusually long one. I realized immediately that my friend was getting something off her chest. So I printed out the message and curled up in an easy chair to see what was on her mind.

Seems she had just lost a close friend – suddenly, unexpectedly. He was someone she planned to spend more time with. She talked about how she intended to invite him and his family over for Thanksgiving, but time got away from her. She surely expected to see him during the Christmas holidays, but that didn’t happen. The following year had gone by so quickly and there was so much happening in her life . . . Well, you get the picture.

He was the friend she intended to keep up with but did not. And now the pain in her message was sharp. She felt she had failed him. And now there were no more chances to make up.

It’s so easy to get carried away with minutia each day. It is so tempting to have your day’s priorities include the business of living, but not the business of loving. Don’t let it happen to you.

If you make a to do list for each day, add an item reminding you to call a friend, or send an email. Reach out to them on Facebook or invite them to lunch. It will be worth it.

[Show #344]

Empty Bowl Supper

During a time when the economy is stagnant and unemployment high, charity is not at the forefront of many people’s priorities. But some organizations have fund raisers that work for them consistently.

One of them, in the Shenandoah Valley, is the Alliance for Shelter. For some 20 years, they have sponsored the annual Empty Bowl Supper, with the help and cooperation of lots of other groups.

Potters throughout the valley create hundreds of bowls. Your ticket to the event buys you a bowl of soup and a couple of cookies. It’s a reminder that this is a typical dinner for far too many folks. The catch is – you get to keep the hand-made bowl. Over the years, bowls have become real collectors’ items of intrinsic value to local residents.

High school students and scouts bake the cookies for the event. Ladies bake luscious home-made cakes that are bid on, in a live auction. Local restaurants provide dozens of gallons of soup of different kinds. Local craftsmen, stores and business people provide items for a silent auction. There is music and laughter and people don’t even mind the waits for a table.

The Alliance has created an event that is unique and appealing to city folks and country residents alike. And to think – it raises money besides.

Show #378

24th ANNUAL SOUP SUPPER AND SILENT AUCTION

Friday, Nov. 20, 2015 from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM : Benefit dinner and silent auction at Central High School in Woodstock, VA

Bowls are created and donated by local craftspeople, and the bowl you choose is yours to keep!

Admission:
Adults $35.00 ($36 if purchased online)
Students (6 to 17) $20.00 ($21 is purchased online)

Tickets are available for the first time this year, online by visiting the website at www.allianceforshelter.org and clicking Empty Bowl Soup Supper.

Tickets can also be purchased at Woodstock Café in Woodstock, Sager Real Estate in Strasburg, Edinburg Mill in Edinburg, and Community Store in Basye, or reserve your tickets by calling Shenandoah Alliance for Shelter at 540-459-3212 or 540-459-8395. Tickets are limited to 300, so reserve your tickets early.

Tickets go on sale October 1, 2015.

Toy Library

Have you ever counted the toys your kids have? A well-known parenting guru suggests that the overabundance of toys possessed by kids today is not a blessing. He claims that an average American child has 150 toys. Think what that means in a family with 3 or 4 kids.

Overstimulation from the media, video games and noisy toys are creating chaos. The way out is to weed out your kids’ stuff.

Reduce the chaos and introduce calm. Give away outgrown toys: discard broken ones and pack a lot of the rest away.

There are coaches who get paid to come into a home and reduce the abundance. They remove as much as 75% of the children’s clothes and toys. You can do the same thing. That will reduce the clutter.

Then introduce the calm. Set up a schedule for watching TV or playing video games, rather than having both run 24/7 at will. Get rid of noisy, flashing toys. They actually do the playing for the child. Instead, provide toys that challenge the child’s imagination.

Create a veritable library of toys, to be checked out, played with In those periods of calm you created, and returned. Sounds like quite an improvement.

[Show #346]

Surviving Our Parents

Hey you kids out there, born and raised in the 40’s, 50’s or 60’s! Have you ever wondered how we managed to survive this far?

We were born to mothers who smoked or drank while they carried us. Our baby cribs were covered with bright-colored lead based paint. We had no child proof lids on medicine bottles or cabinets. We shared one soft drink among many friends and ate white bread and real butter. We spent pennies on candy and drinks that were pure sugar. But we stayed slim because we were always outside playing.

Boys got a BB gun for their 10^th birthday and nobody got their eye knocked out regardless of what your mom predicted. We rode our bikes without helmets, and hung our heads out car windows, untethered by seat belts. We even rode by the dozens in the open backs of pickup trucks whoopin’ and hollerin’ all the way to the swimming hole. And once there we swung by ropes from trees and dropped into the water wearing no water shoes.

Now, I’m not advocating this kind of fearless shenanigans. Just marveling at how we all survived them to tell about it. Things sure have changed.

But one thing is sure; kids, one day you will find that you survived your parents too!

[Show #214]

Raising Honest Children

Raising honest children today, I believe, is really difficult. There are times I think there is no more truth. Everything has a spin on it that benefits one group or another.

Telling the truth can get you into trouble. It can make your friends mad at you. It seems people want you to say what they want to hear, rather than what is honestly the truth.

If we are to teach our children to tell the truth, we have to create room for candor – for an authentic voice. We have to allow children to speak their mind, even if their thoughts or values differ from ours.

But when the value they are moving toward is not the truth, we need to show them how to grasp the truth and face it.

What happens when a child is caught in a lie? I believe we have to hold them responsible. We need to set firm, fair consequences and limits. The child who lies must suffer the consequences.

Discuss honesty in words the child can understand. Stories of rewards for telling the truth are effective.

The best lesson is MODELING honesty. Be willing to admit your own mistakes with the truth. Beware of hypocrisy – Don’t preach one thing and do another. Avoid calling the child a liar. Teach rather than scold. It works better . . . and that’s the truth!

[#426]

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