Check out what we found today on Pinterest

• Agree

  

  Agree

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Check out what we found today on Pinterest

• Grey bedroom. Love.

  

  Grey bedroom. Love.

• I’m going to print t

  

  I’m going to print this and put it in my office.

• Truer words have nev

  

  Truer words have never been spoken.

• True. Love this.

  

  True. Love this.

• If I never lost sigh

  

  If I never lost sight of this, I’d never doubt my ability to do great things.

• True

  

  True

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• This would be useful

  

  This would be useful for bribing my 2 year old to actually sleep in his own room.

• I think this guy jus

  

  I think this guy just became the pickle

• Inspire

  

  Inspire

• Never

  

  Never

• Love.

  

  Love.

• Struggling with wint

  

  Struggling with winter again this year

• This is just paper g

  

  This is just paper glued onto letters you can buy in Michaels. Too cute!

• I’m redoing my baby’

  

  I’m redoing my baby’s room and I love this.

• chase jarvis

  

  chase jarvis

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Technology moves at light speed. It changes so fast that before we know it our iPhone 4′s will so thin they will give a piece of paper a run for it’s money, and our iPads will not only look up recipes but actually cook your dinner too. But amidst all of this change, you can be sure of one thing: The Internet will retain it’s sense of wonder and stupidity. If it’s too stupid to print in a newspaper or magazine, you’ll find it on the Internet.

For parents, the Internet is either the place where you feel better about your parenting or worse, depending on the day. Here are a few gems that you might have missed this past week:

Should Mother’s Be Sued for Bad Parenting - Time Magazine

I feel for this woman. To be sued because she didn’t send a care package in college or because she made her daughter have a midnight curfew when she was in high school? Sounds like she actually cared, so let’s sue her for $50,000.

OK to start potty training at 18 months, expert says – The Globe and Mail

Really? My son was barely talking at that age, let alone expressing an interest in going to bathroom anywhere but his diaper. If you read on, the article does say you can start at 18 months if its a family decision, but not many people are going to bother to read the entire article. In the five minutes a mom might have to read that, all they will see is 18 month olds potty training and they will feel like their kid missed the bus.

Baby products you don’t need: Parents Magazine

This one is just for fun. I love the baby swiffer. So handy when your floors are dusty and your baby is just learning to crawl. Direct them to the messy spots and watch them have fun.

I’m not fond of the word ‘fail.’ It brings up so many different feelings and emotions, mostly that it’s not something I like to do. But occasionally, the word is really appropriate.

Case in point: Huffington Post featured 19 wonderful slides courtesy of Fail Blog that will make you feel fantastic, perhaps even successful, as far as your child’s choice of school is concerned anyway.

Check it out: 19 Back to School Fails

Not as many updates this week as I’ve been bitten by the summer vacation monster: Meaning I have to put the computer aside and actually do something out and about for a change.

We’ll be back in a day or two!

I happened upon a funny article today that made me feel better about the fact that my kids are bored out of their minds this summer, my entertainment directors hat slowly slipping off of my head because I just can’t keep them all happy.

At the very least, I can feel good about the fact that their diet is well balanced. I feed them healthy food that they like to eat. I get them to eat fruits and vegetables, and I always do my best to make sure no one runs around on a sugar fueled high courtesy of too many Popsicles and candy.

And so, this article made me laugh, because the idea of crafting food is so insane to me. If they won’t eat the food that I put in front of them, why would they want to eat it in the shape of a car or an octopus? I could be wrong, but the idea of eating Dora’s face strikes me as a little bit….weird (My 2 year old loves Dora. I can’t imagine if I put her head on a plate and said, Go ahead, eat her up!) If you put a face on a hot dog, doesn’t it make you think about how that hot dog actually once had a face to begin with? (And with some hot dogs, you’d have to spin a roulette wheel to find out what type of face it originally had)

Here’s the article: 10 Revolting Kid Friendly Meals. Maybe you like crafting food, and it will give you some ideas of your own. If you do craft something spectacular, send it to me and we’ll post it here.

Survive Parenthood Magazine focuses on tips and tricks that can help you survive the often stressful times of parenthood. At the same time, we recognize that there are moments that you just need to pick up your socks and survive the bumpy times that hit your marriage. And that must be why that the single most goggled phrase that seems to bring people here is “Things Not To Say To My Spouse.”

After the hysterical laughter died down, we began to think that perhaps there are some people out there who really need help with this. We’ve written an article on 3 things to never say to your wife after she has had your baby and it seems to be a crowd favorite, bringing in almost as many people as Casey Anthony did.

As any parenting magazine will profess, we want families to stay together. Imagine causing marital strife just because you simply didn’t know that you said something really, really dumb. It would be horrible, so we are here to help.

We will assume that those Goggling are male, and that they have already possibly put their foot in it and are trying to work their way out of the dog house.

And so, in honor of those frantic searchers, we present in no particular order, 3 things never to say to your wife:

 You look sort of fat in that outfit

Where shall I begin? Number one, if your spouse asks you this question, you are already doomed to failure. You must know that she could possibly be feeling insecure about her outfit or is looking for compliments. Maybe her pants are a little too tight, or she’s never successfully found her waistline after bearing your most recent child. No matter, because the only appropriate comment to make when asked this question is, “No, not at all! You look great!”  You may think about your honest assessment quietly to yourself, but you must never say it. As long as it doesn’t come out of your mouth, you are safe.

What do you do all day anyway?

This statement is usually in response to you walking in the door and discovering that the house is a mess and there is no dinner on the table for you. Or worse, there is dinner and it is Mac and Cheese or Macdonalds. Your wife looks frazzled, your kids are dirty, and you have no idea how 9 hours could have passed in your house and not a single thing has changed.

