When It is alright to let them decide?

Yesterday I took my son to the barber shop to get his back to school hair cut. As we sat in the barber shop, I reminisced over how much my son has grown. I remember the first time I took him to the barber shop, I had to sit in the barbers chair and have him sit on my lap just so he could stop squirming and get his hair cut. And now look at him, he walks into the barber shop as if it is second nature. True, I still have my moments when I stand by the barber’s chair, and oversee him and my son as they have their “man” talk. But yesterday all that changed. As I went to the barber shop with my son, he ran over to the pictures of hair cuts on the wall and said “mommy, I want this one.” All of the guys laughed at him, jeering him “your mother is not going to let you get that son, not until your older.” But as I looked in Isaiah’s eyes, I couldn’t help it. I had to allow him to have this one decision. For once I was going to step back and let him decide on how he wanted his hair to look. As I swayed past the older men in the shop, to get a closer look at the picture, I couldn’t believe it! My son wanted to get a Mohawk with a spider man design on the side. As I turned around to tell him pick another cut, I remembered the look in his eyes and the excitement on his face as he marched up to the picture and pointed to it and said: “mommy, I want this one.” How could I turn around and tell him no. As he sat in the chair, the barber looked at me, the older men looked at me, and Isaiah looked at me as if they were all waiting for me to yell: STOP, I’m not ready for this, he’s too young to make this choice!” But I just politely smiled and stared back at them and cheered Isaiah on. As I watched him get his hair cut, I began to wonder, at what point do we let our children began to make decisions for themselves? When do we step back and let them take control? Sure this time it was something as minor as a hair cut. But later on who knows what it will be? How do we prepare them to make good decisions? Or to accept the decisions that they’ve made? As parents we always want to hold their hand, choose which path that we assume is the right path for them and watch themhappily march down it. We always want to be the ones who block the bumps, pitfalls, and cover up the spills, but when do we stop? Should we start teaching them decision making skills at at four, five, six? Or do we wait until they get older? After Isaiah got his hair cut and I brought him home, he rushed upstairs to the mirror and looked at his hair cut. I couldn’t quite figure out what he was doing, so innocently I asked “what’s up?” As he turned around to answer me, he had... (read the full article at the link below)

Choosing

It is no secret these days that breastfeeding is best. This information comes at new mothers from every direction. Obstetricians, pediatricians, and parenting magazines all agree that breastfeeding is the way to go. So why are there so many different bottles on the shelves these days? Because not all mother’s are able to breastfeed and those that do, need an occasional evening away from baby. With all the choices out there, it can be difficult to decide which bottle is best. When making your decision you should take into consideration the cost of the bottle, your baby’s preference, and any health problems your child may have. Here is a brief description of the bottles on the market right now. This information should make your decision a little easier...(read the full article at the link below)

10 Fabulous Reasons Why Troubled Youth Need Military School

When it comes to handling troubled teens, the public school system is not that well equipped. More often than not, many parents seek help from military schools in order to educate and discipline their derailed youngsters. Recently, military schools, which seemed to get out of the scene in the late 1960's and early 1970's, have started to be crowded with enrollees steadily.

Nowadays, its hard to make a teen get into a military academy. But why the boom of military school enrollments? Here are the 10 reasons behind this phenomenon:

1. Military Schools Have Become More Choosy

It's not that military schools, boot camps or any military-oriented programs used to be very undiscriminating back then. Only, nowadays, when a teen is overly unruly, a military school is most likely to not admit the youngster. This is because military programs are not leaning towards the forcing of teenagers to "clean up their act" if they, themselves don't really want to.

2. Military Schools Are Now More Geared Towards Imposing Proper Discipline to a Child

Traditionally, military schools are definitely known to be the house of disclinary actions in molding youth. Today, modern and more effective methods have been developed to improve the administration of proper discipline to teenagers. Teens will be subject to strong discipline but this does not entail they will be abused.

3. Military Schools Are Now More Focused in Giving Structure to a Child

The highly structured ambience provided by military schools can help channel the unfocused energies of an adolescent who has not achieved his or her full potential. The structured environment provided by military schools promotes the values of organization and self-management.

4. There are Military Schools that Offer Academics

They offer stringent and modernized academic program for the modern needs of teeners.

5. Military Schools are Tailored to Best Suit the Needs of a Teen

Teens have individual needs that must be met. This is supported by military schools. Through thorough assessment, military-oriented programs can be customized to best serve what each teenager needs. More and more military schools offer education that fits with smaller class sizes. There are those that provide more opportunities to work one on one with teachers and staff.

6. Military Schools Emphasize Fitness

With emphasis on physical fitness, military schools serve the purpose of being useful for teens whose parents consider to be "couch potatoes". Through various sports and other rigorous and yet very beneficial physical activities, definitely they will become more skillful and able-bodied than they used to be.

7. Military Schools Don't Stunt the Social Life of a Teen

In contrary to the dated notion about military schools, positive peer environment exists, which is enforced through honor code. From the very start, a military school is designed to provide a high level of comradeship. With a military school, a social life is possible without the distractions from the outside. This way cadets can do better in and out of the classroom, which leads to their academic success.

8. Military Schools Help Motivate Teens to Become Matured, Responsible Citizens

With a disciplined and structured context that is both physically and emotionally healthy, cadets are motivated to develop self-discipline and also to reach their full potential in every way - physically, intellectually and spiritually.

9. Military Schools Aid in the Moral Molding of Teens and the Learning of Other Important Values

Military-oriented programs are enhanced to provide good values, particularly those that will teach teenagers to have a dignified moral stance. Aside from leadership, discipline, and accountability, what could be more important than being able to inculcate solidarity and respect to a teen, not only for his superiors but also to his equals.

10. Military Schools Provide Other Long-Term Benefits

More benefits are offered to teenagers who came from a military school. Because of the values and skills learned, when teens have experience going through military school, the community is more inclined to giving them better consideration when it comes to employment, e.g., military jobs, and other community activities.

With these reasons, who can go wrong with going to a military school?