Hi all. I noticed that there are contents that have been reported and deleted because they are objectionable though they may not be against Minti's terms. I'd like to remind everyone that because we may object to someone's article or content, it is not a reason to report.  If the resulting discussion gets out of hand and flaming starts to happen, then those comments have the right to be reported. But I think there should be no reason why adults can't engage on a healthy discussion.  Also, for sensitive topics, the discussions and disagreements may even help educate others.

To this point, I want to make a comment on a recent content about rape. There is a comment that have been deleted regarding this subject that implies the following; rape is a biological urge (the difference between a man and a woman) and that women should not hang out with a group of men that is not family, and lastly that rape happens when there is no available outlet for sex.  I find these statements highly objectionable and dangerous.

Rape is most often a crime of control. Rapist rape to feel powerful and in control. Rape is not a matter of urge. There are men who have neither fantasized of rape or even thought about rape. People are not animals driven by urges. And to imply that women are saver with relatives is outright dangerous. Sexual abuse of children are most often committed by family members or someone very familiar to the family. It is a crime of opportunity. As parents, we have to be equally cautious of males that are our relatives, friends and strangers.

As a parent of 3 small children, it is my duty to make sure they are safe and to teach them to be safe.

There is a story recently in my area about a 5 year old little girl that was found dead dumped on the side of the road. She was prostituted by her mother, and the man who raped her killed. My heart aches for this little girl and many others who have met the same fate.

For Minti articles on sexual abuse : http://www.minti.com/search/?query=sexual+abuse&item_type=advice&x=61&y=16

Hello folks,

I have noticed an increase of member reports lately for the reasons of spamming. In resolving this matter, I try to look for evidence. So I would like to remind everyone what spamming isn't.

Advertisement on Minti by way of a member's profile is allowed. We do not want to turn any business oriented people away. As we are all aware of, there are Minti parents who are trying to make ends meet by starting their own business. Advertisement is also allowed within one's own blog or appropriate group blog.

If you see someone abusing their blog and bombarding the activity list with blog posts full of advertising, then they are truly spamming our site. Though I rarely see this happen, you are more than welcome to report members caught doing this.

The only place we want to scrutinize is the advice section. Advice articles containing a parenting related advice and only containing minimum advertisement (about 2 lines) is allowed. Should you see articles with an excessive amount of advertisement, please feel free to report it.

For the reasons I have stated above, I will be resolving to keep some of the members that have been reported.

Regards,
Izzy

Yesterday, US President addressed students young and old in order to motivate them in the importance of education. This speech created a lot of hoopla before it was meant to air yesterday.  A lot of schools opted out and chose not to play it in their classrooms. The administration responded by posting the speech on the internet before yesterday's airing so that parents and teachers alike could make a decision on whether or not to play it.

It created a lot of discussion and a lot of political back and forth. If you are a parent who believe in the importance of education, I don't know what about this speech you'll find disagreeable. Surely, we put other, less admirable people as role models: actors/actresses, athletes.

I, as a parent, would more than gladly make my children listen to anyone who would give such encouraging speech.

Anyway, if you are curious... here it is.

I receive requests to "unsubscribe" on a daily basis, and some request to "delete" their profile.  I want to take this opportunity to deferentiate the two.

UNSUBSCRIBE - this means you no longer want to receive Minti emails to your personal email address, but you continue to be a Minti member.

HOW TO:

1. Log on to your Minti account.
2. Click on "Mailbox" on the left orange sidebar found on your homepage.
3. Click on "Settings" (found under "Mailbox" after click on it).
4. Click "Yes" or "No" on each of the options.
5. Click on "Save".

DELETE - this means you want your Minti profile permanently deleted. You will no longer be able to log on and make any posts and your account cannot be re-instated at any time in the future.

HOW TO:

• Contact any of the Minti Admins (claycook, matthew, izzy) with your request of account deletion.
• On your email, include your Minti username AND email address you used to register with your Minti account - this is so that we can verify that you are the owner of the account you are requesting to be deleted.

Thank you all! Please feel free to share this information.

We went to the beach last week and had a blast. It was the kids' and MY first beach trip, if you can believe it. My MIL thought it was the first time I had seen the ocean and wanted my hubby to take a picture of my first reaction. We had to correct her, that I have seen the ocean, the sea and seen the beach. I just haven't been on it! lol

Here are some pictures.

Originally posted on http://threesillyducklings.blogspot.com.

Two days ago, Curious George caught a baby frog. It was very small. He placed it in a spare tank we had. The problem is, we didn't know what to feed it since it was so small. This morning I told him that it was time to set it free because it was getting hungry, but before he does so, he could it play with it. Played with it, he did. After 15-20 minutes, Daddy told me that the frog is dead and that from what he could tell Curious George probably accidentally squeezed it.

I was worried that Curious George would get upset so I told him that it was dead and we needed to bury it. He then looked at me and said, "yeah! In 2 days, it was be alive again!"

"No, Matty. When an animal dies, it doesn't become alive again. It's dead forever, " I explained.

"No, Mommy. When God died, people buried him in a cave and two days after, God was alive again!"

If this is not proof that this boy pays attention in Sunday School, I don't know what is.

My 4 year old son is into critters lately, and being here at his Nana's and Papaw's there seems to be an endless supply. It's exciting for him, not so much for me. I am freaking out, but I am keeping it in check. I think so, anyway.

Here is Punky, the goldfish Curious George won at a Festival back in May.  I guess CG named in Punky because he looks like a punk with the black spot on the top of it's head, much like a mohawk? We'll never know. Punky has been so at home in his little tank he even plays with Curious George. Though he doesn't seem to be performing very well on this video.

We also now have a Grey tree frog. We've had one for several weeks and now we have a second one. We've been catching fireflies (something CG demands now every every evening!) tonight, when CG found it. Now Cricket (because he eats crickets) has a friend, Hopper. Curious George has a nack for naming his pets. lol

Here is Cricket hunting his cricket meal.

Thank you to all who participated in this year's Mother's Day competition. Out of several good articles, here are the 3 winners of m$10,000!

1. josierm  -  The OTHER side of depression

2. janicepovey  -  Built up Anger in Victims of Abuse

3. winja -  FLYING WITH KIDS

These 3 ladies will receive m$10,000 within the next few days.  Thank you for the great articles. Congrats!

Can you smell it? We're under SPAM attack!

There is a minti mail spam about weight loss and I see that some of you have been reporting them. Thanks! I've banned the accounts and working on deleting the accounts but phew, there are a lot of them! Feel free to report them if you see that the member still has not been deleted.

FYI - as I have been deleting the SPAM accounts, I've  chosen the option to remove the SPAM emails from everyone's Minti mail box. This means that you won't see the Minti mail here on Minti, but you may see the email in your personal email box (if you've set up your account to have a copy of your Minti mails in your personal email). THE SPAMMERS HAVE NO ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL EMAIL.

Thanks!
Izzy

Here are the rules for this competition:

1. Write great articles between now and at the end of Mother's day (May 10, 2009).  The articles do not need to be Mother's Day related, but they do need to be parenting related (See RachelCook's Minti's Editorial Guidelines advice).

2.The articles must recieve at least 10 votes to be considered.
 
(Should there be multiple articles that have the same score, the article with the most votes will win. If the articles have the same scores and the same amount of votes, then the Minti Team will have to chose the winners.)

3. The top 3 rated articles win m$10,000!!!!

4. Write multiple articles to boost your chance of winning.

5. Articles must adhere to the ToS and CoH and free of copyright issues.

Good luck!

-Minti Team