Her First Dance......

What are your thoughts about your young teen going to the school dance? How about the Homecoming Dance? This is a question that many of us have to face, when it comes time. Now, some teens just aren't interested in dancing, as in the case of my teen daughter. She had NO interest in even going. Many of her friends are going, but that wasn't what she was going to do. Well, to my astonishment, she came home from school and told me that she had been invited to the Homecoming Dance. Wow, now, she is interested in going. I kind of had butterflies in MY stomach after that, but I have to realize, that this is a school dance. She is growing up, and there will be many chapperones there. You would think that since she is my last of 5 kids, that I would be used to it by now, however, my kids are pretty much all spread apart in age, my oldest being already 32, but I think it's because she is my baby. My last child, and I am of course ancy over the whole thing, but I know that it will be ok. She is a very responsible daughter and knows my rules so I think that I am going to trust her and hope and pray that all goes well. What do you think?

Upcoming Christmas Shopping

You know, here it is, almost October......fastly approaching Christmas. I have already started seeing Christmas items being displayed and I tell you, I am not ready for the holiday season just yet. However, I will tell you, that I am an avid fan of doing the black friday shopping. My grown daughter and I ALWAYS, without fail, go out in the afternoon after our Thanksgiving Dinner is done, and we search for the papers that have those ads. We sit for HOURS searching through them. They are wonderful... and to tell you the truth, we have saved so much money by shopping on this particular day. However, I have discovered that there is another way to be able to get those great bargains....and believe me, teens have a mighty good list each year of things they would like to have. One great and wonderful store on MY teens list this year will most definitely be something from Best Buy. Here is the link for them on the black friday listing. http://www.black-friday.net/ad/bestbuy-black-friday.html Now, they always have a great sale on this special buying day. Not only that, but now I won't have to get up at 4:00 am and get dressed and drive to the store and stand in that horribly long line, I can now go to black friday and see all the great sales coming up and I can shop all day and still get the great bargains. I will for sure be shopping from this site on black friday. What a wonderful way to save my feet for one, more sleep for another, and the biggest prize of all, is saving MONEY !!!!!

How Do You Deal With a Pet's Death?

How do you help your teen get through something tragic in life? Life has so many ups and downs but when something bad happens, do you hover over your teen, or do you leave them alone to deal with it in peace? I believe that there has to be a middle ground here somewhere.
We went to the barn on Saturday to see our horse. Our horse was fine, and all the other horses in the barn were doing good. We got a call on Sunday morning that the lesson horse, (who belonged to our trainer) was ill. He had gotten colic, which is pretty much a stomach ache, and it made him extremely ill. To shorten this story, he did not make it. My daughter loved him so much, as he was the horse she rode over the summer and learned many things on. She had developed a love for this horse. He was now gone and the tears came out very quickly. I felt so lost as I was upset about it as well. How do you deal with a "pet's" death? I chose to talk to her a little bit about it, and we both cried and hugged, but then I let her have some alone time. How do you help your daughter, or teen through a "pet's death"? This is a hard subject, I know, but we all have to go through it at one time or another, unless you have no pets, of course. I got up this morning and she was doing alright, but I know that it's on her mind today as she goes to school and sits in her classes. A Pet's death can be very hard on young people. I don't know what she would be like it if had been HER horse, but nonetheless, it was pretty tragic weekend for us.

Teaching Our Teens about Tragic Situations....

I just heard in the news where a teen or young person has grabbed a gun and thought they could play with it and it goes off. What a tragic thing to have happen. Young people do not realize the dangers of it all. I know that this is a very hard subject to deal with, but do you know what your teen would do if they saw a gun somewhere? How well do you know what they would do? I don't like talking about this subject because it's so scarey for me, but as you hear in the news, it does happen. You can say that your teen will not go anywhere where there may be a gun present, however, what about if your teen goes out somewhere, and then they venture off to another house? You don't know what's there that might be dangerous. It is very frightening to think about the unknown dangers out there. My best advice here would be to talk to your teen about dangers in other places. We teach our young people NOT to get into strangers cars, not to tell strangers our addresses and such, but do we really go further and discuss other dangers such as guns or weapons? Maybe you are scared to approach the subject with them? Maybe you don't have to. Well, many teens who actually end up curious enough to even touch a gun, really don't know anything about them. Teaching our young people about these hidden dangers is VERY important. They need to know that if they get into a situation where someone ELSE wants to explore things that they shouldn't, they should leave the situation so that they will not become involved into something they may get into trouble with. Teach them to walk away from situations that they KNOW are not good. Wisdom is powerful and we need to keep the lines of communication open with them.

The Difference in Teen Girls

As I sit here writing, I am confiding something to you. I am a bit worried. I have five children, all are grown, but my young teen. I also have a granddaughter who is a young teen as well. Actually, though it sounds funny, but true, she is the same age as my youngest daughter. They are more different than any two can be, and they don't get along that well. Right now, they live 6 hours away from us but were living here right up until this past summer. My goodness, what a difference they are. My granddaughter is bold, daring(takes chances) and beautiful. She is outspoken but tends to be a bit more "grown up" than my young teen. My young one is well focused, witty, very beautiful and likes to stay busy. One is not worried about her future, and the other one has her future goals set up and ready. I worry about her not having any goals, and the fact that she is much more mature....wearing alot of eye makeup and tighter clothing, speaks her mind and isn't worried too much about much exept for blending in with the cool people. I have suggested to my daughter(her mother) to find something to keep her busy, whether it be some sort of sports, or volunteering but I still worry that she is not keeping herself focused enough. I know, I worry too much here....but I have all too well seen many young teens get into things that they shouldn't. What do you do to keep your teens busy? Mine is in band, and horses and tennis, as many of you that follow this blog know.

