My kids are awesome...
Every day, my kids remind me of how awesome they are in several ways. My daughter is nearly 18 and I can only remember one time that she said something along the lines of hating me, which she quickly recanted and said that she hated that I was punishing her [I made her scrub cabinets for mouthing off to me at 13 years old]. My nearly 13 year old son has never said anything along the lines of hating either me or my husband... but there's still time. 
I've always been very open, up front, and honest with my kids. After all, they're human too, just smaller humans. When they were little and I would ask that they do something, if they asked me why, I obliged a reasoning appropriate for their ages at the time. That action bothered [and sometimes still does] my ex and my current husband. I don't expect blind obedience. I encourage questioning; how else will they learn? Not all adults are good or decent. So, if my kids were to follow with blind obedience, it could be harmful at some point in their lives. Both my ex and my current husband were taught not to question. I'm glad that my parents weren't like that; otherwise, I'd never be where I am today.
My kids are loving, kind, respectful, and I've never had another parent tell me otherwise... I take that back, one neighbor bad-mouthed my son, because he was following what his daughter was doing. He blamed my son for actions of his daughter. His daughter has grown up a lot since then, but it certainly made me lose respect for that particular neighbor. See... when my son was over their house playing, they were in the mostly finished basement. There's a half bathroom in their basement. His daughter proceeded to show my son how fun it was to put soap, Jello and air freshener down the toilet. Somehow, the toilet reacted poorly and flooded the bathroom. My son was told to go home and he came running to me and my husband and told us exactly what happened. We asked him why he didn't go tell her parents rather than participate. He was 6 or something at the time; he was in tears and said he didn't know. Well, that neighbor came stomping down the alley to begin confronting my son... he bent down to start scolding and yelling at him... my husband said, "Hey, he just told us what happened. Our son has NEVER put anything other than toilet paper in our toilet, so you need to ask yourself some questions." He started telling us how bad our son is... that's when I chimed in and my husband let me go at him. Side note: my husband and my boss call me the little pit bull. I said, "Where the hell were you when all of this took place?" The neighbor said, "We were on the porch drinking wine. Why?" I said, "Well, when your daughter is at our house, I'm in the house with them, within ear shot, if not in the same room and my husband is outside when they're outside, within ear shot and usually can see them too. So, I will ask you, why in the hell weren't one of you in the house when the kids were in the house?" He said, "Oh, so one of you is ALWAYS around when they're playing?" I said, "Yes and you should be too; things like this don't happen at this house, so back off my son." We haven't spoken to that neighbor since. There were a couple times that the girl's mom let our son come over to play, but only when "dad" wasn't home. I think that "mom" knows that they were being kids and it's not the end of the world. That guy had borrowed our power washer, broke it and never said anything. He also borrowed my carpet cleaner, broke it and never said anything. So... him having to deal with a flooded basement bathroom is karma. There was no permanent damage to his bathroom. He didn't have to replace anything.
Anyways, sorry for the sidetrack, but that's the only time anyone has ever spoken ill of either of my kids. There are times when my son was difficult, but manageable to say the least. When little, my daughter was only difficult because of her emotional roller coaster, irrational what if scenarios, and so over the top sensitive, no one knew what to do about it. She is still pretty sensitive, but not like she was when she was little. I told her [now that she's older] that there's nothing wrong with being sensitive, but don't let people take advantage of that sensitivity; be aware that people will try to use you and make you their doormat by manipulation through your sensitive nature. She's very well-balanced today. I'm very proud of my kids. As they get older, they make more and more of their own decisions without input from myself or my husband [or other trusted adult]. My daughter has grown up A TON over the past couple years. She's my best friend. My son is currently looking puberty in the face, mustache growing in and getting darker and thicker, testosterone taking over his brain on occasion, longer showers, less "sharing" verbally, but for the most part, he's funny, sweet, and loving. I call him my sourpatch kid; you know, first he's sour then he's sweet. I remember his first grade teacher in the first parent-teacher conference saying, "...he's charming." And I replied, "But......" She simply repeated herself and I repeated myself. I finally said, "I understand there are days that you probably want to take that cute, charming little face and smash it into the brick!" She sighed and said, "Oh my God, I thought I was an awful person... of course I would never do such a thing, but he really pushes sometimes and that's why he's been sent down to the office." I assured her that it's understandable and that him pushing the envelope is part of his sourpatch kid personality. I told her that I know my son is far from perfect. I liked her as a teacher.
