Blog Archives - Parent's Peace

Time for a haircut!/ Too many friends

11/30/2011

When I let his hair grow for three months over the summer, this is how tall it got!!!

He loves tall hair. And he wishes it would hang in his eyes. Sorry, Son.

Side note: We feel so lucky to have such a friendly boy for a son!

Today's example:
Son: I have too many friends!
Mom: You have too many friends?
Son: At recess they all call me to play with them and I don't know who to pick.
Mom: That sounds like a lucky problem to have!
Son: Yah!

Son: I know how to fix my problem.
Mom: How?
Son: I can pick a friend for each day of the week and play on that day.
Mom: That's a good idea. And maybe you could pick a game that everyone can play.
Son: That's a great idea! Boston says we can play 'duck duck goose'
Mom: Do you remember how to play that one?
Son, exasperated: Mom! Of course I do!

The more we can appreciate his strengths, the happier we all will be.

I wish I would only focus on my strengths! Too often I only focus on my weaknesses and then I feel cruddy.

So today, only think about strengths. Worry about the weaknesses some other day.

Love,
Alison

Silly String fight

11/29/2011

There's nothing like a good silly string fight with a friend

Love,
Alison

Pulled tooth

11/26/2011

It was loose enough to turn sideways. Dad finally pulled his front tooth out, in the truck, in front of Toys R Us.

That was tooth #6 to come out. Wow.

He wanted a Mr. Potato Head instead of money from the tooth fairy.

He loves to show it to anyone who will listen.

Love,
Alison

Feast Day

11/25/2011

On Feast Day, we went to his school at lunchtime and ate a Thanksgiving Feast with him. We love to see every detail of his lunchroom and his classroom. We are so proud he is on the superstar board with a few of his papers.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,
Alison

Pumpkin patch

11/19/2011

This is the seventh year we have taken pumpkin patch pictures together! We wear the same hats each time. It is one of my favorite traditions!

Life

11/16/2011

Life is not easy, but it helps to share it with someone.

I like to study relationship theories. My favorite is the Triangular Theory of Love which was developed by Robert Sternberg. It postulates that there are three factors in a marital type of relationship. It helps to decipher the causes of marital fighting and where the relationship can improve. Children feel more secure when family bonds are strong.

The Triangular Theory of Love Diagram:
Intimacy in this case means friendship, closeness, sharing emotions and intimate details
Passion means sexual attraction and romance
Commitment means the decision to stay in the relationship

INTIMACY in this case means friendship PASSION means sexual attraction, COMMITMENT means the decision to stay together

Each relationship can be evaluated by measuring the strength of any of these three factors. Many relationships are weaker in one or two of the factors at any given time. One, two or even all three of the factors can be completely absent in a relationship! In which of the three areas is your relationship the strongest? The weakest?

This graph shows different combinations of intimacy, passion and commitment.

Friendship
I think that the greatest of the three factors is friendship. It is being loyal and supportive. It is being helpful. It is truly caring about and listening to what the other person is going through. It is feeling safe when sharing true thoughts and feelings with each other; ie: intimacy. Good friends try really hard not to hurt each other. There is no room for criticizing and bitterness in a great friendship. One person can be a great friend even if the other is not. My husband has taught me how to be a better friend. :-)

Commitment
The next important factor is commitment. When times are rough, it helps to be completely committed to sticking together. There was a study where couples who claimed to be unhappy were surveyed five years later. Like 90% of them who stayed together now claimed to be happy. Weathering storms together can make a couple stronger.

Passion
With a deep appreciation of the friendship and strong commitment to each other, the third factor usually falls into place naturally.

I once heard a quote from an elderly woman celebrity who had been married a few times. She said the worst thing is to reach the end of your life and realize you have no one to say, "Remember when..." with.

I feel so lucky to have so many memories with my best friend husband!

Love,
Alison

Hay ride with Dad

11/15/2011

It is cute how much he loves to be with his Dad.

"I just want to see you," he'll say as he climbs onto Dad's lap.

I feel the same way. :-)

Love,
Alison

As fun as Disneyland

11/9/2011

Before we went to the airport to catch our plane home, we stopped by Tustin Marketplace to exchange some headphones.

To make the errands more fun, we bought our son the $12 remote control car that he had seen on the first day of our trip.

He and I waited outside the store, playing with his remote control car.

It is amazing to us that playing with the car outside of Best Buy seemed to be just as much fun for all of us as going to Disneyland!

Or maybe we were just really happy from having a great trip.

Another amazing thing: After our trip, our son did not play ANY video games for two weeks! He didn't ask to play and we didn't mention video games. He just found other activities around the house for two entire weeks! (I won't tell you how much he played over the weekend, I don't want to think about it.)

Love,
Alison

What if there is a black hole over Utah and I get sucked in?

11/8/2011

We had no idea that the circus matinee show would be sold out. We went to the planetarium instead and had a great time watching a space movie and eating popcorn!

The employee who introduced our show said 'um' fifteen times after we started counting. Our son gasped when he first heard it and pointed it out to me. "Mom, is 'um' a bad word?" Ha ha, no. A few weeks earlier I casually told him to try to not say 'um' after I noticed he was all-of-a-sudden starting sentences with 'um um um.' I didn't want it to become a habit. He stopped for awhile. Of course, now I notice that I say 'um' so I told him if he catches me, I will give him fifty cents every time I say 'um'.

We watched a star show called Violent Universe. We listened about the catastrophic events which could destroy the earth, but are highly unlikely to occur.

Astroids and black holes could wipe out the earth. Our son already knew about black holes and loves to hear details about them from his Dad.

Later that night he said he was scared. "Why are you scared?" I asked.

"What if there is a black hole over Utah and I get sucked in?" :-)

That is a great question! My answer: first of all, the guy in the movie said that it probably would not ever happen in a million years. Second of all, God made the universe and everything in it and He would not let that happen unless He had a good plan. He has a good plan for each one of us. And third, let's say a black hole did suck us in, it might be fun! Some scientists think that you can go back in time through black holes. We laughed about what it would be like to visit the dinosaurs.

It is fun to explore science with a six year old!

Love,
Alison

Boss for ten minutes

11/7/2011

Son is in pj's headed for the playroom.

Mom: Honey, where are you going?
Son: I want to get a football.
Mom: You can't get a football, it's bedtime.
Son: (sadly hanging head) I wish I was the boss.
Mom: Why do you want to be the boss?
Son: Then I could do whatever I wanted and tell people what to do.
Mom: Why don't you come brush your teeth and then you can be the boss for ten minutes.

It worked. He brushed his teeth, (actually I still brush his teeth for him. But hey, no cavities!) He was excited to be the boss for ten minutes. What did he choose to do? He played a game on the ipad next to Dad. Awww!

Love,
Alison