Category Archives: Parenting

June 15, 2012 · 6:00 am

What Are The Birthday Traditions In Your Family?

My Little Man is turning three.

Sniff sniff. I can hardly believe that it’s been three years since our miracle baby came into the world.

Even though I’m weighed down by nostalgia with every birthday, it’s a fun time of celebration in our home.

It’s always been that way. I grew up in a home that allowed for fun birthday celebrations and we always had parties with friends. The parties always had a theme.

Some of the best parties I recall are my 50’s Theme party (age 10), my Hawaiian luau party (age 12), my surprise 18th birthday, and the surprise 25th birthday party that my husband threw for me. Those were all super-fun.

We have parties for our boys and usually invite friends and family. As they age, my boys want to invite more and more of their friends from school and church, and I’m totally okay with that. The more, the merrier.

My boys are allowed to choose their own themes for their parties, and we’ve done Thomas the Train (twice), Elmo, Sesame Street, Cookie Monster (yes, all three of those were separate parties), cowboys, Disney’s CARS, Power Rangers, and now, Super Hero Squad.

Decorations match the theme.

I make the cake.

Yes, yes I do. I’m one of those moms. I’m one of those moms because I grew up with one of those moms. She always made our cakes and they were delicious and amazing. She set the bar really high.

I enjoy making my kid’s cake myself. Although, I will say that a bakery can do a much better job than I can, but I enjoy the challenge.

This year, Little Man has chosen to have a pool party at my parents’ house, and his theme is Super Hero Squad.

I’ve really struggled to find Super Hero Squad themed items for the party. The actual birthday party supplies for this theme are no longer made, so I’ve had to order some items from eBay and Amazon and do a little mixing and matching.

For the first time ever, I decided to order an edible image cake topper with the Super Hero Squad logo on it. After a more than a week of waiting, it came.

Only, instead of Super Hero Squad, they sent The Avengers.

Now, most of you might say, “What’s the big deal? They’re kind of the same thing.”

Nope. No, they aren’t. Super Hero Squad is a little more cartoonish, a little younger. Good for a three year old. The Avengers, as you well know, are all grown up.

So now I’m scrambling to create a cake I can make before Saturday. I think I’ve got some ideas. But just in case it’s not extra cute, I’ll have to make sure it’s extra delicious.

Share with me: What are the birthday traditions in your house? What are some great birthdays you remember and why?

18 Comments

Filed under Family, Parenting

Tagged as birthdays

May 30, 2012 · 6:00 am

Are You Practicing Safe Social Media?

**This post is geared at writers, but it’s for anyone and everyone who explores and uses social media.

Okay, writers, we’ve read/heard/seen a lot of information about building our fan base via the internet and the wonderful social media sites that regularly eat up hours of our day.

(Really, what did we do before Facebook?)

Social media is important.

We have to connect. We have to interact. We build a base not only to sell books, but to be a light in a dark world.

Yet it’s that darkness in the world that presents a problem.

Some people are weird. As much as we want to love and trust everyone, it’s a sad state of affairs that we can’t. YOU CAN’T.

Because of that, it is so so so important that as we connect with our readers/fan base/followers, we make a conscious effort to protect ourselves.

Some of this might seem like common sense, but as I troll the internet, I’m often surprised by what I see/read. Shocked, really.

I’m all about opening up, being real, and letting my readers and followers get to know me, but there is a line that not only separates vital info from TMI, but also protection from public knowledge.

Tips for Staying Safe While Building a Fan Base:

1. Choose your friends wisely.

I do believe you should be open, real and respond to anyone who reaches out to you by commenting on your blog, etc., but be careful about letting strangers in on private info. A major way to do this is to keep your professional social media interaction and personal interaction separate. Facebook, for example–an author page allows you to control what information your followers see, without giving them access to photos of your kids, other family members, etc., or any private statuses you don’t want people you don’t know seeing.

If you don’t know ’em, don’t accept a friend request on your personal page.

**In an effort to have a better professional connection with my readers and followers, I launched my official Facebook page this week. You can connect and chat with me there by clicking on the link to the right of this post.

2. Protect your kids.

Now some of you may think I’m extreme about this, but I do not purposely post pictures of my kids or use their names on my blog (go ahead, check around) or on Twitter. I have lots and lots of followers whom I love and appreciate, but I love my kids more. (Sorry, lovely followers.) So I’ll tell you about my kiddos, but until they are older, I’m probably not going to let you see them. It’s not you I don’t trust– it’s the one crazy weirdo who might see a pic of my kids and get all…weird. I’m a Momma-bear that way. I wish more parents thought about those kinds of things before posting tons of pics and information about their kids online. The choice is yours–right now I choose to protect my kids this way. I might change my mind down the road, but for now, I’m going to put them in a virtual bubble if I can.

3. Do not, for any reason, list your home address on any of your profiles.

This includes Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, your blog or anything else. It’s already too easy for some creep to find you as it is.

It seems like common sense, but we want to trust. We want to say, “Yes! Reach out and touch me!” But you really don’t want everyone reaching out to touch you. You don’t.

4. Same goes for your phone number. Do no list it online.

I am always SMH (shaking my head, yeah I’ve been wanting to use that little acronym for a while) when I see that my friends on Facebook have their phone numbers listed. Some think, Well if you’re friends with me on FB, it’s okay if you have my number. Do not overestimate the privacy and firewalls and such of FB. Anything can be hacked these days.

If you put your number out there, realize it’s out there to the world.

