WE WILL LIVE FOR YOU!

Dear Girls,

Life is confusing.  Let there be no doubt in your mind that in your life you will encounter many difficult decisions, many hard lessons and many tuff choices.  But rest assured that you don't go alone.  For One has gone before you and He choose your mother and I to be here for you every second of your life.  In good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. 

See girls, you are to young now to understand what I am saying.  You are too young to understand a lot of things.  But your mom and I will not let you down.  We will be here to make decisions for you.  We will be here to pray for you and to guide you.  We will not give up.  We will not give in.

We will not give in to what society decides to accept.  We will not give in to exhaustion.  We will not give in peer pressure.  We will not even give in to you.  We love you that much.  Even when it causes us pain and sadness.

We don't have all the answers.  There is quite a lot that we are learning ourselves.  But we are adults enough to realize that and ask those that have come before us for help.  We do know what you are going through now as we have gone through it our selves.

We also know that a lot of what you hear in mainstream society is wrong.  Many parents these days expect their children to make very important life decisions that they are incapable of making.  Decisions about, gender, sexuality, body modification, medical care, religion and schooling.  Your mother and I do not expect you to make such life altering decisions and would never place that kind of burden and stress on you as a child.  We will shoulder that weight and teach you as you grow. 

While you are a child we desire nothing more than for you to enjoy your childhood.  For we know that we have been chosen to shape and mold the future. We vow to lead by example.  If necessary we will give our lives for you.  But please hear this... THIS is much more important!

No matter the cost.

WE WILL LIVE FOR YOU!

Here's a tip…Don't eat yellow snow!

Is there an over abundance of people ready and willing to accept tips these days.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I am a pretty gracious tipper when you earn it.   I spent more then 3 years in the food service industry as a waiter and bar tender so I know what tips mean and how hard some work to earn them.  But let’s jump to what started this thought in the first place.

 

The other day I was at Starbucks, which I rarely go to, and I noticed a tip jar.  The tips of course are for the barista.  This got me thinking.  Do we tip a barista?  If so how much and why? I just paid seven dollars for a medium coffee, wasn’t the making of that seven-dollar coffee included?  Then while I stood there and waited I thought about all the other tip jars I’ve been seeing lately. 

 

When you really think about it, 

Do it …

Go ahead and think of all the places you go that accept tips. 

 

OK good. 

What did you come up with?  Probably the same thing that I did.  Who are we supposed to tip these days and why?  I see tip jars at the ice cream parlor, the car wash guys, even at one of my local Panda Expresses.  They had a tip jar at the end.  I mean really?  What am I tipping you for, scooping out the orange chicken with speed and accuracy!  I think the tip jar at 7-11 is really what put me over the edge.  HA!  You stood there and took my money so let me tip you. 

 

Here’s the flip side to the tipping debate.   The poor pizza guy!  Next time you order pizza take a look at your bill.  Did you know that the pizza place charges you for delivery, usually between 2.50-3.50.  They are very specific about that charge not going to the driver.  If it’s not going to the driver where is it going???  I delivered pizza for about 6 months and they did give us a very small reimbursement.  But not all companies do that.  So basically I’m being charged an extra few bucks just for the convenience of delivery. But wait a minute…the pizza business is kind of a delivery business!!! ISN'T IT? 

Maybe everybody deserves an extra few bucks for doing the same thing they have been doing for the last 20 years? Maybe we should all just carry around tip jars and hope for the best!

Yeah, that’s right, A REAL BOW

So last week was Halloween.  I pulled up to a local middle school to drop of my wife and we were sitting there saying good bye for the day I see a young man, dressed as some kind of hunter, carrying.... wait for it...a real compound bow.  Now I didn't see any arrows, which is good.  But he was in fact carrying a bow.  BUT it was part of his costume!! So that makes it ok. 

So lets talk about a few things here.  I mean really mom and dad.  A Bow or weapon of any kind regardless of it having a projectile with it and regardless of day.  This is the same era when children...yes CHILDREN...are getting suspended and expelled for biting their pop tart into a toy gun and wearing shirts that have weapons on them.  And you thought it was ok to let your kid out of the house with a BOW!! 

Now I want to qualify my thoughts on this.  I am not an anti-gun or weapon person by any means.  Guns and weapons don't kill people, people kill people and I personally think we have gone a little to far with this whole crazy gun control deal.  Some schools around the country have even requested that uniformed police officers not bring their guns when they drop their kids off to school I mean really.  A UNIFORMED POLICE OFFICER!!!  Let me tell you, I was a little boy once and I am a grown little boy now and I can remember many games of cops and robbers.  We just used our fingers, which they can't take away.   I believe in education not stupification.  (I'm pretty sure I invented that word but it works really well I think) A lot of kids in the mid west learn about guns when they are nine and ten years old.  They know how to handle them and they know how to respect them and what they are used for.  EDUCATION! 

Now back to the issue at hand.  So when did parents stop paying attention to their children?  I know we've talked about this in the past but Halloween seems to really bring a lot of issue to light here.  The same people who are complaining and whining about gender stereotyping, and violence are letting their kids leave the house in outfits that are scandalous if your a girl, and down right indecent these days.  And some of the costumes I've seen the guys in aren't much better. 

Everybody seems to think it's ok because it's Halloween.  But let me ask you this, if it's just because it's Halloween, why are your children choosing to go out half naked in the first place. Why do they want to be a psycho killer even if it's just for play?  Where does that thought process start? 

Since we brought it up let's talk about the way the young ladies are dressing these days.  What happened here?  Are the mom's trying to re-live their youth? Do the parents just not care about what messages their sending out? Or maybe it's that they just don't care about their daughters. Yep, I said it.  The outfits I see some young ladies in these days are "lacking" to say the least.  So let me spell it out for you.  Ladies, you don't want the attention you're getting by wearing tight revealing clothing.  Nothing good can come from it, and if you're a parent of a young lady.  Do her a favor and TEACH HER what a real man is and what real men look for in a woman.  Teach her how much she is worth and that that worth doesn't come from her looks or her body.  The adults need to be setting the standard and building our children’s confidence and self esteem from within!

I would never tell a parent how to parent their child.  That is really up to them.  What I will tell you is what the outcome of your decisions is going to be.  That really isn't hard to figure out.  It's in the news every day.  But for some reason people are missing it.  So start paying attention and start parenting!