Men in Uniform

Collin Sports His Tiger Cub Scout Uniform
Evan's Homemade Robot Ensemble

Collin had his second Tiger Cub Scout pack meeting. This is held at his school and consists of all the cub scouts from his school. This was the first time Collin wore his uniform to the meeting. The pack meeting is not to be confused with the den meeting, which is comprised of a small group of boys. The den meeting usually meets in a private home. I was never in scouting growing up, so I'm learning about this as I go along. Collin and Craig also helped collect food for a scouting food drive. They drove the food to another location where it was sorted. All together, the pack collected 2,000 items, which were in turn donated to the Salvation Army food pantry.

On to other news. Evan has quite the active imagination. This probably comes from being a second child who has had to come up with ways to amuse himself since he has never had 100% of our undivided attention like his older brother at one time experienced. Lately, he's been fixated on robots. He asked us to create a robot costume for him. The above picture shows the results of our efforts. It's no masterpiece, but he was pleased with the results. He does his best to keep his costume out of reach of his younger sister when he's not wearing it.

Bullying Seminar

Last week I attended a bullying seminar sponsored by our local school district. The speaker, Trudy Ludwig, is the parent of children who were bullied during their elementary school years. She has written several books on the subject and speaks all over the country. Here's what I learned from her talk:

-9/10 elementary students have been bullied
-bullying happens once every seven min. on the playground and every 25 min. during class
-kids ages 8-15 rate bullying as a bigger problem than racism, AIDS, or peer pressure to try drugs, sex and alcohol
-bullied children are five times more likely to suffer from depression than their non-bullied peers

-There are three groups involved in bullying: aggressors, targets and bystanders

-There are three types of bullying: physical, verbal and relational.
-Relational bullying involves manipulation in a relationship. Examples are betraying secrets, gossip, the silent treatment, sending nasty e-mails, forming an exclusive club, pretending to be friends as a means to an end, etc. Relational bullying is the most harmful form of bullying.
-Girls target their own friends. Boys go outside their friendship circles.

-Not worried because your child isn't a target? Bystanders suffer the same symptoms as targets.
-Symptoms of bullying include: school phobia, head and stomachaches, anxiety, poor problem-solving skills and feelings of helplessness.
-School absences due to the effects of bullying account for 160,000 absences a day in the U.S.

-Girls with abusive friendships gravitate towards abusive romantic relationships later in life.
-Boys like to exchange friendly insults with each other. A boy who is bothered by such insults often becomes a target.

How to stop the bullying:
(Younger kids)
-Say to the bully, "Stop! I don't like it when you say that. If you do it again, I'll report you." Then WALK AWAY.
-Say, "So? Whatever! Who cares?"
-Act like a three year old and ask, "Why?" Ex. "You're fat?" "Why do you think I'm fat?" "Because you look fat." "Why do you think I look fat?" The idea is to get the bully to give up.
(Older kids)
-Turn an insult into a compliment. "You're fat!" "Thanks!"
-Agree. "You're fat." "You're right, I am fat." ( Be careful what you agree with on this one.)
-Change the subject by turning around and complimenting them. "You're fat!" "Cool shoes! Where did you get them?"
-Use humor to make the bully laugh.

What not to do:
-Fight back. This can just cycle out of control and go on forever or until someone really gets hurt.
-Ignore. They will just increase the level of their insults until you crack.

Whatever tactic is used, ALWAYS WALK AWAY and tell a grown-up.

If you ever have the opportunity to hear Trudy Ludwig speak, please go. The hour she spoke flew by quickly. She captures her audience and arms them with practical information.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

When was the above picture taken? This past March perhaps? No. This morning! I'm used to having snow from November-April. Usually it starts shortly after Halloween and we settle in for the winter. Six months of snow is bad enough, but yesterday I received the shock of the year when it started blizzarding sideways around supper time. In the afternoon the temps were in the 40s (cold enough) and the kids and I played in our winter gear in the park. There was a dark blue cloud on the horizon and I assumed that meant rain was coming. Nope. We were in for a good old fashioned snowstorm- nine days into October! Not only did it snow, but it actually accumulated. We were going to the pumpkin patch today, but I'm thinking any pumpkins left are probably mush right now. I brought in the pumpkins we did have from the garage so they wouldn't freeze.

This morning the temp was 20 degrees when I got up. I'm so not ready for this yet. The boys, however, were very excited to go outside for a romp. Where was my husband during all this time? Tent camping! He wanted to take the boys with him, and I nixed that idea when I heard the temps were going to get close to the teens during the night. I'm so thankful I insisted that they stay home.