<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS 2.0" href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/rss.xml" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/style.css" /> </head> <body> <div id="container"> <div id="left"> <h4>Menu</h4> <div id="navcontainer"> <ul id="navlist"> <li id="active"><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/about-me.html" id="current">About me</a></li> </ul> <br /> <h4>Recently</h4> <ul id="navlist"> <li><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/the-purple-dragons.html">The Purple Dragons </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/stalking-the-soccer-coaches.html">Stalking the Soccer Coaches</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/i-am-big-brother.html">I am Big Brother</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/the-bears-vs-the-alligators.html">The Bears Vs. The Alligators</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/thats-just-me.html">That's Just Me</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/too-muchtoo-soon.html">Too Much....Too Soon?</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/wheres-the-work.html">Where's the Work?</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/caught-drifting-off-in-class.html">Caught Drifting Off In Class</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/putting-children-first.html">Putting Children First</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/hanging-on-by-a-string.html">Hanging on by a string</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/just-say-no.html">Just Say NO!</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/teaching-to-the-class.html">Teaching to the Class</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/sports-help-raise-a-child.html">Sports help Raise a Child</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/a-parenting-dilemma.html">A Parenting Dilemma</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/summer-break-family-style.html">Summer Break Family Style</a></li> </ul> <br /> <h4>Archives</h4> <ul id="navlist"> <li><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/05-01-2008_05-31-2008.html">May 2008</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/04-01-2008_04-30-2008.html">April 2008</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/03-01-2008_03-31-2008.html">March 2008</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div id="right"> <h1> A Lifetime of Learning</h1> <h2>Blogging from the University of Maryland</h2> <h3>The Purple Dragons </h3> <p> <img src="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/media/images(2).jpg" height="131" width="119"> </p> <p> As I may or may not have told you already, all three of my boys play soccer. The younger 2 boys play on the same team in the local recreation soccer league. Well, several weeks before the season began; they called and asked me to be the coach for their team. I told them there was just no way I would have the time, however in the end, they roped me into it anyway. In the beginning, we wound up playing our first game, and I didn’t even know the boys names or how they played soccer. Two of our players had never played soccer before and that made it really interesting. It actually turns out that the team was naturally pretty good on that first game day, which was kind of exciting. Well, at practice on the following week, I realized that pretty much all the boys I had on the team were high energy, low attention span, so our first two practices I just worked on trying to get the boys to listen, but that really didn’t go so well. I have an assistant coach, but he really is just a figure head who shows up when he can and really most of the responsibility lies with me. Well, we lost our first 2 games and our practices were out of control, so I called a friend of mine who not only is on the board of the soccer league, but is also a U12 boy’s travel coach and has many years of coaching experience. He came out and showed me some drills and games we could play at our practice. He also gave me some tips, and the practices have been going a little better ever since. I also purchased a whistle, which with these boys was a necessary item to have handy. </p> <p> </p> <p> We tied our next two games, which I thought was pretty good. Every week I was stressing over my line up and trying to get everyone a chance to play forward and take turns sitting out, and then I truly found the line up that works for us. Well, we only have one game left plus our tournament, but we have won our last two games. The boys are finally learning to pass and communicate on the field. They are doing a little more thinking and backing each other up. Quite honestly, I can’t believe how much better they are playing. Yes, that’s right I am now the proud mama of these boys and am really surprised that I have been able to get any sort of compliance from them at all. Practices are starting to get a little whilly nilly again, but I will reel those boys in next week. I finally have them playing decent soccer while having fun, and I have finally figured up a line up that seems to be really working for all. I am really excited to see how we can do in this tournament in two weeks. I know it will be a lot of fun for the boys and I will have a blast as well. Go Purple Dragons! </p> <p> <i>Posted on <a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/the-purple-dragons.html">Sunday, May 11, 2008 9:00 PM</a> by Carol Ann</i> <br /><br /> </p> <h3>Stalking the Soccer Coaches</h3> <p> My