I’m proud to say that I’m walking the walk, and talking the talk. After driving my poor Saab into the ground, I bit the bullet and purchased a new car. My adorable Chevy Volt is a hybrid plug-in that gets 50+ miles per charge. By driving carefully, and following their suggestions, I was able to log 800 miles before I had to refill my gas tank.
Three years later, I’m writing my first nonfiction book, How To Keep Your Daughter From Slamming the Door: An Awesome Mom Handbook, which will be out later this year. I considered my newest gem to be a complete departure from my previous YA books… or, so I thought until today when my comments to my fiction fan created an echo in my head.
We arrived at Boston’s Logan International Airport four hours before boarding time. The signs outside indicated that our airline, Iberia, was the first one. Upon entering the international terminal, we were surprised to see it was basically deserted except for a couple of uniformed men standing under a “Porter” sign.
Our “bop-pum” story, now a favorite family anecdote, came to mind when heard the podcast today. Based on my own personal experiences, I offer this humble opinion: People are uncomfortable with things that are different. If body vocabulary is made casual within the family, small children will use it indiscriminately outside of the home, where it is not casual. Unfortunately, if their vocabulary is not as innocent-sounding to the rest of the world, they may receive negative feedback… but you may never be made aware of the conflict. Without the knowledge of what your toddlers are experiencing, you are helpless to address it.
“I offer to pay my employees extra to come in on holidays so I can stay open for the tourists,” the young man told me. “But, they say, ‘No. I’d rather have my time than the money. I can’t get my time back’.” He shook his head, his disapproval more than evident.
What are you doing March 24 at 8:30pm? That’s Earth Hour, you know, the event when the world shuts off the non-essentials for an hour in statement of solidarity in support of our planet.
This past December our electric bill was over $500! If there are about 730 hours in a month, shutting off my house would save me less than a dollar. That’s not much, but that’s the beauty of the Ripple Effect. There are about 24,920 households in my town. If only half of them observe Earth Hour, that would be a savings of over $8700 in this town alone.
Last week my mother cut out an article from the New York Times touting how a gluten-free diet is dangerous to your health. It frightened her because I eat gluten-free. And, for goodness sakes, it was the New York Times, so it had to be true.
“The American School Counselor Association recommends a student-to-student counselor ratio of 250:1.” That means your child is vying for counselor time amongst 249 other kids… if you live in one of the 3 states that meet this criteria. “The national average is 491:1, while in California and Arizona, it’s 822:1 and 941:1, respectively.”
And they think guns are the problem?
