coffeebean81387

One thing that I like to do with my daughter is cover Latin roots with her. I'll pick some words and we'll break them apart and I'll see if she can guess the meaning of bigger words based on their roots. Ex. "Transport" Trans meaning across and port meaning to carry. I covered this one in the car and related it to how the car is transporting us. The car is "carrying" us "across" a bridge. I found it useful and fun when I learned it and hope that it helps her have a stronger grasp of language and an easier time in school.

Far too often in life I've seen situations spiral out of control because of misunderstandings between people. One thing I've learned from watching these interactions is how absolutely critical communication is for people to have healthy relationships. Social situations are things that I was never really comfortable with. Being something that I've been working hard to master I considered how difficult it was for me to break out and communicate with people. Having thought about it I didn't want my kids to struggle like I did. I've endeavored to make communication with my kids key. One way I've been making sure I communicate is that I make sure my kids know why I do the things that I do to help them be able to reason through their own situations if need be. I feel it's important that they have the tools to make their own informed decisions. Probably the most important thing I've done is to practice what I preach and involve my kids in the process. My daughter came home from her great aunt's place on my ex wife's side saying that she didn't want to go there anymore and that her aunt was mean to her. This was extremely surprising to me as I know the kids always loved going over there and that they did lots of fun activities. I made my first step talking with my daughter (age 7 for reference) and getting to the heart of the matter from her point of view. After I got her side of the story I asked the aunt to come over for a sit down where we talked out exactly what caused the issue and why my daughter felt the way she did. I took care to involve my daughter in the conversation and took time to understand how she was feeling. The result was that my daughter was not being completely honest with me and I made sure she knew that I am here for her if she needs me but she needs to be honest with me for me to be able to help her. At the end of these talks I always ask my kids to recap what we've learned for me so that I know that they really understand. It is also important that you come to an agreement on how things should be because if they don't agree that something is wrong they will continue to do it. So to this day the kids love going to their aunt's house and they don't have to miss out on moments with family that love them and fun times to be had. Aside from the benefit to the kids I am also glad that we got things worked out. I don't want to force my kids to go somewhere they hate and want them to be able to confide in me. On the other hand being a single parent is tough, I never wanted to be a single parent, I take pride in my role as a dad but this is a two person job. This makes it so important to have a strong and reliable network of friends and family who can help you when you need it. While my ex-wife rarely bothers to see the kids, her family still want to see them and I make sure they get the opportunity to do so. It's good for the kids, it's good for me, and open communication is the tool used to make it happen.

Exactly, it's a scary feeling. Thanks for the welcome!

If the extent of their aggression is honking the horn then I'm not sure any aggressive defensive actions necessarily need to be taken. They honk their horn in anger and frustration then zoom out of your life, I think any further escalation would lead to further negative results for both parties and possibly innocent bystanders as well.

I'm certain my children will benefit from the changes I've made and I certainly hope to meet all the good people A4E!

Hello everyone, I've been watching Stefan for a couple years now I think and never really used the message board. I feel most alive when I use that mushy processor between my ears and sometimes I find it difficult to find like minded individuals. So I'm hoping I can fix that here! My name is John. I'm a 28 y/o man from West Michigan in the U.S. and I work in manufacturing as a Cut and Etch (Macro Etch) Technician. I've been divorced for about 3 years now and am the full time parent of two kids (their mother only sees them a few times a year). I enjoy science and learning about the world around us and also the inner workings of the human mind. I enjoy logic and because of that can become really frustrated with the world around me. I'm an atheist and sometimes I wish I wasn't. Sometimes when I think about the possibility of no consciousness after death it chills me to the core. The thought of not existing to me is truly terrifying. I love learning and crave knowledge. Most recently I've pondered the concept of "fair." My daughter came home from school telling me about how one of her classmates had something she didn't and that it wasn't fair and that really got me thinking. I've concluded that fair is a terrible concept because it's not based in reality. The reality is that one person's concept of fair is completely different from another person's. I then thought of something my 11 year old cousin said while we were camping, "you get what you get and don't throw a fit." Then I put the two together and decided we shouldn't strive for a world that is fair because that is unobtainable. Instead, we take what we have available to us in life and make the most out of it that we possibly can. I remember my first time looking at myself and truly questioning if I was living in a responsible manner. In middle school (6th or 7th grade I think?) I remember sitting in math class as the teacher went over test scores and told the class the highest scores (not who had them of course) and when she said mine I remember being so filled with pride I exclaimed that it was mine she had just read. I remember the look on my classmates faces and couldn't understand why they looked so sad so I spent that night thinking about how I had interacted with them and decided that maybe I should put some of that effort to good use and help my classmates get their scores to where they can feel good about them too. The next time that really stands out in my memory is my sophomore year in high school in my German class. I can't remember what brought this particular way of thinking on but I remember thinking that being happy for my own achievements wasn't really fulfilling so I made a conscience effort to come in the next day and start showing others praise and appreciation for the fruits of their own labor. The most recent time I had one of these moments is after my divorce I remember yelling at my kids for something and giving them spankings. Something just didn't feel right about it. Spanking was never a daily thing in the house but part of me knew that it was wrong. It didn't stop there unfortunately, I was lost and dealing with plenty from the divorce but it was on my mind all the time. Shortly after that my friend had sent me one of Stefan's videos on the economy so I decided to see what else he had and discovered his peaceful parenting message. It really helped give me some direction with raising my kids and I'm thankful for that. I know I'm not 100% there yet and catch myself using some bad habits but I know I've grown a lot from where I was. I guess it's just really important to keep growing as a person and I'm hoping that I can help my kids learn some things the easy way so they don't have to do it the hard way like me. Sorry if that was a little long winded lol. I'd love to hear stories from other members too. I find learning how others have grown fascinating as well.