Parenting
Articles
Just
a Spoonful of Sugar...
by Tammy Harrison
I had a fight with a candy bar package
the other night. I had sent our daughter to
her Brownie meeting with smores, and she
returned with a whole package of chocolate
bars. I hid them from the kids, thinking
they would be a perfect midnight snack when
I was craving a sugar rush. I must have been
overly eager to taste the delectable
smoothness of the confections as it took me
a half hour just to get the package opened!
As I walked the aisles of the grocery
store yesterday, I started really paying
attention to the packaging. Those marketing
experts are not idiots, I'll give them that!
The packages for the kids are bright,
inviting and way cool to their target
audience! But, beyond the labels and the
colors, I noticed something else -- most of
the packages that contained vast amounts of
sugar were the ones that were double and
triple wrapped!
The meat has a single layer of cellophane
protecting it from the elements. The orange
juice is contained in a carton. The fruits
and vegetables are naked!
Although I was quite aggravated with the
chocolate bar the other night, I realized
that maybe it wasn't so bad, for my kids,
that the package was as safe as the
child-proof lids on their vitamins. Now, if
the packaging gurus could just figure out
how to secure the toothpaste lid from the
bathroom monsters, I could sleep a little
better!
(c) 2003 by Tammy Harrison. Tammy is
the mother of four and the Independent
Creative Representative for HBWM.com,
Inc. Click
here to contact Tammy.
Liberating
Yourself
by Tammy Harrison
I was enjoying a rare couple of hours out
of the house recently, attending a home
party for a friend. Most of the attendees
were women like myself, with small children
and stay-at-home moms. What they were not is
liberated women!
As we discussed the pitfalls of being a
round-the-clock mom, their biggest gripes
seemed to revolve around cleaning their
houses. Some had their schedules set so that
they cleaned a room a day. Some took up
their mop and buckets once a week for a
serious overhaul. Yet others shyly admitted
that they cleaned when company was expected,
or once a month, whichever came first.
As the conversation rounded to me, I had
the urge to jump up and throw my bra into
the center ring! I was a liberated woman,
and I wasn't afraid to admit it! My house is
cleaned by a cleaning lady!
If you've never had a cleaning lady, let
me tell you that it is the best! I cope with
guilt over my decisions of spending time
with the kids versus working versus
cleaning. Sometimes, the guilt is
overpowering. As a mom who chooses to be at
home every day, I am perfectly capable of
understanding that part of my family
responsibilities includes keeping a clean
house. As part of my marriage, I feel
obliged to have a clean house for my husband
to come home to. No one said I couldn't hire
someone to clean for me!
I have had cleaning ladies for many
years, as my skin allergies do not permit me
to use cleaning products. I have tried the
best, the natural and the cheapest, and
still find that there is always something in
the ingredients that I cannot touch. So, my
paid cleaning escapades truly started
because of the physical limitations of
myself.
But, as the years progressed and as the
kids were born, the cleaning lady has become
an integral part of our routines, and of my
sanity! I am now liberated from the guilt of
being a stay-at-home mom and not having to
feel like I must be cleaning something just
because I am home! I am liberated from the
ho-hum cleaning rites of passage. I can
invite people to our home without having to
hide the dust bunnies by sweeping them under
a rug! And, I can proudly say that my job as
a mom is much better served WITH my
children, not just cleaning up after them!
(c) 2003 by Tammy Harrison. Tammy is
the mother of four and the Independent
Creative Representative for HBWM.com,
Inc. Click
here to contact Tammy.
Smile
and the World Smiles With You
by Tammy Harrison
I'm tired. Are you? Tired of the
complaining and whining!
I'm convinced that people complain as a
hobby these days, instead of quilting or
bird watching! I'm not talking about simple
aggravations. I'm talking the core of those
who are so miserable that everything they
say is followed by them shaking their heads
in disgust and then adding an "I
wish..." statement to their
conversations.
For instance, I have a friend who hates
where she lives. She doesn't like the town,
doesn't like the people and doesn't like the
lack of culture in her community. Everything
she does has a negative connotation. I did
see her smile, once, but it was when she was
talking bad about one of her neighbors.
I was raised with the rule that if you
couldn't say something nice, don't say
anything at all. I am trying very hard to
help instill that in my children. It's very
hard, though, when we are surrounded by such
unhappiness!