Resist the urge to comment. Until you spend an entire day in the house, you have no idea what could possibly occur in there. Maybe she played outside with the kids all day, maybe she worked in the garden, or maybe she just didn’t feel like cleaning. If you don’t feel like cleaning, why should she?

You don’t work. You have more free time than I do.

In the land where you live, does beer flow from the rivers and pretzels rain from the sky? No? Then we will assume you live on earth with the rest of us. There is no way to adequately explain how being a mother is a 24/7, 365 day a year job. How your spouse can go from changing a diaper, to wiping a nose, to cleaning up a pile of blocks all in 5 minutes. And if she does have a moment in her day that isn’t taken up by kids, chances are she’s thinking about them or planning something for them. Free time? Ha. Ha. It is to laugh.

When a man has free time, they really have free time. They turn off their cell phones and go and do something that makes them happy. Whether that be golfing, swimming, hiking, biking, or running. Your brain is trained on what you are doing, and I’d wager that you aren’t thinking about what is going on at home.

Motherhood can be overwhelming. Don’t contribute to the conflicting emotions. Unless, of course, your couch is really comfy.

We hope that you the aforementioned hints are helpful to you. And here is one more bonus tip: Think before you open your mouth. Weigh the pros and cons. If it sounds bad in your head, there is no doubt that it will ricochet off the walls of your house and shoot you in the foot.

Stressed? Survive Parenthood Magazine will often put up interesting or ridiculous videos. The goal is to kill 5 minutes and help you get back on track.

Watch this one with your kids, its too cute not to.

You may think that exposing your kids to our older generations is a good idea, and in many respects you would be right. If you have a great set of Grandparents, why not spend time with them? The same goes for older neighbors who, instead of yelling at your kids to get off their grass, come over for a chat and actually know your children’s names.

Unfortunately, I’m finding lately that the above mentioned older people are the minority. Why do I feel this way? I can chalk it up to my experience with three different people over the age of 65, in which I found that 2 out of 3 of them were really mean and grouchy. I’ve taken statistics, and this qualifies as a decent random sample considering that these were casual encounters and not someone I went looking for.

It was a sunny day. The one warm, sunny April day that our town had had all month long, and I was determined to get out and enjoy it. Walking down the street from our house, we entered a farmer’s field and proceeded to lightly ride our bikes up and down the grassy knolls.

Ten minutes later, with my husband far enough out of ear shot to not have a clue as to what was going on, I received a verbal tongue lashing the likes of which I had never encountered in my life. And I’m from Saskatchewan, the land of the “F” word as used as a part of every day conversation.

Apparently, the neighbors of this field don’t like it when people enter the field and disturb their tranquil days. Even though said people that were in the field at that time had permission permission from the farmer.

The most ludicrous accusation that came willy nilly out of his mouth was that my family was the cause of rising milk prices, because we were ripping up a working hay farm. The most offensive bit he spewed? Let’s just say that the words he used were brought to you by the letter ‘C’ and the letter ‘W’, and that they while they named parts of the anatomy, they certainly weren’t family friendly.

I was offended, but what irked me most was that a.) It was none of his business that we were there because it was not his field, and b.). He swore at me in front of my kids. I did not retaliate, and walked home to have a good weep over what my children witnessed as well as a general hopelessness that old people would ever be as friendly as Walt Disney appeared to be.

That was several weeks ago. I chalked that incident up to him being pathetic and unhappy, all the while  plotting my purchase of that farm in order to open up a commune for dirt bikes everywhere.

Today, I encountered another grouchy older person. She sat on the grass in a crowd of people, and couldn’t figure out why she was unable to hear what the people were saying at a MayDay parade speech. Shushing and barking at the people surrounding her, she basically created a scene without getting up off her butt to actually help herself.  I restrained myself from telling her to be quiet, because I believe in teaching my children to respect others even when it is apparent that others are not being respectful. Apparently, she has yet to hear that classic fable that states you can catch more bears with honey than salt. Or however that goes. I think if you tried to catch a bear with salt, he’d probably eat you, but that’s just me.

This was strike two for the older generation this month.

As I was two for two, I didn’t have a lot of faith that I would come across anyone who would be remotely kind for any reason. You begin to lose your faith in humanity, especially when someone who is supposed to be a role model is so overtly mean. My third encounter with the elderly happened when I was running.

He was standing on his lawn as I trotted past, ear phones firmly in place. He motioned to me to take out my earphones them out,  which I did somewhat reluctantly. After the verbal assault from the non-owner of the farmer’s field, I felt sick at what this guy possibly had in store.

“How far do you run?” he asked.
“10 km”, I said, still wondering why he was asking. I hadn’t stepped on his lawn or anything, had not kicked his rocks or knocked down his statues. I had no idea why he was talking to me.
“Everyday?” he asked, smiling at me now.
“Every other day.” I smiled back. Please don’t let him call me something I’ve never heard of, I thought.
“Good for you.” He nodded at me and waved. “That’s something to be proud of.”

I actually stood there for a moment while nodding back, smiling for real now. And in that moment I felt so grateful that someone had not taken their bad day out on me. More specifically, I felt even better that certain someone was over the age of 65 and was actually nice. It gave me hope.  And I remain hopeful on a daily basis that I will encounter another nice person, no matter what their age.

[author] [author_image timthumb='on'][/author_image] [author_info]Shelly Wutke is a freelance writer based just outside of Vancouver, BC. A graduate of the University of British Columbia with a major in Psychology, Shelly is ready willing and able to provide investigative articles, web copy, press releases, and if you require, a shoulder to cry on. See her clips at http://www.iwriteit.ca [/author_info] [/author]