Kids

Monsters vs. Aliens

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Took the kids to see Monsters vs. Aliens.

It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t incredible, but it was enjoyable… I didn’t feel like I wasted my money when I walked out, but I didn’t feel like the Earth was moved. It was fun. A cookie-cutter predictable plot, only so much character development and thus attachment (at least Susan developed and you had some sort of bonding to her). The animation was good, the 3-D was pretty well done. I did find myself laughing out loud at some things, and was into the suspense when called for. Some memorable lines that the kids and I quoted on the drive home.

So, not bad. A fun flick, and good time with the kiddos. 

Of course, seeing it at The Alamo Drafthouse makes anything better. 🙂

What I really liked was some previews. I’m looking forward to the next Pixar movie, Up, and seeing the preview for 9… oh yes, I want to see that movie. I’m a sucker for Tim Burton.

 

Updated: I forgot to say. There were some uh… “negligent discharges” in the movie. Violation of rule number 3 (booger hook on the bang switch), violation of rule number 2 but in a way #2 was OK since it was technically pointed at something worth destroying.  What does it say about me when while watching those parts of the movie the rule violations were the first things that went through my head? Then I used it as a “teachable moment” with the kids on the drive home? 🙂

Socialization

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

So I’m reading JR’s blog and he refers to this article from DirtCrashr. The article talks about the so-called “GIVE Act”. What actually hit me about the blog post wasn’t so much the content of the posting, but that along with the visual that hit me when I was reading it. Here’s a screenshot (you can click on it to see it larger):

Just look at that. Yes, read the words… then look at the pictures, especially the one on the top-left and the one on the right. Just take in the whole visual state of the blog posting.

You see, Wife and I homeschool our children. What’s the #1 thing that people say to us regarding homeschooling? Why, the “S” word of course: socialization.

Kinda takes on a whole new meaning now doesn’t it?

This is not parenting

/ hsoi

Consensual living. When I first saw the headlines I thought it would be about something between adults, in this case an adult child still living at home with parents probably due to economic reasons but yet still living as an adult on their own (e.g. you may live here but you’re going to pay some rent, buy your own food, do your own laundry, etc.). 

How wrong I was.

Back in our early days of parenting, Wife and I bought into this new-agey parenting bullshit. Thankfully we realized the error of our ways and reverted to proven old school techniques. You know… where the parent is the parent, the child is the child. The parent is the one in control, the child obeys; if the child doesn’t obey, there are negative consequences but if the child does obey, there are positive consequences. The child and parent are not equals, as there is a hierarchy and the parent is on top. Parents are not to be friends to their children; they can and should be friendly, but they need to be something far more to the child — their parent!

I will say, there’s some worth to the new age bullshit. For instance, I was raised fairly old school, and I never appreciated that some edict would be handled down and I wouldn’t be told why. I was told this was the way it was and not to question it. I hated that. I wanted to know why, I questioned to know why, not because I was questioning the authority (as it was assumed) but because I was seeking to understand. If I can understand, then I can better extrapolate that knowledge and the reasoning behind it to other situations, which better serves me in life. So I am willing to explain to my children, not just expect blind obedience (although sometimes that is required). If my children wish to question, I’ll answer. If they wish to object, that’s fine… it doesn’t guarantee they’ll get their way, but if they wish to present a well-reasoned argument I’m certainly willing to listen. But of course, this only applies to older children. A 3 year old just learned, maybe, to wipe is own butt, he doesn’t understand what where and why. If you ask why he did something the answer will likely be “I don’t know”… so if they admit they don’t know, how can you say they know best?  I’m not saying not to listen to your child, you certainly should, but remember that you are supposed to be the parent. You are supposed to be the one that guides them, that teaches them, and helps them learn how to be a functioning member of society. Sometimes you will have to make decisions for them and that’s final, because you as the parent ought to have more life experience and be able to better understand long-term consequences of actions.

But then… we have movements like this, which I guess shows that perhaps not everyone does understand the long-term consequences of actions. There’s some merit to this approach, as it seems to encourage communication and understanding. However, if you take it too far and let the child rule the roost, you’re only going to succeed in raising a spoiled, uncontrollable brat that is going to fail in life because the world will not cater to their whims like you are so willing to do.

An old man and his LEGO

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

TXGunGeek isn’t an old man (well, he’s older than me and I’m just ribbing him), but he does lament where his old LEGO has gone.

I deal with this on a daily basis at my house. I grew up on LEGO as one of the coolest toys ever, and I still think they are. So of course as soon as my kids were old enough to not view them as little cubic candy pieces, there was LEGO in the house. Heck, Oldest just used the money he’s saved up to buy himself a Brickmaster subscription.

I do understand where TXGunGeek is coming from. My first LEGO kit was just a giant box. You opened the lid and there were lots of little compartments that just held bricks. Nothing fancy, but just oodles of bricks and endless imagination. No mini-figs in sight. But man, once Town and Castle especially Space came around, dude, that was so cool! Now it just wasn’t basic bricks, but you had other pieces in shapes like cones or wings, so now you could build airplanes or rockets. The mini-figs were cool too because now you had “to scale” people that you could put in your creations. 

