Parental Guidance Suggested

                                                                               ©2011-2012 ~Lucid14Havoc

Some people are meant to be parents and I am not one of those people. They seem to be in this zen state of being and in harmony with their children while the rest of us are pulling out hair out and stocking up on Barefoot Merlot.  Don’t get me wrong, if I really focus and apply myself- as with anything else- I am a decent parent, but if someone was offering quarterly training on raising children, SIGN ME UP! There is no shame in my game.  

We spend thousands of dollars to go to school to get better careers. We go through numerous hours of training at work to be better at our jobs. But, let someone comment or make a suggestion about how we deal with our children and all hell breaks loose. We know what’s best for our children and no one else. I remember being 18-years-old, in my infinite wisdom, snapping at my son’s grandma for making a suggestion about something or the other about what I should do with my son. Mind you she’s raised four children of her own.

Now when I suggest that there be a parenting class I don’t mean diaper changing, bathing, and first aid. I mean, like, how to tell a kid about God when you aren’t too sure about religion yourself? What’s a nice way tell a 6-year-old to “stop asking so many damn questions, it doesn’t really matter how many leaves are on that tree”?

Luckily, I think, my son has developed a pretty thick skin and I can tell him, “Please shut up” without him crying or thinking his mother doesn’t love him. But then again, I think, “Is this how he’s going to allow women to treat him in the future?”  With all of my parental shortcomings, I think how this is affecting the type of person that my son will be as he gets older. Which brings me back to my case for quarterly parental training.

You need a license or permit to drive a car, get married, and even to build a new porch on your house. Anyone, however, without any government regulation or involvement can reproduce and raise other human beings. Even children can do it! I know… I did. But while I don’t have the answer to the world’s problem of overpopulation, I can offer my commentary on the need for reproductive regulation and strict parental guidance.

 Am I the only one who feels this way?

Shannon

You are NOT Entitled

Hope you can see this okay. This article was written in 1959 and sort of addresses the sense of entitlement that so many people these days have. Apparently, I am not alone in my thinking about people who think a better position in life is going to jump up and bite them or fall in their laps.

Spending a good chunk of the last decade in college, I see that John Tapene's advice fell on deaf ears. Can you believe there are students out there who actually expect the professors to write the notes for them? If one more twenty-something with sparkly nail polish asks the teacher "Can you put an outline on Blackboard?"...Then there's "What exactly is going to be on the test?" and "Is there extra credit?" I say, take your own notes! Get a good understanding of the material so it won't matter what the teacher puts on the test! And do what's required, extra credit is only extra when you did the assignments!

So, I see that I am going off on a tangent, so I'm going to end on that note.

By the way, this article was suggested by Bruce Angel in response to my last blog.

Shannon

We must not consider ourselves failures, but those who excel at mediocrity

Hey, do you hate your job? Do you feel like you don't make enough money? Not living in that dream house or driving that dream car yet? Well guess what?....Most of the people around you aren't either. But don't consider yourself a failure yet, you are the epitome of mediocrity!

Mediocrity is so underrated in today's society. Where I work, most people hate their job. Could it be because we work with the public? Could it be that we are understaffed and overworked? I think maybe because we are programmed as Americans to dislike our occupations. Words like 'underpayed', 'underemployed', 'overworked', and the idea of the dreadful Monday are way to prevalent among the workers of America.

The underlying reason, that I deduce, why people really hate their jobs is the the hope and prospect of something better. My question to these sympathizers is: What have you done to deserve better? No really, what have you done? Learned a skill? Improved on your leadership experience? Because a "better" job is not gonna seek you out, nor fall into your lap. Besides, what is so bad about where you are now?  I guarantee that you are exactly where you are supposed to be, and if you weren't you wouldn't be there. Whether you are intended to stay where you are or someday move on to something else, today...right now...you are where you are supposed to be. So my advice to you is to suck it up, get some comfortable shoes, and settle in.  The fact is, workers make the world go round. Everyone can't be in upper management. And as much as people like to believe that their bosses are out of touch or incompetent, they probably couldn't do their job and if they had the job they probably wouldn't like it.

Let's face it, the world needs security guards, bank tellers, janitors, cashiers, and people to make the food. Most importantly the world needs people who do these things well.

So, for as much as my coworkers complain about their jobs and where they should be in life, we continue to get a paycheck every two weeks, we have health benefits, we get paid vacations and sick time. Basically we are in a position where millions of Americans WISH they could be in right now. We look to those who have more, we long to have what they have, and we snarl at the mediocrity that we call life. But as a wise fellow Facebook-er said all too well "Don't worry about what someone else has because you don't know or may not be willing to endure the same obstacles to get where they are in life." (Akasia Jerrett)

And on that note, I'm out. Peace.

Shannon