M is for the Million Things She Gave

Our Textbook mentioned this song, so I found the lyrics to post here.  I thought the words were really cute.

M-O-T-H-E-R (A WORD THAT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME)
Writers Howard Johnson, Theodore Morse, Eddy Arnold

I've been around the world, you bet, but never went to school

Hard knocks are all I seem to get, perhaps I've been a fool;

But still, some educated folks, supposed to be so swell,

Would fail if they were called upon a simple word to spell.

 Now if you'd like to put me to the test, There's one dear name that I can spell the best!

"M" is for the million things she gave me

"O" means only that she's growing old

"T" is for the tears she shed to save me

"H" is for her heart of purest gold

"E" is for her eyes with love-light shining

"R" means right and right she'll always be

Put them all together they spell MOTHER,

a word that means the world to me.

When I was but a baby, long before I learned to walk,

While lying in my cradle, I would try my best to talk;

It wasn't long before I spoke and all the neighbors heard,

My folks were very proud of me for "Mother" was the word.

Although I'll never lay a claim to fame, I'm satisfied that I can spell the name:

"M" is for the mercy she possesses

"O" means that I owe her all I own

"T" is for her tender, sweet caresses

"H" is for her hands that made a home

"E" means ev'rything she's done to help me

"R" means real and regular, you see

Put them all together they spell MOTHER, a word that means the world to me. 

M-O-T-H-E-R

Raising Teenagers

It's important to write our children letters of encouragement.  I remember getting lots of letters from my Dad over the years wrote me me some great letters.  These letters always made me feel special and loved.  We should parent our teenagers with the idea "freedom within limits."  Our kids need to have limits but we can't be so controlling of their freedoms.  Our teenagers need to have rules, regulations, and consequences.  They need to be involved in making the rules and consequences.  We need to listen to our kids.  We can't be dictators.  If we truly listen to our kids they will respond better and come to us with their problems.  We need to be active parents in or teenagers lives.  Here are a few links that we had to watch this week for school.  I decided to attach them, since I don't have teenagers yet and these might come in handy in the future.  

Session 1: The Active Parent

Session 2: Winning Cooperation

Session 3: Responsibility and Discipline

Session 4: Building Courage, Redirecting Misbehavior

While I don't have teenagers yet, it is important to learn about them so that we can have a good feelings in our home, and have good working situations.