husband is such a character sometimes, I can’t believe him. Yesterday, he got a news paper and on the front cover of the local paper was an announcement that our local high school was having a ribbon cutting ceremony on their new soccer field. We were not even aware that they were creating a new soccer field. Well my son who is currently in travel soccer is 12 ½ and is only about 2 years away from getting to play soccer for the high school team. Well, my husband sees this opportunity to go over there and meet the soccer people at the high school. He makes my son get himself all cleaned up showered and dressed, he is sporting one of those long hair styles that always has his hair looking messy and drives my husband crazy. Anyway, they head over to the school together, and my husband is right away scouting out the varsity soccer coach, whose name he was sure to get straight prior to going over there. Sure enough, he actually knew the assistant coach of the varsity boy’s soccer team, who turned out to be someone he had worked with in the past. He of course also made it a point to meet with the varsity coach and of course had my son speaking with both of them. It was actually a really good thing for my son, because he is the type of kid that gets pulled off task very easily, so sometimes he needs the little reminders about what he is working toward. They also told him that he would need good grades to make the team, which will help him to realize that he needs to stay focused on his academics as well as his soccer playing. Keeping his grades on track has been a really big battle this year, so I am hoping he will work at getting his grades up in the coming year, especially if he thinks he might not be able to play soccer if he doesn’t. </p> <p> </p> <p> After all was said and done, my husband came home very pleased with himself as he felt like he had helped our son make the necessary connections at the high school. It turns out that a local news crew was up there at the school, so we decided to check out the late night news and see if our son had gotten his picture on camera. Well, needless to say, my son did not get his picture on the news, but my husband was on there twice. Once with the head varsity coach and once with the assistant varsity coach that he was friends with. Well, my son and I harassed him about harassing the coaches and we all got a good belly laugh out of the thing. I don’t think that sometimes my husband really realizes how dorky he really is, but I know that he is well meaning, and I love him for it. I know that he would do anything for his kids and thinks they are the best, and I think that is what makes him so special. </p> <p> <i>Posted on <a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/stalking-the-soccer-coaches.html">Tuesday, May 06, 2008 9:57 AM</a> by Carol Ann</i> <br /><br /> </p> <h3>I am Big Brother</h3> <p> Maybe it sounds a bit old of me, but I am just not sure I love the technology age that we are in. I think that it invites the potential for people to know more about you than they should. Realize that every time you type information into a Google search, you immediately start getting emails in your inbox about that particular thing that you were researching online. You must be very careful about the information you enter online as anyone can be looking at you and what you are doing. As a mother it concerns me even more, and I have told my kids to not put any information about themselves up online. One day I was watching a show about internet predators, and they showed how putting up even just pictures about yourself and what town you live in could provide a predator with enough information to come after a kid that they “like”. They showed how if a kid puts in their real town or even their state, how if they also put up some pictures of themselves and their friends you can usually find one that either shows a school shirt or a team jersey or something to that affect. That combined with their age, can actually provide an internet predator with a pretty accurate location of your child. It is pretty frightening. </p> <p> Then they showed a family where the teenage girl had been communicating with what she thought was a kid online and it turned out it was a grown up and he began calling her house and the family was so afraid that they had to move. They didn’t realize that people who are good at this internet stuff can find you even if you don’t tell them exactly who you are. They had tried changing their number, but he just kept getting their new #. It was really scary. </p> <p> I don’t allow my kids to access a computer that is out of my view. I have two computers and they are both in one of the main rooms of the house, where their father or myself can come walking past at any time. I also installed a program called big brother on the computer that the kids use most often. It was an online down load and cost me about $50.00, but it will save all the words the kid’s type, all their passwords, and also take screen shots at set intervals so you can see exactly what they are accessing. You can hide this in your computer, so the kids don’t even know that it is there. Now I can check out and see exactly who they are talking to and what they are saying. I can enter their my space accounts and see exactly who they are talking to. You can say this is an invasion of their privacy and maybe so, but as a parent, if I need to be responsible for their actions, then I need to know what their actions are so I can be truly