Laura's Ramblings

Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

We went to see “A Dolphin Tale” when it came out, before Christmas and my daughter was in love. For her birthday, we went to see the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. The reality was even more touching.

These Dolphins, Panama, Winter, Hope…, aren’t the showy dolphins that perform tricks and astound audiences. These Dolphins are sweet and have been through a rough time. They care for each other and the staff of Clearwater is amazing. I was truly touched by each and every animal I saw and how tenderly they were treated.

I wish there were a hundred places like that, all over the world for all kinds of animals. If you are down near Clearwater, FL, don’t miss going. It truly is one of those life-changing experiences!

The first thing most new parents do when they get home from the hospital is to look for a “How-to” manual.  I still have not found one for my daughter, Jenny.  She is as mysterious at eight as she was the day she was born.  To give you an example, when she was three, she came home from Montessori school one day and announced that she wanted to go to China.  “China” I said, rather puzzled.  I could not possibly fathom why a small child from Alabama would suddenly want to go to China.  Jenny stuck her chin out and said, “Yes, Mommy, I want to go to China.  That’s where Catherine and Caroline are from.”

Well, as you can guess, the light went on in my head for the two girls were twins and they had been adopted from China.  I figured that Jenny would forget about this plan after a few months, particularly since we were going to a different school the following year.  Boy was I ever wrong.  We began eating out at Chinese restaurants, watching this show by Amy Tan about these Chinese Cats and Jenny had to have a kimono.  Every other month or so, she would ask when we were going to go to China.  Finally, out of desperation, I explained to her that we really needed to learn the language if we were going to go there as it is not very fun to go to a foreign country and not be able to speak the language.  Well, my daughter is slick, sometimes, because I found myself promising to take us to China if she learned how to speak Chinese.

By Christmas of that year (right before she turned five), she convinced her dad to buy her the “Muzzy DVD series” to learn how to speak Mandarin Chinese.  She is not fluent, yet, but I have started saving for plane tickets as I am starting to get nervous.  We have also started learning some of the more common symbols.  Friends have told us that it is most important to learn the symbols for the numbers, so we have started working on those as well.

It sounds crazy that my eight year old has spent half her young life waiting for this chance to go to China but she has.  It is exciting to plan this adventure with her.  As I learn about the different cities and places to go, I am amazed.  It is very American of me to think so, but living in the states, you do not think of other places as being so vast.  When you actually look at the map of China, you have to take a breath.  You have to wonder where to start!

We could start out in the exciting city of Hong Kong with all of the wonderful modern shopping and fine music.  It would be so lovely and very modern then we could walk backwards through time.  We might even find Shangri La if we are lucky.  We could end our travels through China and through history on the Great Wall.  I can almost see the two of us there.

**This is a fictional story…both the Cruel Mom and MySpace Girl are fictional characters**

MySpace and Teenage Guidelines (Otherwise known as Cruel Mom and MySpace Girl)

As the cruel mom in this story, I most point out, that the “teenage victim” of the very same story happens to be the twelve-year-old daughter of the cruel mom.

One day, the cruel mom was sneaking evilly by MySpace Girl’s sparkling clean room just waiting to find something wrong when what should she discover? MySpace Girl had left a website on her computer. It happened to be her MySpace account. Unfortunately, this cruel mom was familiar with MySpace Rules and Teenage Guidelines and knew that MySpace Girl had finally broken a rule and she could punish MySpace Girl horribly. For you see, according to MySpace rules, you are required to be at least fourteen to have an account. They also have a policy that if you are found to not be telling the truth about your age when you are either under fourteen or between the ages of fourteen and seventeen, then they will investigate and remove the account.

In addition, “cruel, mean, and evil” parents do have the right to remove their children’s accounts at any time. To find out ways to do this (which only cruel mean and evil parents would do), look in the MySpace FAQ (for cruel, mean and evil parents).

Well, to continue this story, the cruel mom sat down with MySpace Girl and made her remove every picture and comment that MySpace Girl had written. Then cruel mom shocked MySpace Girl because cruel mom showed MySpace Girl how easy it was to use just the information that MySpace Girl had put on MySpace to find out home addresses, phone numbers, schools…Then, cruel mom pulled up news stories of young daughters who didn’t have such cruel moms and what had happened. MySpace Girl came to realize that she did not have such a cruel mom after all. Actually, MySpace Girl decided that she might become a “cruel mom” one day, too!

Thankfully, the above “fairy tale” has a happy ending. Today, we read too many stories on the news that do not have such conclusions. Sexual predators have been prevalent throughout history; however, we do not see the dark dangerous alley when we are chatting on a computer from the safety of our bedroom. It is also much easier to fool someone with a chat window than in real life.

One of the best ways to help teach our children about general safety on the internet and particularly tools such as MySpace is to talk with them. Show them your MySpace account, if you have one. When they turn fourteen, help them set one up—you are involved in it, then. You can guide them in the right direction. MySpace has fantastic videos, both for parents and teens about all aspects of this site. They are well worth watching and discussing. Be an informed parent and an informed teen; do not be surprised by a MySpace girl or guy in your home! MySpace and Teenage Guidelines are available for everyone as a wonderful social tool in today’s Internet world! Enjoy and Be Safe!