My kids are smart, sarcastic, funny, weird, mouthy at times, fun to hang out with [and they actually like hanging out with us... which is crazy strange for most], kind, loving, and most of all awesome all around. They can make me laugh until tears are streaming down my face. They help me around the house. They help my husband in the yard and sometimes at work. There's not a thing I would change about them. And craziest of all, they get along. We have family game nights at least once a month and having the adopted one here is just an added bonus. He's pretty damn awesome too... it's too bad that his mother fails to recognize how awesome her eldest son is and how awesome her other kids are too. One of her kids isn't quite as awesome, but he'll grow out of his shitty attitude hopefully... the adopted one's little brother.
Yesterday, my daughter and I were trying to determine which Harry Potter character each of us would be based on our personalities. We determined that I would be Molly Weasley [it was debated that I may be Narcissa Malfoy in some instances too], my husband would be Arthur Weasley, my daughter would be Luna Lovegood, my son would be Ron Weasley, the adopted one would be one of the Weasley twins, our dog would be Neville Longbottom, and our cat would be Prof. Minerva McGonagall. When each of us did the "Hogwarts House " quiz, my husband and I got Slytherin, my son and the adopted one got Gryffindor, and my daughter got Ravenclaw. We're only missing a representative of Hufflepuff. See... we do everything together. We all took the "Which Walking Dead character are you" quiz too. I keep getting Darryl with every quiz about that, my husband and daughter both got Michonne, and my son got Carol. The adopted one opted out of that one.
Kids, grandkids, when did you find out they were awesome?
NO POLITICS, NO PRESIDENTS PAST OR PRESENT.
NO POLITICS, NO PRESIDENTS PAST OR PRESENT.
It's amazing and fun to watch how quickly kids learn and grow. Here's a couple grabs off the internet that shows their innocence and wide eyed wonder of the world....
I took a video of my son in two very different ways. One was him eating his first Oreo and the other, him throwing a tantrum because I wouldn't let him walk out to the garage to say goodnight to daddy without me carrying him. He had just had a bath and my husband had been grinding metal... baby feet and metal shavings are never a good combo.
I'll come back and post them when I've loaded them onto my profile page.
Oreo
Tantrum
LOVE it !!
O the cream center !!!
MMMMMmmm !
It may take him a while to learn to take it apart and eat the cream filling first.
LOL.. Looks like he's a quick learner, one bite and he had it down... 20 seconds into it.
Kids ya gotta love watchin them.
Love the music background it adds so much to the experience !!
One day at work, I got bored and played with "Movie Maker". The Who song was what my husband used to sing to my belly when I was pregnant with our son.
Yeah, he got it down pretty quickly. Now... he'll eat an entire pack by himself.
LOL
One day at home, I got bored and played with "Movie Maker" as well. I liked playing with and making videos so I ended up buying a video editing program called Wondershare. It's better than movie maker and lets you do a lot that movie maker doesn't.
Here is an old video that I made not long after getting Wondershare most of the movies I make are family orientated. And as I worked with Wondershare I've gotten much better so have my videos. Here's a link to one of the first "generic" videos I made.
You have had some seriously awesome cars over the years!
When I saw your Honda CB350, I said, "HEY!" out loud. We had a 76 Honda CB750, same color.
Thanks MsAubrey,
I wish mine had been a 750 I wore that 350 out on the highways. LOL
PS: That Harley was an AMF piece of crap. Worse vehicle I ever owned.
I was young, a mechanic and cars were cheep back then. Most of those cars are worth a great deal now, back then they were a dime a dozen.
Tell me about it!!!
I think I have always thought my kids were fantastic...but as they have gotten older I have come to realize they are awesome people.
My daughter has showed me how strong of a person she has become. She has been dealing with a life challenging illness that has affected how she lives day to day. She has persevered. She works with developmentally challenged persons and she is the love of my life.
My son has always been my smile maker. No matter how I feel (sad, mad, bad) he can make me smile. He is a tad too laid back. He likes to procrastinate, but if he really is into something he gives it his all. He is a loving person, although he will deny it. He tries to be hard, but he is a softie. He also is the love of my life.
Thank you for sharing your story about your kids.
BTW - my daughter told me once that she hated me. She was four. I took her face in my hands, looked her right in the eyes and said "Right now, I do not like you too much either". That stunned her & she has never said she has hated me again.
Good for you Veronica.
Kids like us, also learn that irresponsibility has consequences, often learned the hard way, when the truth and /or reality actually does smack us in the face. Sounds like your words helped her learn a very valuable lesson. Yeah !
Shielding children from that reality is too common and probably why the American society is such an dysfunctional mess. Where we have crap like mass shootings on a regular basis.
Yep, Good for you I wish more parents reacted and acted as you did.
Unfortunately, what I see too much of IMO: is people Not being honest with their children and shielding them from consequences, over and over as their irresponsible children grow more and more irresponsible.