accountable. My kids trust me and for the most part, I trust them. I still however realize that they very easily could unknowingly get themselves into trouble in the internet world. After all, they are still just kids. </p> <p> <i>Posted on <a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/i-am-big-brother.html">Thursday, May 01, 2008 9:56 AM</a> by Carol Ann</i> <br /><br /> </p> <h3>The Bears Vs. The Alligators</h3> <p> I have recently become aware of a totally outrageous fact about the reading program at our local elementary school. At our school there are two rankings of readers the Alligators and the Bears. The Alligators are the higher ranking students and the Bears are the lower ranking students. Now the students become aware of these rankings and what they mean very early on. They start out being labeled the smart ones and the dumb ones, and you may nicely call it Alligators and Bears, but the kids know what you mean. It is not bad enough that these kids have to spend all their time feeling like the dumb ones, but these kids were ranked this way about 4 months prior to kindergarten. That’s right. They are labeled this way before they ever get into school and based on one quick overview test and interview and on one persons opinion. If they don’t perform well on that particular test, then they are ranked as a bear. And even worse yet, if they are ranked as a Bear, they then are a bear for the rest of their school career. I was informed directly by a reading teacher at this school that once your child is a Bear, they can never be an Alligator. </p> <p> </p> <p> What an amazingly negative concept! Can you believe that a school would create such a negative air around their reading program? They will never be able to be an Alligator. How horrible is that? They place them there and no matter how they succeed from their on out they can never rid themselves of the stigma of being dumb. Now the parents think that their kids are dumb and the kids think that they are the dumb ones and they have to stay like this forever, because of one test when they entered school? </p> <p> </p> <p> I just think that we should build are kids up, not label them dumb at 5 and keep them in that category for the rest of their lives. I saw a child go from a Kindergarten reading level at the beginning of 2nd grade to a third grade reading level at the end of 2nd grade, and this child will remain a bear forever and ever even though he is actually on grade level now. A child who can go up 3 reading levels in one year is not stupid. I think that reading is a developmental process and that we can not force kids who are not developmentally ready to read before their time. Labeling them in this manner just creates for them a feeling of failure right from the start. Now I notice with many of these lower 2nd grade readers that they do whatever they can to avoid having to read. Of course they do, I mean if you had something that everyone was telling you that you were a failure at, wouldn’t you give up. </p> <p> </p> <p> I think it is important to teach the children that hard work pays off, and that through hard work you can do anything you set your mind to, even become an Alligator. </p> <p> <i>Posted on <a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/the-bears-vs-the-alligators.html">Wednesday, April 30, 2008 9:54 AM</a> by Carol Ann</i> <br /><br /> </p> <h3>That's Just Me</h3> <p> Recently my husband told me that he would like to start keeping a gun in the house for protection. I told him, I will not live in a house with a gun. I don’t like guns and think that there are already too many of them in the world today. It seems like every time you turn around there is another accidental shooting, kids shooting kids, someone cleaning their gun and it accidentally going off and stuff like that. We live in a house with four kids and I could never sleep at night thinking that the possibility exists that one of them could accidentally or purposely have access to a gun. </p> <p> I don’t believe that owning a gun makes you any safer than not owning one does. I think if anything quite the opposite is true. When you own a gun, and you hear a noise at night and get frightened, what is the first thing that you will do…grab that gun. You won’t mean to hurt anyone, but what if the noise you hear is one of the kids or your spouse, you might pull the trigger out of fear and hurt someone totally by accident. </p> <p> I don’t believe in the right to bear arms, I think that the more guns that are out there, the better the chance that they could fall into the wrong hands. I won’t fill the world with anymore violence than is necessary and I won’t contribute to the downfall of our society. I don’t allow my kids to play with guns. I think that playing with them, just allows them to become numb to the harm that can be done with one of these things. I didn’t even allow brightly colored water guns until very recently. I don’t allow games that require shooting at people. I don’t like violence and I don’t ever want my kids to become numb to it, especially the boys. I have had many an argument with my 12 year old son about paintball guns and pellet guns and bb guns. I don’t care how many of his friends have guns to play with, I won’t allow it. I don’t want them to accidentally get an eye taken out by these “toys”. My nine year old actually has friends who own their own real guns already. I try to explain to my kids that this is not acceptable in my mind, but they hunt. Now my oldest son says that he wants to hunt. I don’t really believe in hunting and don’t even really like to eat meat. I think that mostly it is inhumane to treat any of God’s creatures this way. I know I am in the minority on this one…but that’s just me. </p> <p> <i>Posted on <a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/thats-just-me.html">Monday, April 28, 2008 9:52 AM</a> by Carol Ann</i> <br /><br /> </p> <h3>Too Much....Too Soon?