5. Be careful about your contact info.

If you feel it necessary to list an address and phone number for readers to contact you, get a PO box or a throw-away cell phone that cannot be traced to your location. Some people also choose to have separate email addresses–one for personal emails and one for professional.

6. Don’t “check in”.

Do you really want people knowing where you are all the time, especially when you aren’t home? Again, I’m SMH when I see “so-and-so is at _____ with John Smith.” Now everyone knows where you are and with whom, and most of all, that you aren’t home. It’s like advertising that you’re going on vacation. It’s a BAD idea. Don’t overestimate your protection when you think only your “friends” are seeing it. Mostly because some of these people who are “friends” really aren’t.

7. Be careful what you Tweet.

Again, use some common sense. Be careful about using family members’ names, locations, and your plans for being out of town. It’s just not a good idea–especially because anyone can access your account and follow you on Twitter.

8. Make sure your privacy settings are correct.

Be certain to check the privacy settings on each and every social media site that you are a part of. Make sure people are seeing only what you want them to see. I highly suggest that you make your personal Facebook page private (so that NON-friends can’t see all of it), especially if it contains information about people you love that you don’t want everyone in the world having access to. Same goes for any other site which contains information you want to protect.

When updating statuses, make sure you have them set based on who you want to see them. On Facebook, for example, you can set each and every status either to public, friends, friends of friends, or a custom list of people. Be aware of this and make good use of it.

9. A dash of common sense goes a long way.

Use caution when interacting via social media. You don’t have to be suspicious or scared of everyone, but you shouldn’t blanket trust, either. It’s a sad state that we have to be cautious, but that’s the world we live in. When in doubt, DON’T post it. Be aware. Be careful.

We shine in the dark, and we shine brightest when we are wise. Color me cautious, but I’d much rather be safe than sorry.

For more fantastic information on how to stay safe online, check out this post from Kristen Lamb. Really, really good info for anyone who uses any kind of social media/email, etc.

Share with me: What other ways can you suggest of people being cautious with Social Media?

15 Comments

Filed under Parenting, Writing

Tagged as Facebook, internet, social media, social media safety, Twitter

May 28, 2012 · 6:00 am

Lessons I Want My Children to Learn: Patriotism

Do you know the difference between Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day? Other than one is in May and one is in November, I mean. 🙂

When I was teaching high school history, I always made it a point to teach the origins behind these important days.

Memorial Day, as the name suggests, is the US national holiday in which we remember and honor those who have fallen in service to our great nation.

It began during the Civil War as Decoration Day, when women would decorate the graves of the fallen soldiers with flowers and other mementos. As the years went on and the US was involved in more wars, the holiday adapted and in the late 1960’s, was officially assigned to the last Monday in May when the nation would remember all service members who had died in any war in our nation’s history.

Veteran’s Day, as the name suggests, honors all active and retired veterans of all wars in our history. This date came about from Armistice Day of WWI, (November 11, 1918, 11 am) when an armistice (cease-fire) was declared, eventually leading to the end of the war in 1919.

As time goes on, it seems that the reasons behind Memorial Day, July 4th, and Veteran’s Day have become somewhat mashed together and given Americans a reason to have a day off of work and a cookout.

I’m okay with that. I love cookouts. I love the American tradition of hotdogs and hamburgers by the pool. It’s fun. It’s America.

I’m even mostly okay with the confusion between Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day, because both honor those who have served.

I am not okay with the general public not knowing the history behind our Independence Day celebrations of July 4th. You might be surprised how many people do not have a basic understanding of this momentous day. Yeah, it’s actually different from the other two, but I’ll save that history for another post.

One of the lessons I want to instill into my children is patriotism.

I don’t believe enough people in America actually appreciate America anymore. Somewhere along the way, we’ve lost our understanding of exactly what it means to be free. We’ve lost our sense of duty–we’ve lost our sense of honor.

There was a time when young men stood up, eager to serve. Most of the teens I taught were petrified of serving in the military– the idea was laughable.

Several times I had to combat the idea that serving in the military was only for “stupid” people who couldn’t get into college.

“Do stupid people win wars?” I’d ask.

As a military brat, I have to admit, it was difficult for me to keep my cool in the classroom when this subject came up–more often than I’d like to acknowledge. (I’d like to believe people are smarter than to think the military is only for “dummies”, but alas, many are not.)

I was raised in a military home, with a tradition of military service and the idea that serving our nation was honorable, desirable, and respected.

Although my husband is not military, I want my children to grow up with this same belief.

My husband actually teaches middle school, which is another position to be greatly respected. 🙂 He definitely serves his nation, folks.

My son’s great-grandfathers served in WWII. Their grandfather (my dad) served in Desert Storm. Their uncle (my brother) is currently serving his country.

The idea that standing up for the values that America was built on, what our forefathers believed in when they drafted the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, is something to be admired.

While politics seem to continue to make a mess of the values that bore this nation, I want my sons to have an understanding of where we’ve come from, our history, our traditions, and what it really means to be an American.

I want them to believe that America is great. I want them to know it. I want them to be proud of all those who came before us, establishing this great nation. I want them to be proud to be an American.

So yes, we will be cooking out hamburgers this Memorial Day.

But we’ll also be talking about what it means to serve our country. We’ll talk about military service, an option that will be their choice someday, and we will talk about how even at their young ages, we can pray for our leaders, pray for our nation, and pray for those who have served, are serving, and for the families who love them.

Share with me: What’s your favorite thing about being an American?