I've seen people lose their home over irresponsible kids when the ignorant parents put their home (and in this case) their cars up to get their daughter released from jail... before she ran away skipping bail.
Sadly, some people never learn.
I think you did good !
Thank you. I agree with you completely with how shielding children from reality (everyone gets a trophy, everything they want they get, etc) is doing so much harm. I believe everyone is special in their own way, but the they should not think the world should stop for their specialness.
Agreed. Me too. Too many parents "bubble-wrap" their kids. When two guys attempted to abduct my daughter when she was in the 5th grade, she asked me why they would want to take her. I explained, in an age-appropriate manner, that bad people do that when the child is really pretty. I told her that I would explain further when she was older and could better understand what that really meant. She accepted that answer and when she was old enough to learn the ugly truth about sex trafficking, I talked to her about it. After that... she's always on the lookout. She had been probably the 8th attempt in our area that year... but she was the only one that was able to provide, make, model, and approximate year of the vehicle they were driving and gave very detailed description of the two men. It's only been attempted twice in the past 7 years since. The investigating officer even said that she was the only one that gave a description they could work with out of all of the encounters.
Probably helps that my husband and I are both very into cars and always told her exactly what to do if something like that ever occurred. Up until that moment, we really didn't know if she listened to all of what we'd told her. She did everything we taught her.
That is true, but bad people do that to not so pretty children as well. Your daughter and you sound like mature people and to be honest I have no children.. but, and I hate to even say it but, by implying that "pretty" children are a target, If I was a pretty little girl that would scare me and I might not try to be so pretty.
I sure do applaud your giving her the tools to use in situations like she had and I hope she has no more like it.
PS: just my opinion on something I know very little about.
Have great day !
Yeah, it was just the easiest way to explain to a 10 year old why those two men tried abducting her. I'm aware that bad people take all sorts of people / kids.
Understandable.
I was just reading her all of what I had written. She said, "That explanation was perfect for when I was that young." Me and my kids talk about everything. And I do mean everything. Sometimes the details of what my kids share are a little painful to hear, but I'd rather know everything than to be left in the dark and possibly be surprised by something later.
Veronica , I just edited my post.
LOVE IT!
My daughter driving my Fiesta, which has a manual trans. **VULGAR LANGUAGE WARNING**
I use to laugh at people that could not hold themselves at a stop on a hill.
I still do. My Fiesta has a "fail safe" in place so if stopped on an incline, it will hold the brake for a few seconds while you hit the gas and get moving again. I call it the cheat. My Jeep Wrangler did NOT have that.
A built in cheat. Haha
Exactly. I'm just glad that I can actually teach my kids how to drive a manual! I had to custom order my Fiesta in 2011 for the 2012MY just to get a manual. Now... I don't think any US automaker makes manuals at all... MAYBE Chrysler / Dodge for the Wrangler and Challenger? Ford even got rid of manuals in the Mustang and GM, they might have a manual available in the Corvette, but I don't think that's the case anymore either.
Really? My BIL use to say there was no point in getting a supped up Mustang unless it was manual. (He loved Mustangs)
Looks like I'm wrong about the Mustang. Maybe the fans of manuals finally won one?
And GM still offers a manual in the Camaro, but NOT the Corvette.
Wrangler and Challenger, I was right on though.
Not that I can afford ANY of the vehicles in the following links though, with the exceptions of Subaru Crosstrek and the Chevy Spark.
Car and Driver - Cars you can get with a manual trans.
Car and Driver - Crossovers and SUVs you can get with a manual trans.
WOW I didn't realize that about the manuals. I used to always have a manual and am wanting a Challenger myself. I'm glad that challengers have the manuals or I wouldn't really want a sports car again.
I'd actually love another really nice 69 Z28 But they are out of my price range now. I should have not sold mine !
Manual transmissions make the driver so much more a part of the experience.
More controllable too. Theft is less likely nowadays too.
***LOL*** '
Vulger language ?
I'm glad you don't ride with me. Get the *^#&$& (^%%*$#%#%) out of the way !!
Ops, sorry .. not.
lol
I cuss like a drunken Irishman while behind the wheel, because if I flip someone off and a cop wants to be a dickhead, I can get my CPL taken from me. But my 17 year old cussing might bother someone, so I thought I would put that warning in there.
LOL when I listen to it I really can't even hear what she says. its like the sound in the beginning is slightly muted.
LOL certainly not what I expected ... I guess I'm just damaged ... lol
Damaged link
This made me smile. My DIL is a Harry Potter fan. Her and my son are expecting their first baby in May and have chosen the name Luna. They even have a Luna lovegood wand hanging in the nursery.
Aw! I love it!