</h3> <p> What is the deal with kids and the ADD diagnosis? I am not sure if this is really as big an issue as everyone is making it out to be. I have been spending a lot of time in the schools and quite honestly, I think that the real issue is that we are asking too much of these kids. I watch kindergarteners taking word study tests and having homework every night. Now the new initiative is that every child should be enrolled in school by 4. I did some substituting in a local elementary school, and they won't even let their kindergarten students play in the learning centers anymore. Then I watched as these children were only given a 15 minute recess (play time) and then were expected to sit at their tables doing nothing for about 30 minutes, while kids were bath rooming and waiting for other children on that grade level to bathroom as well. Needless to say, these kids were bored out of their minds, and eventually I would say after about 15 minutes of sitting, some of the kids began playing with the crayon baskets on the tables. They were reprimanded for this behavior. Now I ask you as an adult, if asked to sit there for 30 minutes with nothing to do, would you not have started playing with the crayon basket too? I think some of you probably would have. </p> <p> </p> <p> I think it is great to start the learning process at an early age, however, I also believe that there are both good and bad ways to do this. For instance, why does everything that we teach them have to be taught while sitting and being quiet? Why can't we sing our ABC songs while jumping up and down? People are always saying that our society has become too lazy and overweight, and yet with the youngest of the people in it, all we can tell them is to sit down and be quiet. Don't express yourself! No playing! We really as a society need to find a balance between having children learn and having them be still. Playing, running, laughing, socializing, are all part of learning. </p> <p> </p> <p> My own experience is that we are pushing children to learn things before they are developmentally ready for them, and therefore our level of education is suffering. I was told this about my daughter and her pre algebra class. She took her class the first time and although she has always been an A and B student, mostly A's, she struggled with pre algebra and barely made a C. When she went to take the class the next year, I discussed this with her new teacher and she said that this was quite normal. That developmentally some children, no matter how smart, just are not ready for certain concepts until their brains mature to a certain point. </p> <p> </p> <p> I think this is why so many children are struggling with reading and attention. I think they are just not ready for all this stuff, they are still developing as people, and as educators we not only need to acknowledge this, but work to change a system that is not working. I know from my perspective, I stayed at home with my mom until I entered kindergarten, and was not asked to read, take tests or do homework at that age, and yet somehow, I seem to have gotten a more well rounded education, then I find that my children are receiving today…Why is that? </p> <p> <i>Posted on <a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/too-muchtoo-soon.html">Thursday, April 24, 2008 8:34 PM</a> by Carol Ann</i> <br /><br /> </p> <h3>Where's the Work?</h3> <p> Working in the school systems has been my motivation to return to school and get my degree in early childhood education with a secondary in elementary education. As I am watching the way things are changing, I am not sure that they are changing for the better. </p> <p> The only reference point I have is from when I was a kid. I remember you had only one teacher and sat in class everyday doing your school work. Now, it seems like they are trying to make everything a game for these kids. We have reading games and math games and the focus is on playing the game. What ever happened to telling kids that this is what you need to know? I have even seen some teachers afraid to tell the students that they are taking a test; I am not really sure why this is. I personally would try harder if I knew I was taking a test, if I thought it was just class work, I might not try as hard. Also, they move these kids around every 45 minutes and I really think that if they would keep them in one classroom with one teacher all day long, the children would have more consistency and probably better behavior. I watch kindergarten children (mostly 5 year olds) have to go from one teacher and one set of rules to another, and they are expected to keep track of it all. In my opinion, if we were to keep them in one place with one teacher and one set of expectations, we would probably see better results. </p> <p> I have a son who is in middle school now and a daughter who is in high school and neither of them ever have to take notes. They just keep coming home with ditto sheets and preprinted notes. Then I am being told by the middle school that my son is not paying attention and all I can think is, if he were taking notes, he would have