When I got a new LEGO kit, sure I built the model that the kit was designed around. But then I built more. Many times the box had pictures of other things you could build with the set, and it was always a challenge to build those things because you maybe got only one shot of the thing and so you had to figure out for yourself what bricks you needed and what you had to do to fill out the rest of the model. Then of course there was just happy free-form creation. One of my cousins was a bigger LEGO nut than me (I swear he lived for LEGO; I recall him writing a paper for school on LEGO), and his free-form creations were awesome. I remember visiting him one time and he had just made this double-decker 6 foot long space ship. It was incredible. Then, one of our younger cousins proceeded to throw it down the stairs… yes, we were livid.

So recalling my memories, I look at how LEGO is now and I have to wonder a bit. I often think there is too much emphasis put on the models, on merchandising. I mean, there’s Star Wars, Spongebob Squarepants, Indiana Jones, they did a thing with the NBA, there was that stupid Galidor thing that wasn’t even LEGO, Harry Potter, Batman, Thomas The Tank Train, Bob the Builder…. and there’s been many more things they’ve done. But is that so bad? If this allows LEGO to stay in business, if this helps to get some kids interested in LEGO that maybe they wouldn’t otherwise be, is that so bad? Plus I’ve seen a lot of the pieces that come in these model sets, and there’s some really cool pieces. Not to mention one of the larger consumers of LEGO, especially Star Wars, are adults.

Let’s not forget LEGO’s own creations. They still have City, there’s always something Space (now it’s Mars Mission), they’ve got Pirates, Vikings, Castle, and we can’t forget Bionicle. Bionicle is a huge hit at my house. I’m not so hip to the latest Bionicle because it’s certainly more about milking a franchise now, whereas the original Bionicle was truly an extension of the Technic series (gears and levers and “doing stuff”). Then there’s Mindstorms. What a great thing that is.

The thing is, certainly some LEGO kits remain as-is. Some people like the model aspect of it all, and really this is no different from any other model making, be it Revell models or basla wood planes or whatever your choice of medium. But without question, the kids still take things apart. They still use their imagination to create their own things. They still play. They still have to be challenged to think, or even just learning how to follow the directions and pay attention to detail… these are all good and positive things for kids.

Yes LEGO isn’t the same as it was when we were kids, but in all the ways that matters it still is.

Teach your children

/ hsoi

… how to shoot!

I recently blogged about kids and guns. And if you’re no stranger to my blog, you know that my kids are no strangers to shooting.

Which reminds me… it’s Daughter’s turn to go to the range. I need to schedule that in. I also need to get the scope remounted and re-zeroed on the Ruger 10/22. Furthermore, I need to restart my quest to find a good .22 pistol.

Yes, there is hope!

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Dinner is done.

The table needs cleaning off. The children are supposed to be cleaning, but are farting around and wrestling with each other. Wife is getting irritated. Yes the kids are all in a good mood, and we really don’t want to dampen it with Threat Of Dad® coming down upon them. So instead, I opt to bribe provide positive reinforcement to the children.

Ice cream.

Going out for it, no less. Wife requested a little peaceful time to herself, so I’ll happily take the kids away so she can have her Calgon moment.

I told the kids: clean the table and kitchen to Mom’s satisfaction, then tend to the litter box. You have 15 minutes. And I walked away.

These kids are moving. They set a timer. Oldest started delegating tasks. They are focused. They are cooperating. I just heard Oldest holler for Middle, “I need some help!” “OK, I’m coming.” Wow… no smart-assery, no belligerence, no nothing. Just the stuff that parental dreams are made of!! 🙂

I just heard “OK, we have 5 minutes left.”. I’m not sure, but it sounds like they are going above and beyond, cleaning even a bit more!! Are they wanting sprinkles on top of their ice cream? Oldest is barking orders. There’s no “You’re not the boss of me!” retort, just a simple “OK.” and obeying of the command. Wow….

Is it a bribe? Is it positive motivation? Call it whatever you want. I know the true power of this moment. You see, now I have tangible proof they are totally capable of working together, as a streamlined unit, cooperating, focused, efficient, on task, without back-talk, without fighting, without a need for Dad to intervene and put things back on course. Yes… yes I will hold this against them in the future. 🙂

And get this. 2 minutes left. They come in my office and give a successful report. So this is another thing… they can get things done early!  Man, they don’t realize how they’ve been set up… how high they just raised the bar for themselves. *insert diabolical fatherly laugh* 🙂

 

Updated: I should clarify, it’s not like my kids are normally misbehaved, disobedient, fight with each other, etc.. They’re actually quite well-behaved and do work well with each other. But, they are like any kid, they do have their sibling issues, they do have their moments of sheer jackassery. But still, tonight was sweet.

