1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Parenting Thread

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by alleyallen, May 22, 2007.

  1. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Good points from shot.

    It's funny. You wonder when things don't go well if you screwed up.

    But when one of your kids does great, you don't feel like you did it.

    So just do your best and hold on.
     
  2. Cadet

    Cadet Guest

    Thanks for sharing, Luggy.

    And excellent advice, Shotty.
     
  3. Dirk Legume

    Dirk Legume Active Member

    Webster,

    A quick guess would be because Mama paid her off ;D

    My daughter is 17 and graduates from high school next week (I am not sure how that's possible, because I am not nearly old enough). We have had some great, big, battles over the last couple of years about almost everything under the sun. It got a little easier for my wife and I when we realized that teenagers are incredibly self centered. Incredibly. Their world is the only one they care about. We thought we were the only ones having arguments with our teen. We were at a school meeting the other night and heard a couple of other parents talking about some of the exact same things with their kids.

    So my advice would be: You are not alone. Other moms and dads are having the same discussions (arguments) over the same things in their house. The kids are mostly the same. We ran into one of my daughters friend's mom and dad at the grocery store and got to talking. We think their daughter is a joy. She is polite, has a friendly atitude and is a really good kid.

    So it surprised us when mom and dad told us that at home, she does the same sort of things our daughter does with her mother and father. And they think our kid is a pleasure to be around.

    It was just nice to know we weren't living all by ourselves.

    And, if I may be permitted to brag for a moment. This kid that drives us crazy on a regular basis, this kid that makes us question, even after all these years, whether or not we can handle being parents, walked away with more than ten thousand dollars in scholarships at the high school awards ceremony last night. And was named her schools "athlete of the year. And every teacher and administrator told us how terrific she is and how much they will miss her. It was a great night for the Legume family.

    And today? Today she called her mother and asked if she really needed to take the physics quiz because "I'm just not feeling it". She was told that yes...yes she did, and now she's mad at her mom.

    Teenagers...whaddya gonna do ::)
     
  4. goalmouth

    goalmouth Well-Known Member

    Permit a small bit of name-dropping. About parents and their problems, I once got some memorable advice from, of all people, Dick Vitale. His daughter went to Notre Dame on a tennis scholarship, and I asked him in the course of an interview if he had any advice for people who hoped to forge a similar path for their children. For once, he was at a loss for words.

    "I don't really have much to say," he said. "I have enough to do raising my own family."

    I try to keep that in mind every day.
     
  5. Herbert Anchovy

    Herbert Anchovy Active Member

    Dirk Vegetable, that's how you know you graduated, too. Be proud.
     
  6. Dirk Legume

    Dirk Legume Active Member

    Oh my lord LBJ. If I had worn a hat to that ceremony last night, it would not've fit when the night was over.

    Today, we have proud in stock. A lot of it.
     
  7. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    OK - I assume this is the best place to ask this question...

    How much do you pay your babysitters?

    I ask because the little girl down the street told my wife she no longer will work for less than $12 per hour, which is insane because (a) our kids are not that much younger than she is and don't need much if any supervision (b) we have no infants, no toddlers -- no kids that are under the age of eight, so they are all pretty much self-sufficient, they all stay in their rooms and watch movies or play video games and the only thing she really needs to do for them is tell them when to go to sleep. (c) we don't ask her to feed them (we do that before we leave) nor do we ask her to do the dishes or clean up, which babysitters who charge that much usually do.

    In other words, she comes, does her homework, watches some movies and falls asleep on the couch after she puts the others down until we get home and we allow her to bring a friend, so she even has someone to hang out with.

    I'm just trying to figure out if I am getting old or if this seems silly.

    By contrast, we told her in polite terms to jam it and we found another teenager who asked for $7 per hour which is far more reasonable for what we ask the few times we do go out.
     
  8. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    $12 an hour seems a bit steep, unless your kids are lobbing hand grenades at her or something.
     
  9. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    I'm just wondering if this chick is related to Donald Fehr or Drew Rosenhaus
     
  10. three_bags_full

    three_bags_full Well-Known Member

    Hmmm ... I'll make a mental note of that one.
     
  11. Cadet

    Cadet Guest

    Zag, I don't say this to piss you off, but you may need to consider the fact that your kids are (to put this politely) a handful.

    When I babysat there was a family of hellions that I gave that ultimatum to: pay me a lot more money or I refuse to watch your brats (but I worded it more politely, much like this girl may have).
     
  12. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    My kids aren't hellions though. I know this because every babysitter we've ever had has told me how well behaved they are and how easy they are to deal with -- including this one who actually calls us every week to see if we need a babysitter for Friday or Saturday night. The only difference is, this week, AFTER SHE CALLED US and we decided to make plans, she then dropped -- "from now on I need $12 per hour."

    And like I said, our oldest is 13 --- which is only about a year younger than the babysitter -- and he helps keep the younger ones in line as well.

    And further -- they aren't toddlers or even the four-and-five year olds that generally do fit into that category as hellions or brats. My youngest is 8
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page