What if all the parents on this site organized a tv-less month?  We used to do this every July at our house.  At first the kids would scream and protest - and so would the adults!  But by the third or fourth day we found an amazing number of things to do.  It helped to have all the activities around the 4th of July to kick off the month.  It helped get us out of the tv habit.  We played games outside, cards, board games, hide and seek, cops and robbers, castaway.  By the time the month ended, we didn't even pay attention.  It was really the return of the school year that would get us back into our old bad habits.  So much of our wellness issues are around the tv as well as many of our financial issues.  Does any body who works in an office ever have one like the ones on TV?  Can we make it a movement?  I'm in!

My daughter just finished her first year teaching second grade in an inner city school in a major metropolitan area.  She had 31 students - four of whom were such behavior problems that they took up almost all of her time.  Her only way to get their attention when they were misbehaving was to call one of their parents.  A mother of one of these students finally called a meeting with my daughter and the principal.  Her issue?  This teacher keeps calling me all the time, telling me my child is lying, telling me my child is stealing, what am I supposed to do about it?  She wasn't being sarcastic or snide.  She was asking for help.  She had no idea how to improve her child's behavior. 

So that is why I have signed up for this site.  I think parents should be helping other parents.  It's the most difficult job in the world and the one for which we receive the least training.  If you happen to have great parents you are so much ahead of the game because you learn from them.  But if you don't have great parents, then what?  Is there anything about good parenting that cannot be learned?  I don't think so.  The question is - how can we help?