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Welcome to CentralFoothillsMommies!
As part of The Mommies Network, CentralFoothillsMommies.com is a free community for
moms in Alexander, Catawba, Burke and Caldwell Counties, North Carolina. We realize that all moms need
local support -- and who can't use another friend? CentralFoothillsMommies.com offers a
simple way to connect with local moms for friendship, support and fun.
Members meet on our private discussion forums to share information on
everything from where to get the best haircut to tips on transitioning to a
"big kid" bed. Each month, we also offer many face-to-face events for our
members, their children and their families.
Register today to access our discussion
forums, events calendar and more! It's free and we'll keep your info secure and private. The Mommies Network Twitter
Jul 28th, 4:35 PM We are gearing up for our auction! Would you like to donate a product? Http://bit.ly/tmnauction Jul 26th, 12:21 PM Seeking donations for our National Auction - see http://bit.ly/tmnauction for info. Great promo opp for your biz or craft! #mommiesnetwork Jul 24th, 8:47 PM Did you know? TMN's National Auction is soon! Get your biz, craft, product & name out to THOUSANDS! http://bit.ly/tmnauction #mommiesnetwork Jul 24th, 6:50 AM Happy Saturday morning! How do you spend your weekend mornings? Jul 17th, 1:16 PM Seeking donations for our national auction. ++Exposure for your biz, product, craft! See http://bit.ly/tmnauction for info! #mommiesnetwork CentralFoothillsMommies Blog
Dad's Point of View: Being a Teenager Can Be Wonder-Full It?s so easy to complain about our teens. I know I?m guilty of too often dishing out criticisms, admonishments, and lectures. I worry that my boys might be doing drugs, drinking, or some other peer-pressure stupidity. But, they also deserve my support when they do well and my understanding when they slip up.
My 16-year-old, Will, recently bounded into my office, eager to talk. Wisely, I pulled away from the hypnotic lure of my computer, and faced him squarely, ready for whatever followed. Normally, when Will comes to talk to me, I am concerned that he either wants something or is going to confess something that I wish I didn?t have to hear. This time, I listened. And I listened and I listened. I smiled, I nodded, I grunted. But, mostly I listened. He had made a remarkable discovery! What was this remarkable revelation? ?Life is complicated and full of wonder and amazing things. Where did life come from? Why do we sleep? How does our brain work? Why are there different languages and how did they evolve?? He literally rambled off these and other subjects, as if he?d just discovered the wheel!
Will didn?t want me to offer any feedback: he just wanted to share with me his marvelous realizations. I just sat there and patiently let him passionately express these extraordinary questions. After maybe 15 minutes, he didn?t need me anymore and jumped up and left to call his girlfriend and share with her what he?d just voiced.
Later, as we were all getting ready for bed, he came into our bedroom, where my wife was lying down reading, and I had just come in to get ready for bed. He leaped on our chaise lounge, fell off to the side, and scrambled up laughing at his clumsiness. He then proclaimed, ?I love this family,? and proceeded to elaborate for a couple more minutes.
My wife and I actually wondered if Will had taken some drugs, as he seemed so high. But, he hadn?t, and was apparently just being a teenager--a teen enjoying the ?wonder-full-ness? of life.
That is my point. The older we get, the more we forget the wonder of youth, the wonder of being a teenager--discovering new worlds to explore and the new ideas that we feel are just ours. (Okay, let?s hear the Star Trek theme now).
Being a teenager means discovering the world. I think adults too often squash that sense of wonder with the desire to have our kids conform. That was my discovery during the short 18 months that I home-schooled Will, since the lack of conforming public school curriculum and class management allowed Will to learn so much more than he otherwise would have under the structure of public school. It?s why I believe home-schooling is really much better for some kids and, at the time, was the very best thing I could have done for Will.
The job of parents is to introduce our children to the world, to give them exposure to as much as we can, and to allow them to choose their paths. I know that early in my parenting, I had my ideas of what I wanted for my sons that were based on my own particular interests and desires. Fortunately, I got over that selfish instinct and ended up supporting my boys? own interests and dreams. I know too many parents that are single-minded in pushing their kids in the directions these parents think is best while not taking into consideration their kids interests, skills, and desires.
This is dramatically evident in the sports arena, where kids are sometimes literally forced to participate in a sport in which they have no interest. The reason is simply the parents? ego and vicarious desire to live through their kids. It is so wrong. We also see this in the over-the-top push that parents often inflict on their kids to excel at school so that they can get into this or that college that the parents deem best for their child.
I wonder if it ever occurred to those parents that their son or daughter might actually be better off with a year off between high school and college? Or, maybe not even going to college! Not every kid should go to college. Couldn?t college wait a year or two while these high school grads explore life on their own? Maybe they can see a bit more of the world rather than just continue in what can be the cocoon of education and parental (financial) support?
I may have wanted my sons to be great skiers, or get into an Ivy League college, but now I want them to fulfill their own passions and find the same joy in what they do that I?ve been blessed to find in my writing and now, my radio show as well. I urge you to do the same!
Please listen to ?The Bruce Sallan Show - A Dad?s Point-of-View? Thursdays at 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., PST on KZSB AM1290 in Santa Barbara or on the Internet via a live stream. For that link and all information about the show and Bruce, visit his web-site: http://brucesallan.com. Bruce?s column, ?A Dad?s Point-of-View,? is available in over 75 newspapers and web-sites worldwide. Find Bruce on Facebook by joining his ?A Dad?s Point-of-View? page: http://www.facebook.com/aDadsPointOfView. You can also follow Bruce at Twitter: http://twitter.com/BruceSallan.
If you'd like to contribute to the TMN blog, please email blogpost@themommiesnetwork.org
VOTE for "Mommies Network" in Chase Community Giving
Please vote for "Mommies Network" on Chase Community Giving! We are currently in the top 10 out of thousands - every vote counts! Feel free to please invite your friends to vote as well.
Chase is giving $250k to first place and $100k to 2-5 places in the voting. We would LOVE to be first - with over 25k members, there is no reason we can't achieve this!
TMN is FREE for all of our members to find support. We are a charitable organization and focus on giving back to our communities. However, just because we are a non-profit and offer our services for FREE to our members, does not mean it is free to run and operate TMN! It costs us about $6.50/member/year to keep TMN and our communities up and running right now.
You'll get 20 votes that you can use on 20 different charities. You can only vote one time for TMN with these votes.
Once you vote 5 times, you'll get a "gift vote" you can share with a friend. You'll get another "gift vote" after you use all 20 votes. Please be aware that any one person can only vote for one charity two times - once with a regular vote and once with a gift vote. To maximize our gift votes, please share them with someone who has not voted twice yet for TMN ;)
Please take just a minute and vote for us! If you don't like allowing apps on facebook, you can always delete it right after you vote!
Here is why we love our site CFM and " The Mommies Network" : our members, they make all the difference, our members rock~
We love our Mommies and love being a part of The Mommies Network, so help us by voting today so we can share part of the $250K that will be a blessing to the TMN sites.
CFM "No Bake--Bake Sale" On June 19th the Centralfoothillsmommies.com mommies will host a Bake Sale to benefit the cause "Cookies for Kids' Cancer". We will set up in front of the Family Christian Store in Hickory NC and will sell cookies and all sorts of goodies. 100% of the profits will go back to the cause and help raise money for pediatric cancer research.
If you can't come out to buy bake goods or are unable to help on that day, then the "No bake--Bake sale" is for you. You can still donate money via "The Mommies Network" donation page Donate here
Thank you in advance for your support and for being a "good cookie"