to pay more attention, wouldn't he? I just don't really understand it. What happened to the days where school was a serious business? I remember when I was in school in 3rd grade we wrote cursive letter over and over and over again, until you hand was going to nearly fall off. You would never complain or moan at a teacher. Today, that is all you hear is whining. Maybe, we are taking spoiling these kids way to far. A little hard work never hurt anyone. How can we ever expect to make productive members of our society out of these kids, if we never expect enough out of them? Today's kids are really smart, let's give them credit and teach them a work ethic that will last them a lifetime. </p> <p> <i>Posted on <a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/wheres-the-work.html">Thursday, April 17, 2008 9:31 PM</a> by Carol Ann</i> <br /><br /> </p> <h3>Caught Drifting Off In Class</h3> <p> I was in the school volunteering, which is where I truly enjoy being. I go and help this one teacher at the local school in the afternoon and I really get a kick out of it. I normally assist with her reading group and she is a really fun teacher and good with the kids. Well, yesterday, while she was testing and she sent me and the remainder of her reading group into the next classroom, so she could test the children individually. I thought, okay why not? The other teacher claimed that she would need my help, and I was glad to assist her. </p> <p> </p> <p> When I entered the room of twenty two second graders, you could have heard a pin drop. It was so strange to me that I leaned over and whispered to her "have you put corks in them or something?" Well, needless to say she did not find this comment amusing. Then she proceeded to play a getting to know you memory game with each person saying their name and something that we could associate with them. I am really not sure if she did this so the kids would know each other, or so she would know everyone's name. This process took about 15 minutes. Then she proceeded to pass out workbooks and have each child look through them. Then she collected all the workbooks again telling the students that they would work on them tomorrow, there was no time for them today. She then proceeded to pass out some hard covered reading books. She reviewed the Table of Contents with them, and then had them turn to section and called on the first person to read. She had supplied me with a reading book, so I took a seat at a desk and had my book open. Needless to say, this whole process was getting a bit long and drawn out for me, so I began to look for the clock which I located behind her desk, and could only see the hour hand on. No minute hand visible. I began to search visually around the room for a clock I could actually see. When all of a sudden she called on ME to read! A classroom of 22 kids and she called on me to read because I wasn't paying any attention and she knew it! Well, needless to say, I was still kind of in a haze about the situation and as I began to read, I messed up a word in the second sentence and went back and corrected my mistake and continued reading. When I finished she says to the class, "Now notice class that she misread a word in sentence number 2, but she went back and corrected herself. This shows that she is a good reader because she went back and corrected her mistake." </p> <p> </p> <p> Needless to say, I thought I would die. I could not believe that she would not give me anything to help with, and then on top of that called on me to read, because I was drifting off into la, la land! Well, obviously when I returned to the other classroom, I told the teacher I am normally with, to please never send me to that classroom again. She laughed and said that the kids would at least be glad when they got her back. </p> <p> <i>Posted on <a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/caught-drifting-off-in-class.html">Tuesday, April 15, 2008 8:37 PM</a> by Carol Ann</i> <br /><br /> </p> <h3>Putting Children First</h3> <p> It seems like day in and day out I come across parents who put on a good act about their kids being the most important things in their lives, but really they are just very self centered with their lives. </p> <p> </p> <p> For example, at the school I know two kids that seem to have it all. They are in kindergarten and third grade. They dress well and take several vacations a year with their parents. Well, the boy who is the one in kindergarten was absent because he went to the beach with his parents for the week. When I saw his sister at school, I asked her why she was in school and not with her family, and she told me it was because she had tests this coming week, so she had to stay with her grandma so she would be here for the tests. This kind of thing just blows my mind. I don’t mean to question it, but instead of staying home as a family they had to just leave their kids behind while the rest of the family was at the beach. I mean school will be out in 3 weeks, they couldn’t wait and take a vacation together then? I don’t know, but this makes no sense to me at all. </p> <p> </p> <p> Let me give you another example. My one son plays both baseball and soccer. On the baseball team, one of the coach’s wives with 4 kids also, has her two older kids playing baseball, and the two little ones are only four and six. She has recently started asking my daughter to watch her younger kids in the evenings so that she can go to the ball field and watch her older boys play. Sounds good right? Well, the