People have endured religious wars,
holocausts, civil battles to preserve
freedom and many other atrocities on
national levels. Many of the survivors of
these causes end up with a renewed sense of
happiness and joy!
Yet, as individuals, we seem to take
every negative thing that happens very
personal. Some take lessons in history (as
in their own history of yesterday or earlier
today - not history that is recorded) as a
reason for them to jump on a bandwagon that
runs out of control. I'm not saying that
causes shouldn't be fought, or that we
should just smile about the awful things
that happen and move on. I'm interested in
finding a way for us to look at others and
exude the good feelings of being alive
without throwing negative daggers and vibes
around us.
I was recently at a meeting when someone
asked me how my kids were. I don't know what
I said, but another gal said that I always
complained about my kids, but that they were
great little beings. I really took that
statement to heart, and realized that I did
have a tendency to vent my
mother-frustrations when someone would
listen (never within earshot of the kids,
though). So, I made a concentrated effort to
respond to such questions with loving
adjectives. It not only made me feel better,
but I also looked at the kids in a more
loving way!
I am currently the leader on a project to
get clothing and personal hygiene products
to a Navajo mission our church supports. I
had to sit down and read the way that the
children on the reservation live, and it
brought tears to my eyes. I was saddened at
their conditions and, admittedly, felt
guilty that my children had so much more in
their lives. But, whether I got mad or sad,
how would those emotions help me and my
responsibility to collect donations for this
group? I determined that only a positive
attitude towards those who are offering
donations and towards our intended
recipients, would help me with the job
ahead. How? I can thank those who offer
their charity, and I can do it with
heartfelt gratitude. Then, I can enjoy
giving these riches we have to those who do
not have as much, and I can do it with
complete joy as they respond spontaneously
to this simple act of giving.
I call this approach to life my Positive
Personal Persona (PPP). To me, much more
gets done, under much happier conditions and
even a bit of fun thrown in to boot! I
think, if more people tried to have their
own PPP, even the bad things that had to be
accomplished for peace and prosperity would
bring good results without so much
negativity and violence!
This holiday and into the new year, I
respectfully ask you to take a minute to
create your own PPP. Make it something you
can live with, but also realize that it's a
matter of life and death. Negativity drains
a person, on both a psychological and a
physiological level. Let's take a stand
today to put on a happy face!
(c) 2003 by Tammy Harrison. Tammy is
the mother of four and the Independent
Creative Representative for HBWM.com,
Inc. Click
here to contact Tammy.
The
Old Saying is True...
by Tammy Harrison
I picked my two kids up from Montessori
school one day, and a dose of reality
slapped me in the face yet again. Two of the
teachers in the toddler room were splayed
out on the floor, with scissors and cutting
tools, making a large appliance box into a
wonderful castle for the kids to play with.
I gasped, and quickly left before the kids
could see what was going on.
I came home from their school,
disappointed in myself. I was raised with
few toys (that I can remember) and, did not
grow up with any toy dysfunctions. Was time
for me to take action. Just thinking in
terms of *cardboard*, I walked around the
house, looking for various items that I was
sure would entertain the kids for hours:
(1) Boxes from shipments - We could use
them individually, to build a house or a
mask. We could use a bunch of them to build
a fortress or even to separate the kid's
room so the manly man could have some
privacy. We could even make a train out of
them!
(2) Paper towel and toilet paper rolls -
Binoculars, goggles, trumpets, elephant
trunks, stilts for stuffed animals.
(3) Sheets of cardboard found with new
shirts or packages of underwear - Create
cool hats, draw pictures and *tile* our
wall, decorate them as stones and pretend
the carpet was the ocean and the stones our
islands.
(4) Cereal and food boxes - make a puppet
theatre and create hand puppets or turn a
doorway into a mock-brick wall and have them
crash through it.
(5) Computer boxes -- Put the old computer
back in the box and pretend that the mailman
is delivering a brand new computer! I'm
loving this idea, as it will take HOURS for
the kids to figure out where all of those
wires go!
(c) 2003 by Tammy Harrison. Tammy is
the mother of four and the Independent
Creative Representative for HBWM.com,
Inc. Click
here to contact Tammy.
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