• militaryblog

    Self Esteem vs Self Respect

    Last weekend was cold.  Cold and rainy.  The kind of weather that makes you want to curl up in front of a fire with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book.  Instead I was at a soccer tournament for my ten-year old.  Three games over Saturday and Sunday 90 minutes from home.  Three games of pure determination on our boys’ parts.  Three games of ‘Go, Avon, Go!’  … Three losses. Continue Reading about how to turn the loss into a win, Self Esteem vs Self Respect But that doesn’t necessarily make this mom sad:  * The relationships that those boys are making out there on the field, the friendships…

  • militaryblog

    Going to Bat for the Bullied

    October is National Bullying Prevention Month.  A great time to educate yourself, empower yourself, think about how to handle future bully problems in your own children’s lives. Stopbullying.gov is a great resource, as is StompOutBullying.org.  I’ve written about my own experience with bullying once before and I stand by my thoughts, “Bullying and our Military Children“. But amidst all these awareness programs an article caught my eye :Dad Takes on School That Suspended His Son for Being a ‘Bully’A normal first assumption is why would Dad be upset with the school for punishing his son, the bully?  Why would his dad be upset that his own kid was throwing punches, kicking…

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    Tragedy in Chardon – Talking about Emergency Preparedness with Children

    Sunday night we were at the kitchen counter and my boys said something to the effect “I wish we could blow up the school.”  I stopped.  It was typical school-age conversation.  If there’s no school they can stay home and play all day right?  This was their logic. I was immediately taken to Columbine, Jonesboro, even Virginia Tech.  What came out of my mouth was a stern but caring “We don’t joke about that.”  Kind of like you don’t joke about firearms and terrorist activities standing in line at the airport, you don’t joke about guns, bombs or other activities of that nature in relation to school.  It’s not funny.…

  • militaryblog

    Bullying and our Military Children

    I am a mom.  Mom of a senior in high school, a 3rd grader, a 1st grader, and a toddler. My 3rd grader is a bit on the small side.  He’s never been on the ‘charts’ and we have even been to a specialist just to be sure all is well.  All is well, medically, and his stature has been chalked up to genetics and that is a-ok with me.  However, already at 9 years old I have witnessed a few instances of the ‘bigger kids’ picking on the smaller (same age but some twice his size).  One instance of apparent bullying was a fellow soccer player, church friend and school mate pushed my…