And sweet it was. I am still waiting for their Guinness ice cream to come back into rotation. A cup of that, some chocolate chunks crushed in. People I’m telling you there’s nothing finer. Had to settle (if you can call it that) for Mexican vanilla with fresh strawberries crushed in. Mmm.

Little things

/ hsoi

I can’t remember where exactly I read this (and my Google-Fu is weak tonight), but I’m pretty sure it was either in Suzi’s blog or Ron’s blog. S or R was talking about little things and how wonderful they were. That time together didn’t have to mean going out on some extravagant date. One was saying how the other needed to go down to the corner store to put gas in the car and asked to go with. Sure it wasn’t an extravagant date, but it was time together. 

I shared that with The Wife and since then we’ve been doing little things like that. Walk down to the mailbox with each other. Walk around the block. Run a quick errand. Whatever works. We’re even doing it with the kids, Oldest, Middle, and Youngest. I need to run to the store, go with me. I need to fix the sink, come watch. You’re reading your book? I’m reading my book. Come sit next to me and let’s read together.

Sometimes lots of little things adds up to more than just a few large things, y’know?

Children and guns

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

Kellene is starting a 4 part series on children and guns. I’ll update this as she posts each part:

  1. Part 1 – Want to Ensure Your Kid Never Commits a Gun Crime? GIVE Him a Gun. (how about giving her a gun too?)
  2. Part 2 — The Myth of Gun Safety.
  3. Part 3 — When Is It Safe to Educate Your Children on Guns?
  4. Part 4 — What’s Really Responsible for the Deaths of Our Nation’s Children?

Kathy Jackson also has a great section on her website about kids and guns. 

I ran into this last week during a beginners pistol class. One student asked about how to deal with kids and guns; he had a 3 year old and an 8 year old. He told me his first thought was to keep the gun a secret and not tell the kids. In my opinion the better thing to do is to tell the kids. Make no bones about the gun, make no mystery about the gun. Make the gun a plain and boring thing; even better, take your kid shooting and teach them about gun safety and how to property use a gun. I’ve said before that we find education to be the right answer for keeping our kids safe from so many things, yet somehow we think ignorance about guns is the right approach. I fail to follow that logic. I think we ought to be consistent here: educate your kids as much as possible about guns. That will keep them safe.  Of course, for this one student, I said this really only applies to the 8 year old. For the 3 year old, you’re just going to have to take steps (e.g. a GunVault or better, get your CHL and just carry the gun on your hip all the time). But when the younger child is old enough, teach them too.

Updated: Kellene just posted part 2, added the link above.

Updated 2: Part 3 was just added. Kellene makes a good distinction here. There’s teaching your children about the notion of guns and being safe with them, then there’s teaching your children how to use them. I’ve blogged on this before, here and here.

Updated 3: Part 4 added. I don’t totally agree with her take here because I do think you can draw the line between toy guns and real guns, between playing and “for real”. However, I do agree that the mindset needs to be there no matter the gun, toy or real. Even when they are playing, they can still understand and apply correct behaviors (e.g. minding the trigger finger). There can and still should be parental supervision. Even if they are playing and violate something you can and should take the time to correct them. Mindset matters a great deal, and if you can provide your children with the right mindset, with the right knowledge and skills and ability to make the right decisions, that’s going to serve your children best.

Sugar, sweet sweet sugar

/ hsoi

The wife and kids went grocery shopping. They come home, I go downstairs to see what goodies have been brought.

Seems the kids talked my wife into buying Kool-Aid and mini marshmallows.

How do I know this?

I see the children… mixing a purple powder in a glass… then adding marshmallows on top of it.

So… we have sugar drink topped with fluffy sugar pellets.

I think it’s time for the kids to go outside and run a few hundred laps around the house, eh?

Unclear on the concept

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

My sons like to wear Skechers shoes. To update on the shoe shopping situation, it wound up that the shoes we ended up with ultimately weren’t going to work out… so off we went looking for other shoes. But at least we knew Oldest’s shoe size so why not order online, right? Mom & Oldest went looking online and found just the shoes he wanted. So on the 16th I ordered from skechers.com.

Days went by. I received no status update on the shipping of the shoes. That’s odd. Any eCommerce these days lets you know at most within 48 hours about status. Their website said it was in stock, that all is good… but yet by Friday I still had no idea if they were shipping or not (order status still said “processing”). So on Friday I phoned their customer service to ask. I was told that the shoe was out of stock (huh? what happened to that policy of 48 pairs of every shoe in stock?) and my order would automatically be cancelled soon. O…K…. I broke the news to Oldest and said we’d find the shoes somewhere else. 

Then the FedEx man arrived on Saturday with Oldest’s shoes. Hrm.

Then what did I get in my email inbox this morning? A message saying my order had been processed and here’s the FedEx tracking number. I checked the tracking number and apparently the order shipped out of their facility on the 18th.

Wow. 

They may have great shoes, but methinks there’s a lot of disconnect in their order processing system. Bug, not feature.