Today I Honor My Father on His Birthday

My dad at the Mentor Car Museum during his visit to OH.
(He had a truck just like this one when he was younger-I bet it wasn't quite as flashy though.)

While I've always admitted that my grandparents had a large hand in raising me I know that if my father weren't a part of my life, things would have been very different. (And for the worst)

I will admit that I learned a lot of what NOT to do in parenting from my Dad but

I also learned what TO DO.

Love them... & discipline them.

Kids and parents both do not realize-

A child will always love their parent. No matter what. Parents don't need to pretend to be someone else, make more money, be stronger or have more stuff. They don't need to act tough, say yes all the time or be their kids' best friends...

They just need to be themselves...and love their kid.

I talk about how my childhood was not as positive as I would've liked it, and that's true. I tell people that I learned how to parent by using common sense and educating myself....ALL true.

But there are things which my dad never got wrong (and what makes him my HERO):

MY FATHER NEVER LEFT ME

MY FATHER ALWAYS LOVED ME

MY FATHER ALWAYS LISTENED TO ME

MY FATHER SPENT TIME WITH ME

MY FATHER WORKED HARD

MY FATHER DISCIPLINED ME

(The verdict is still out on whether he was too strict "wink wink")

BOTTOM LINE IS MY FATHER ALWAYS LOVED ME (and still does)

I feel like the luckiest girl on earth to have my dad:

WHO DREAMED OF HAVING A LITTLE GIRL NAMED "AMBER" ME!

WHO NAMED ME

NEVER GAVE UP ON PARENTING (OR ME)

FOUGHT FOR ME WHEN THE TIME CAME

ADMIRES ME (AND TELLS ME)

RESPECTS ME

LISTENS TO ME

CALLS ME

HUGS ME

TEACHES ME

TALKS TO ME

AND....

LOVES ME UNCONDITIONALLY

My father didn't have an easy life either. He had mountainous obstacles to climb both as an adolescent and as an adult, but he NEVER, EVER QUIT, not on me-not on himself-nor did he lose sight what was most important: his child.

YOU ARE MY INSPIRATION DADDY & I'M PROUD TO CALL YOU MY FATHER.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY-

I LOVE YOU.

With All My Love,

Your Daughter,

Amber

Back to School Anxiety: Bullying

Download “School Boy Being Stressed” by David Castillo Dominici via freedigitalphotos.net I recently wrote about how to help your child if they’re struggling with going back to school because they were bullied. My biggest most important tip was to listen, because I honestly could not write a ‘How-to-make-them-not-afraid’ column. Frankly I thought that was absurd. Fear is sometimes real. Anxiety is sometimes truly there, and for a good reason. Our job as parents isn’t to try to make it go away, it’s to try to find out the true source of those worrisome feelings. If you’d like to read more, click here. And if you’re child is struggling to find excitement about the new school year, don’t deny it, just accept it and move forward gently. Here’s some more on bullying: Family Matters Links: A Touching Story/Song Bullying: A thing of the past A Peace Poem By My Teenage Daughter A Deeper Insight into My Thoughts on People Who Bring Harm to Others Other Links: Stop Bul

Green Punch Buggy....!!!!

Green Punch Buggy...No Punch Back! As I was writing this blog post, my son came to me showing off his Lego creation. And don't you know I got hit at least five times since on my computer screen was displaying at least five different punch buggies, of five different colors thanks to Google Images. (Bad timing I'm thinking...) How can we possibly have world peace with these silly cars in the world!? ;) Don't the owners of these cute-but-obnoxious-cars understand that driving these things around town promotes violence!? ;) Anyhow.... The original purpose of this blog was to ask parents everywhere this question: Do you find yourself saying 'PUNCH BUGGY *BLANK-COLOR*! ' to yourself, even when the kids are not in the car??? I do! Isn't it funny how those games we used to play as a child are still around? I bet our parents say the same thing.... HAPPY FRIIIIIIDAAAAYYYY! P.S. I got hit at least ten more times, since as my son stood beside

Good Customer Service At Home

Over the years, my careers have mainly been customer service based. I started in a family business and then moved on up through the rungs from waitress, to hostess, to sales associate, manager and eventually the GM of a hotel. In all my years, my training taught me that you should always do your best to take your customer all the way to what they need, make them happy, and never leave them until they are done with you. I pride myself on my customer service abilities. Though the other day, I think I failed at customer service in my own home! I was getting ready to cut my daughter's hair and because of how long it had gotten (she's been growing it out for a year!) I felt this time it would be best if instead of me spritzing it with water, she could wash and condition it real quick. She was fully clothed so I just suggested she run into the bathroom and wash her hair in the tub. She’s fourteen. I suppose I just assumed that she knew how to kneel over the tub and do it.

Search This Blog