Benjamin Franklin stated "Too many parents make life hard for their children by trying, too zealously, to make it easy for them."

Ann Landers stated "It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings."

I have read studies (and heard accounts to this from my own Grandmother) that indicate a connection between disinfecting everything children might come into contact with and future incidences of asthma and other illnesses.  Children's immune systems apparently aren't getting a chance to develop resistance at an early age.  The never learn to fight off the bad germs (or tough stuff), and thus, become sickly kids and titty baby adults. 

The above quotes ring true for this situation, as well as many others I see.  Adults grow up to be big babies who want their parents (or someone else) to fix their problems.  They can't handle anything themselves.  And it's pathetic. 

A butterfly could never develop wings unless there was a struggle inside the cocoon.  That is as simple an analogy as you can get.  Sometimes growing hurts, and sometimes it's just no fun, but in order for us to be the BEST US we can be, we have to feel some pain and struggles.  It's nature.  And to mature, it's necessary.  

I believe in tough love.  I believe in teaching a child to be independent, to stand on their own two feet.  I believe kids need to eat a little dirt, and walk bare footed in the grass, and yes, sometimes, they will get bit, or cut, or stung, but they will be okay.  (Unless they are allergic to bee stings, and then that's another story and yes, they could really get hurt and perhaps die.)  My Grandmother used to say that she let her 7 sons run around barefooted from spring to winter and she felt it made them tough and strong against the weather.  They never got colds, she said.  And to see little babies all bundled up from their head to their toes would drive her crazy.  She felt like this made them weak to the elements.  I can see her point.  Parents also do that kind of overparenting in many other ways, and I agree with my Grandmama, it makes kids weak and turn into weak and wimpy adults. 

Do your kids a favor, folks, let them grow up!  And teach them to be strong and to take care of themselves, not to be dependent on you, or anyone else.  You're not doing them any favors.   

My computer at home has been acting up and tblog has been pretty much unaccessible for awhile for me. So has my Hotmail, which is a real pain in the ass. PMS is striking it's ugly head too. You'd think that if you got rid of your uterus, you'd be rid of PMS, but that's just not true. The ovaries are still there and keep acting the same way every month....chugging out eggs and hormones and crazy feelings and thoughts of homicide. You just can't escape. That's where I am right now. I am fine just sitting here, but let something annoy me (of what would normally be just a minor disturbance that doesn't even register in my mind), but changes instead to something that lights up my nerves like they are on fire. Men cannot appreciate the power and wonder that comes from being a woman. You just can't. Sometimes, I am amazed at the varying surges of power that go through my mind and body. From the highest mountain of pleasure to the lowest depths of hell,......... all in two seconds. I don't like the negative feelings that run through me when I am PMSing. It's not fun. And I usually don't want to be around other people. They get on my nerves. And, I know that they are better off not to be in my company. And I in their's. So, you end up liking almost no one, not even yourself, most of all yourself, and then you are lonely at the same time. You end up hurting someone's feelings that you care about.  Then, you feel like a heel, so you add some good old fashioned guilt to the mix.....Dear God, this is pure hell. That's it, PMS is hell! Wow, what a revelation, I can do anything now!

On another note.........I was pretty intrigued by the story of the the janitor (named Gene)who died and left over $2 million dollars to the university where he worked. l thought it was cool. I immediately thought of all those fucking assholes who were mean to the janitor all those years (picture an old Joe Dirt), and later found out he was a millionaire. It's just a reminder that you should treat everybody with respect and not treat others with disrespect who you think are beneath you, or less important.  Money didn't add value to this man's life. He lived like a poor man, apparently. He didn't drive fancy cars or anything.  Being a janitor didn't add value to his life. Or maybe it did. Who knows, maybe he was an asshole himself, I don't know. Maybe he left this legacy because he wanted to finally prove someting to all those other assholes.  Maybe he wanted to make sure that some kids that come along after him would have a chance at an education that he never had.  This guy had like a 3rd grade education level, maybe he wanted to show those smarty pants that a 3rd grader got one over on those educated businessmen who are in debt up to their eyeballs.  I haven't a clue.  I just found it amusing to think of some old janitor in the hallways with his mop bucket cleaning up some kid's puke.....and wondered how he was treated. I guess he got the last laugh. He had a stipulation on the will that stated 95% of the money was to be used for scholarships and only 5% to be used at the university's discretion. Pretty cool. He had come to America from Italy and worked hard all his life. His wife had died years ago, and they didn't have any kids.Had owned a dry cleaning service for years, did all the work himself (only hired a cashier, he did the rest), built up the business, and then sold it. After that, he became a part time janitor at a univeristy in Montana. He had a good work ethic. Apparently, he had wanted to only work part time, 4 hrs a day. And they had tried to force him to work full time and when he refused, he got fired. They fired a millionaire! Had they known then.....they would have had him in charge of some shit and had a bunch of employees under him to do all the dirty work....it's interesting how this society works....I'm glad ole Gene kept it simple. I think we could all learn something from the old guy. I just haven't figured out what all those lessons are.   I'd like to know the rest of the story on this dude.

Looking up "resolution", I see "intention, pledge, promise, obligation, commitment"....gee, that doesn't sound very fun to me....I have plenty of obligations and commitments in my life...so thinking of adding some new ones for the new year doesn't sound like something I want to do.    I guess the best word to use for me would be "intention",..... okay, I'll use that one.

New Years Intentions.....
I intend on drinking more water and less pop.
I intend on worrying less and playing more.
I intend on exercising more.
I intend on being more organized in my life...work, closet space, my desk, just spaces in general, my brain (hopefully), my innerself...

I guess that will do for now. 
Right now, I intend on reading for awhile....