Things Good Parents Do: (#1) Good parents...dress kids in the hottest labels and designer gear (thus avoiding the end of the world as they know it)

The good parent must be sure their child stands out from the nameless, faceless rabble (your kids) with only the best, hottest, most popular brands/ labelled clothing. Abercrombie, Buckle, and Hollister (where "models" work!) and the rest of that ilk. Clothes are not just clothes of the "food, shelter, clothing" level for these folks--they are status, success, even an entire identity. These clothes say "winner." Good parents reason, "$100 for a pair of athletic shoes for my precious child is a small price to pay for his or her happiness, well-being, and social standing." This makes them feel all warm inside.

Righting the wrongs of the past

These are the the people who made the $60 t-shirt and $100 jeans a reality when the previous generation doubted it would ever happen ("You'd have to be nuts..."). People in the old days were such cheapskates! These good parents are bound and determined to right the wrongs of the past and make sure their kids have the best--that they are denied no good thing.

In their defense, good parents are deeply scarred from their own personal childhood experience of being "forced" to wear $5 "sneakers" and $9 "dungarees." It went something like this...

"$20 for sneakers?! Converse(TM)? I don't care if you want CON-verse, RE-verse, UNI-verse, or any other "verse" shoes--are you CRAZY?"

"Pay $20 for Levi's(TM) dungarees??? Do I look high to you?" (It was the 70's--parents said this) "You are wearing these $10 Sears(TM) Toughskins with the patches on the knees (on the OUTSIDE) and you will like them!"

You can understand why this was so emotionally damaging for them. To not have something that others have is...well, it's just un-American for one, and just downright abusive for another. Just one more way their parents plotted against their child's happiness.

(Remember the first wave? Jordache(TM) jeans for $25, Calvin Klein(TM) jeans for $40? I do. Most thought--it's just a trend. My dad just laughed and said "No idiot will ever pay that much for dungarees!" "Only the CHEAPSKATES like you won't pay that!" I pouted and sniffed.)

Good parent's biggest fear--school uniforms
The biggest fear for these good parents, as it concerns their kids, is only one thing--the school uniform. You want to get all the parents to a parent meeting at your school? Establish a school uniform policy.

The shot heard 'round these parent's world is when little Madison rushes home after school, in tears, with the news that her middle school is reverting to non-designer uniforms. These parent's minds race...how could this be happening? Now how will their child stand out? They see their status--oops their child's identity, and FREEDOM being taken away. (Psychiatrists, personal trainers, lawyers, "prescription" doctors are variously called.) What will we do---oh dear what shall we do??? The local Starbucks(TM) is abuzz.

Good parents get involved
The principal gets to know these parents very well over the next few days. Strangers to the PTA (too busy) these parents find "bandwidth" for this catastrophic issue. (One parent overheard saying. "There comes a time when you just have to stand up and say enough is ENOUGH! This is AMERICA!") Yes it is--and if there was ever a time to become engaged with our child's education and patriotic...

There are tearful, passionate pleas at the next school board meeting presented by community pillars dressed in Polo(TM) (even the shoes and socks)and moms adorned in their best BCBG(TM) (Big Cash Bigwig Glamour?) or INC(TM) (I Need Compliments??). Lacking any other case except the most seemingly altruistic, they finally join forces with unlikely allies--the poor, whose kids can only afford Aeropastale(TM)--passionately pleading their case before the school board of the "economic hardship" this would put on these poor parents to purchase uniforms.

Bottom line: If you are spending less than $300 on a single outfit for your children...(ESPECIALLY your teenager) how can you possibly consider yourself a good parent? Are you nuts? Join us good parents in making sure no child is left behind. Image is everything, after all.

Need parenting ideas, advice, opinions or help? Check out a great new parenting site: http://www.parentconsensus.com/ and be sure to participate in a forum or vote in a few polls there on all things to do with parenting, marriage and more.

Get your family talking, sharing, and interacting on a fun new level with 101 Movie Clips That Get Families Talking, available at this link: http://www.parentconsensus.com/Store.php

http://www.blogcatalog.com/directory/personal/parenting

Help for Parents: Understanding the Teen Brain

Ever have absolutely no idea what your teen is thinking, and why they do some of the things they do? Whether you need to better understand teen impulsiveness, rebellion, high emotions, risk-taking, or decision-making--a great new, free online resource can help. "A Parent's Guide to the Teen Brain" is the first in a series of interactive products to be introduced by The Partnership for a Drug-Free America.

Check it out at www.drugfree.org/teen brain!

http://www.blogcatalog.com/directory/personal/parenting

Even the "bad dads" need love this Father's Day

Reader's note: I like exaggeration, sarcasm....and satire. (Thanks!)

