Song: Fall Back Into My Life by Amber Pacific

It's Britney, bitch . . . Okay, not so much, but ahhhh it feels good to be back in the blog realm.  I can't believe it's been like 6 months since I've written a blog.  Anyone still here or did everyone give up on me?  Internet is up and running, though I can't figure out how to configure my wireless card to hook up with my modem and do it's thing.  I hate wires!!!  But I hate not having the internet more, so I'll deal with the inconvenience of wires. 

So what to write about my first day back?  Well, I just finished reading about a mom in NY who got tired of her 10 and 12 year old daughters fighting in the backseat of the car, so she pulled over and ordered them out.  The article goes that the woman drove off, the 12 year old left the 10 year old and started walking (they were only 3 miles away from home in a suburb, not downtown), then the 10 year old started crying and a meddling driver stopped and called police.  Well the mom by this time had driven around the block thinking her girls had learned their lesson, only she discovered her girls were no longer there.  So she drove home to get her husband and they went out searching together.  For whatever reason they could not find the girls so she called the police, who said the girls were fine and when the mom went to pick them up the mom was arrested.  Here are my thoughts on this--Matt, if you're reading this, I apologize beforehand for my bashing of the news industry, I know you do your best and you're not a journalistic idiot:

As a single parent of a 6 year old daughter I have driven off without her when she refused to get in the car because she was too hell bent on throwing a tantrum over not wanting to leave wherever we were at (Grandma's house of course).  I only drove a few feet and stopped, but I in no way ever let her leave my sight from my rearview mirror.  I also made her walk to me--I didn't go to her.  She knows I mean business when I tell her to get in the car now.  She also knows that her behavior is unacceptable and I will not tolerate it.  Kids need to learn who is boss and if the parent gives in to their kids' whining or whatnot, they will never learn from their own actions.  My daughter and I constantly talk about actions and consequences.  She gets in trouble and I tell her what she did wrong and tell her what the consequence will be for her choice of action.  She then has another choice of whether she will then listen or whether she wants to take the consequence. 

I am only 27 but I swear I was born in the wrong decade.  I only wish that children were as respectful of their parents now as they were back in the days my parents and grandparents talk about.  Unfortunately the fucking government has taken parental rights to discipline our children and some new age generationalists decided to fuck with the system and make up all these laws and say that spanking is a form of child abuse.  And then the internet came along and stories spread faster than wildfire of random big hyped stories of kids getting kidnapped and raped one after the other.  And even though six months would go by before the next case, they would drown us in court trials and bullshit from the first one--not to mention they would inject little stories of other kidnappings in the process--making it seem like kidnappings were this big huge thing that was growing into a serious problem even though this shit has been going on for a hundred years.  The news these days should not be called 'news' at all--it should be 'The Crime Report for the Day', followed by 'Project Failing Economy', followed by a bit of weather and sports to help alleviate the paranoia the previous reports just gave you before you go to bed so you don't have nightmares.  Stories are sensationalized and blown up.  The media leaves out information either on purpose (take the war in Iraq for example, but that's a whole other blog that I think I've already covered) or because they're just morons who didn't finish their homework on a story.  Internet stories are like children playing a game of 'telephone'.  It starts as truth from the firsthand source and the story has completely changed by the time it gets around the circle.  The media then dramatizes the story, includes inaccurate quotes from people that really have no idea what's going on, and people read it and believe it.  A kid can't even fall down and break an arm without the emergency room sizing up the parent thinking of child abuse.  It's all ridiculous and I am so outraged that people are meddling idiots and they think every tidbit of a little something should be turned into such a big deal.  I seriously think that some people want to make mountains of molehills for the thrill of creating drama and looking like the hero and possibly getting their name in the news.  Mind your own fucking kids!  More than likely they're running rampant either in front of you or secretly behind your back.  There is no right or wrong way to parent (other than real child abuse/neglect).  There's only what fits and works for the child.  Every kid is different and I SO do NOT believe in ADD or ADHD.  Most of the time kids act up simply because they want attention--and if they aren't getting good attention, they will go for whatever attention they can get and we all know where that leads.