Dental Check-ups

Sometimes we get really busy around here and it's not always the first thing on your mind--that yearly dental check-up. Yep, that's right. I know, I know, yucky, right? Well, that's what my dear darling daughter says. Last year she had a cavity or two so she wasn't looking forward to going this morning. But we had some good news today. She had no cavities at all. They examined her, and cleaned her teeth, which always feels good and off to school she went. I can't stress how important a yearly exam is. I should know, because I went alot as a child, but as I got to be an adult, I just didn't go as often as I should have. I wished that I would have kept up on it more. A pretty smile is very important, especially for young people.

Getting To Know Your Teen

How well do you and your teen daughter communicate? Does she share her views with you? My daughter and I are pretty close. No, she probably doesn't share all her thoughts with me, but she does share quite a lot. She might come home from school and be so tired from the day that she doesn't say much, but normally around dinner time, she always has something to say. I think that it's good to be close enough with your teen to know what's going on in their lives, while still giving them privacy as well. My daughter is comfortable with me and I know her views on most everything and that keeps me assured that when something comes her way, unexpectedly, I am confident that she will know what to do. But as parents, we don't always know. Today's society is filled with so many dangers and ways for our children to get into trouble. I honestly feel that WHO they hang around with it the key to alot of it. Do you know your teen's friends? If not, now is a good time to try and get to know who their closest friends are, especially if they spend much time with them or go anywhere with them. Still, privacy for teens is very important, so keep that in mind, but if you don't have good communication with your teen, try and open that door by finding a subject to talk about that opens conversation. Talking is good. Try and keep the doors open. You have to let them know that you are interested in what they have to say, while still being a parent. It's hard, I know, but it CAN be accomplished.

Small Responsibilites

With high school in full swing, now is a good time to learn about some small , but still important responsibilities. Not only is my daughter responsible for turning on her alarm clock at night, for the next day's morning routine, but she must wear a name tag every day while in school. There are responsibilities for having school books ready, homework, all the right notes signed and such. Not only do our children learn in class, but they also are learning to be responsible. This is good and it teaches them to be ready for bigger things in the future. Our lives are full of responsibility. Encouraging our children to get things ready for the next morning is really a great help for them. Being ready for class just makes things a little easier going.

Being Prepared For Classes

Now that my daughter is going to high school, things have changed. Not only is she busier, life is more hectic. There is so much to do, all of the time. Every morning, there is a name tag I.D. card that they must wear around their neck and it's always the last thing to be remembered. Oh, and not only that, I had to make the trip to the high school not only two times yesterday but three times. She also forgot to take a pair of socks for marching band. Needless to say, we are now in our second week of school and hopefully soon, things will get a little easier on the routine of being totally ready for classes. Perhaps getting up a wee bit earlier would help some? Sometimes I wonder if our schools realize how much difference there is between middle school and high school. These days---gotta be prepared, for sure.

Never Give Up

Wow, what a weekend we had. You know, I love having a long weekend, but this weekend was so busy that I didn't have any free time. We had our first football game to attend and this was my daughter's first band performance. She flew by with flying colors and oh, how excited she was after the band performed. She was awesome. After a long Friday night, we got up early on Saturday and went to the barn. Her horse was being a total "stinker" and she was quite determined to get her horse Frenchie, to do well. Frenchie was not going to do what she wanted and my daughter left the barn with tears in her eyes, upset and feeling distraught. I tried to take the chance and talk to her, on the way home, but she closed off her ears to my words. A couple of hours later, she seemed to be alright. Sunday came, and we went to the barn again. In my opinion, Frenchie did MUCH better, but my daughter didn't think so. I had to once again, talk to her, hoping that she would now open her ears to what I was saying. My dear darling daughter, you cannot always look at what you Don't accomplish. You have to look at what you DID accomplish and go from there. Look at the good things that you got done. Think on the positive side and never give up.

How Do You Pay For All Your Teens Needs and Wants?

My darling teen has so many things that she wants and needs these days that it's almost mind- boggling. I don't remember having to have or even need all the things out there these days. From band items, clothing, shoes, not to mention all the school supplies, and oh, let's not forget about her new horse, I have been overwhelmed with the costs of things these days. So, one day, I went searching for a way to help me make some extra money. Yes, I know, you have to be careful on the internet these days. I did, however, come across a really great site that I want to share with you. This link will lead you right to it blog reviews
Now, I am not one who jumps right on the bandwagon of every opportunity but I am a member of several different wahm sites and I have seen other women, and men chatting about this and it sparked my curiosity. I visited the site, which is called Pay Per Post and not only did I read all about the fantastic way that you can earn some extra cash, I joined up as well. I joined it, and it was really easy to do. I didn't have any trouble with getting started with it. Actually, I am really looking forward to earning a little bit of extra cash to pay for some of the things my daughter not only wants, but needs. If you take a look at this site, you too, may be interested in joining in on the extra money.