other night, she sees me on the baseball and asks me if I have spoken to my daughter (who was babysitting for her that evening) when I said no, she proceeded to tell me that her 4 year old had a fever, so she gave him some motrin and she was wondering how he was feeling. She never called herself to see how he was doing. Then she proceeds to tell me that he didn’t seem right when she picked him up from the babysitter’s house today, the one that he spent all day with. She is not even watching the game of her son, has no idea what the score is, doesn’t call to check up on her four year old or anything. Now I am all for occasionally leaving your kids with a sitter, but I don’t get why she wouldn’t miss this one ball game and stay home with her four year old to keep an eye on him, especially on a day where he has already been with a babysitter for the entire day. Not only that but I have recently found out that both of her older boys are actually bullies on the bus and complete trouble makers at school. Is it really any wonder why? </p> <p> </p> <p> I can site many other examples of these types of families, however, I think that might get a little too lengthy and off topic, but in all these examples you will find kids who are experiencing either behavior or learning difficulties and in some cases both. </p> <p> </p> <p> Now if you met either of these families, you would think that they were great people and excellent parents. What gets me is that I am constantly trying to spread myself thin enough to take care of my four and do what is in everyone’s best interest all at once. I just don’t get how these people can just dump their kids and run no matter what. </p> <p> <i>Posted on <a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/putting-children-first.html">Monday, April 14, 2008 9:05 PM</a> by Carol Ann</i> <br /><br /> </p> <h3>Hanging on by a string</h3> <p> This time of year is really crazy. When school is wrapping up, a lot of the kids are already on summer break, at least in their minds. With my own finals closing in, I am a bit overtired and overwhelmed, and with kids acting out all day long it is really hard to keep my patience with my own children. By the time evening rolls around, I just long for a little quiet time a time to myself without interruption. Needless to say in a house with four kids this does not happen. </p> <p> I remember a younger day, when life was way simpler, a time before I became pregnant with my daughter when I lived in an incredible apartment with a loft. This apartment was awesome, and originally I was supposed to get a roommate, however, that did not happen. This is probably about the only time in my life that I have ever lived completely alone. It was a grand time, life was simple. I remember things like soaking in the tub, while listening to the sounds of nature CD by candlelight. I also remember reading an entire book in a 24 hour period. These times seem so far removed from me that it almost seems as if these experiences are someone else's, even though I can see the images of this time crystal clear in my mind. </p> <p> I feel sometimes, like my life is just run, run, run with no break in sight. Working and going to school plus taking care of the kids and the house, I feel that life is just work all the time. I am disappointed with myself, that I can't focus more energy on my kids and I know that I don't appreciate them in near the way I should. </p> <p> It is really hard to remember what it was like to read a book or have a clear thought. I miss those days, when I still had a mind. When I was younger, if I met someone who didn't want kids I thought they must be crazy. I have always wanted kids, lots of kids. I guess now I do understand why people would not want children. I mean there is never a time that I can leave my house clean and come back and it still be clean. As a matter of fact I have backed off of a lot of cleaning, because it is a pointless and disappointing process. Always, coming back to the same messes over and over again without fail is an extremely frustrating process. My mom keeps telling me that I need to be harder on the kids and I do keep on them from time to time, but to keep on them all the time, is quite honestly a difficult task. If I come in to find a mess, most of the time I get the It Wasn't Me or the I didn't do it. It is amazing how many things are done wrong in my home by absolutely no one. </p> <p> I am glad to be a mother and can't imagine life without my children, I am very proud of who they are and who they are becoming. I think that for the most part they are on a pretty good path in life, and I think we have a pretty good relationship. My kids know that they can talk to me about anything, and they do. They even most times will rat themselves out to me, which I really think is awesome. I wouldn't trade being a mom for anything in the world, but there are some moments where I hang on by a string, wondering if I am doing a good job, or messing them up for life. I guess that answer will lie in the future, but for now all I can do is try to keep my sanity. People say that I will miss these days when they are gone, and I say, will I even know my name by then? </p> <p> <i>Posted on <a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/hanging-on-by-a-string.html">Saturday, April 05, 2008 11:16 PM</a> by Carol Ann</i> <br /><br /> </p> </div> </div> <div id="footer"><p>Copyright 2008| <a href="http://www.wam.umd.edu/~karatarr/index.html"> A Lifetime of Learning</a></p></div> </body> </html>