Hi, I'm Jim and I'm a (gulp)...father
I am what is known as an American father. Yes, I am one of the much maligned, often reviled, always caricatured "dad" every child is mad at and every wife "can't live with...and can't live without". Or so it would appear--if you believe everything you read, see on TV, browse on the internet, or in any conversation where we talk about what is wrong in America.

As a generally labeled American dad, I am criticized variously as emotionless, detached, harsh, rigid, authoritarian, and an insensitive oaf (thanks Tim Taylor and Raymond!). Apparently, I am uncaring, morally vacant, abusive, etc. I guess I/we are "the one to blame for why you are angry, unsuccessful, have bad hair, or even turn into a bad dad yourself, ____________ (insert your blame here)." I am, alas, one of the battered brethren.

Not to say this describes me personally. Far from it. But because there are so many bad dads, on Father's day especially, I have to endure the articles, TV reports and countless other accounts of how dad's are blowing it today--the kind of things trotted out in the media every year for Father's day. I almost feel like walking around incognito that day. ("There's a DAD, let's get him!!") I am not sure when we went from the heroic "Father Knows Best" view of fatherhood in America to the decidedly moronic Raymond of "Everyone Loves Raymond" ilk. I just want some love, America. I'd like to see what is RIGHT in dad's in America.

Mother's Day Celebration

Let me give an example. The positivity-charged Mother's day church service. Motherhood is praised and exalted. Mothers are unceasingly praised--described as a group as--selfless, caring, sacrificial, thoroughly loving, encouraging, the thread that holds our very society together. Mothers are given gifts, placed on pedestals for the very life they bring (as well they should). People celebrate motherhood with teary eyes. The service is packed as are the restaurants after service.

Father's Day Flogging
Contrast that with Father's day--where the droopy-shouldered dads gather for a pounding. We are praised--for "so many of us showing up for service" today. Then we are "motivated" by a seemingly endless litany of dour "bad dad" statistics and characteristics. Far from being viewed as the thread that holds society together--apparently we are the cold, distant, disengaged, selfish, slovenly "reason the country is coming apart at the seams." Usually, such services end with the well-turned statement that "no man on his deathbed ever says 'I wished I'd spent more time in the office'" before a chuckling final "well, bless their hearts, they have no idea how to parent." (Note: Read "exaggeration"--mentioned earlier).

Let me just say for the record. I love my wife and my kids. I work hard. I am available emotionally to my family and physically spend quantity and quality time with my family. I don't surf porn on the internet. I am not a couch potato. I don't watch sports unceasingly, scratching my privates, burping the alphabet.

I am honest. I don't curse. I don't take drugs...heck I don't even drink. I believe in God. I read. I speak in complete sentences--without resorting to grunts. I don't blank out on you if you say more than two sentences to me. (Well, sometimes.) Not only that...but there are zillions of good guys like me. I know many. You won't hear about us enough.

(By the way, on the Father's Day that followed this posting, Pastor Bill McIntosh, Church In the Son, Orlando, FL gave an excellent sermon "What Every Father Wants" that actually was VERY encouraging and cognizant of the good dads out there--Thanks Bill!)

If "bad dad's" disappeared...who would we blame?
What would we do if we lost the "bad dad" stigma in our society? What if the media made a big deal about what dad's are doing right? If we removed the bad dad label so glibly applied to all of us? Who would we then blame for the failures in our own lives? Our unhappiness? Our low self-esteem? (Who would I blame if not MY dad? I shudder to think.)

Funny thing is, even when men do get their act together...they can't win. Case in point, the most organized, dynamic and man-rallying movement in my lifetime (and I'm pretty old)--a movement called Promise Keepers.

You can't keep a good man down...well, maybe you can...

Back in the early to mid 90's, Promise Keepers held mass meetings involving possibly millions of men dedicated to their marriage vows, to being a good dad for their kids, and committed to integrity, racial harmony, hard work, etc. I was shocked to see how this movement was met by American media and society--this organization was mercilessly attacked and ultimately scattered to the wind. (They still exist, but they had to go underground :)

Okay, here it is: being a dad is tough and many of us are trying our best. We're not perfect, but we sure wish we were. We love our kids. We love our wives. We want to do what is right and good--even though it seems like everything in the world is cheering us on to define our lives by position, prestige, money and a trophy wife. Dads need cheerleaders cheering them on to be good dads, role models--real, grown-up men.

Celebrate fatherhood this Father's Day...show dad some love. Let him know he's pretty okay. Let him know the good things he has brought to your life. Make him feel special. Let him know... he's not so bad after all.

Tell us about YOUR good dad below in Comments!!!

Need parenting ideas, advice, opinions or help? Check out a great new parenting site: http://www.parentconsensus.com/

Get your family talking, sharing, and interacting on a fun new level with 101 Movie Clips That Get Families Talking, available at this link: http://www.parentconsensus.com/Store.php

http://www.blogcatalog.com/directory/personal/parenting