so grouchy

some days are just grouchy days. can't snap out of it. Everything annoys me. i try to stay off of fb on these days because people and their statuses only add fuel to the fire. It's that time of the month and I get so grouchy for so many reasons. I resent the fact that men don't have ANYTHING like this in THEIR lives. It makes me tired, and to top it all off .....it sometimes just downright HURTS!.....ugh

Anyway.....I'm headed to the parent council meeting tonight to discuss the school's bullying policies. How we need to walk the walk if we are going to talk the talk. should be an interesting meeting. I'll keep you posted. I also am going to book club tonight too. I made a commitment and I AM going. Even if the meeting is long and I'm drained. When you say you are going to go somewhere...~ when you have RSVP'ed and said you will be there....then BE there. I'm finding the etiquette department is really lacking in this day and age.It's really quite annoying. No consideration is given to your host when you say you are coming and then don't show up. RUDE people!!!Ok that's my rant! Better get off here too before I put you all into the grouchy mood I'm in.

shit rolls down hill

So if you have more than one child, and one of them is being bullied, it doesn't end with the one child. It's been a rough couple of days for this family with a lot of crying and arguing! Because Adam is being teased and taunted and ridiculed at school,(they really know how to get him going), Benjamin has been feeling it too. The kids feel the need to come and tell him what Adam is doing,or what he said. Adam is in in 5/6 split so he shares his classroom with Benjamin's classmates. This is starting to become a huge problem for Benjamin. He is embarrassed by Adam's behavior and feels that if he defends him, he'll lose his friends too. He doesn't want to "become" what Adam is ,by having no friends. While at first glance this seems rude and childish of Benjamin; I can truly understand where he's coming from. This is a time where he (Ben) is also trying to find out where he fits in and who he is. He doesn't want to be defined by his brother. Of course we preach "he is your brother and always will be", "when you don't see your friends anymore, your brother will still be there", " if you can't count on your family,then who can you count on?"While all these things may be true, they are still hard for a boy of 11 to grasp and put into practice. We are all aware that Adam has an artistic mind that can't be tamed. He has different and strange ideas. The problem then, is that he doesn't blend in. He sticks out and is fair game for whomever wants to point it out. There are unfortunately a lot of takers at this school. Benjamin is truly frustrated and feels HE is being punished for something he has no control over. It doesn't end here.....
Olivia came downstairs crying about an hour ago. She feels "stressed out" about Adam. She doesn't know how she can help him. She wants to do more. She says that she is so sad that Adam's feelings are hurt on a regular basis but doesn't know how to fix it.That makes 5 of us. I wish I could tell her the answer. I wish I knew what to do. We WILL get through this, but being IN it is taking its toll. The aggressor in me wants to go to the school and yell at them all. I know that's not the answer but I know it would feel good at the time. I am NOT a fan of homeschooling at all, but....the thought has briefly crossed my mind. These are all things that my kids are going to have to deal with, even as adults. They need to learn how to cope with those bullies that never go away. I'm finding it hard though, to find the words each day to continue encouraging all of them.We are taking it day by day but seriously......something is gonna blow real soon. I just hope it's not my head! LOL

Kids today

Recently a friend overheard some grade 5 and 6 students playing at school and tossing around the word "rape". Putting it on fb, it soon accumulated many comments about how wrong it was. A few more examples were thrown in of young kids jumping off of things in the playground and saying "I'm committing suicide!" Seriously!!!! What is going on with our kids these days? Are we too permissive. Are we not talking enough with our children on these subjects. It used to be just about drugs and drinking: "just say no!" Now we need

to educate our kids on abuse (of many different kinds),bullying, suicide,rape, and many other adult related topics. The fact is that many kids today KNOW a lot more than we did, as kids. With the media being so available to everyone, there is no filter for our kids. They hear what the adults hear. We need to prepare them. Avoidance is not really an option anymore because what they don't hear at home; they will pick up at school.  Education and information is key. We don't want to scare our kids so the TIMING is everything.


 I often think of the European countries where they consider the human body nothing to be ashamed of. It's everywhere( billboards, commercials) and kids see it from an early age. When they do see breasts (that most of us have fed upon...hello); it's not really a big deal to them.It's part of the human body that they have seen many times and have grown up believing that it is nothing to be ashamed of. It's not a secret! I find the more secretive we make things....the  more kids want to know about it. And really; they ARE finding out more and more all the time. Another example is the availability of alcohol in Quebec. Their attitude towards it, is a lot more liberal and you can buy it in the corner store. When I was there at 18 years of age, I thought this was great!!!! You can buy booze right at the 7/11! The kids in Quebec, however did not find this all that exciting. They had grown up with it and it was no big deal to them. There has to be some good lessons to be taken from that. Of course all these things cannot be introduced all at once.We CAN however start within the home.


 No topic is off limits in our house. If you are old enough to ask about it, then you are old enough to know about it.If they are asking.........then it means they already have "SOME" information on it. You need to find out if they have the facts straight. I understand that kids are growing up way too fast these days and we want them to have a happy healthy childhood; full of great kid-like memories.  But we also need to remember that we don't have control over a lot of things and burying our heads in the sand and avoiding the big questions because we "think our kids are too young for that" is not going to help anyone in the long run. TALK to your kids about it all. Keep the lines of communication open. That's all I'm saying!