avatarCrystal Jackson

Free AI web copilot to create summaries, insights and extended knowledge, download it at here

2944

Abstract

better life for his own family.</li></ul><div id="873a" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/5-of-the-simplest-yet-most-essential-marriage-tips-e031b9923730"> <div> <div> <h2>5 of the Simplest Yet Most Essential Marriage Tips</h2> <div><h3>That I want my newly married son to know</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*_bZjdnjWjiTqSBuv)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><ul><li>My second son, J, is 25-years-old. He is smart, bright, and independent, and one of the funniest people I know.</li><li>My baby, A, is 20-years-old. He is the last one at home and is creating a financially secure future for himself while he is here.</li></ul><h2 id="dbf3">What I learned over the years</h2><p id="95c6">My situation with E was a little different than it was with the other two. E’s dad was not around after my son turned 1-year-old. I raised E on my own until he was 5-years-old. I made quite a few mistakes with my little experiment baby!</p><p id="d5ba"><b>I fed him way too many Happy Meals</b>. Being poor and single with a baby, the lure of the dollar menu, and Happy Meals at McDonald’s was unavoidable in my young, innocent mind. Vegetables were scarce, if at all. It wasn’t until I met my husband and we had J that veggies were introduced to E.</p><p id="3b4f"><i>Fast-forward to our current timeline:</i> My 2 younger sons love a variety of vegetables, E does not like any except for corn.</p><p id="1328"><i>Takeaway:</i> Even though E was under the age of 5 and he doesn’t mentally remember all of the trips through McDonald’s drive-thru’s, his taste buds do.</p><p id="a8cd"><i>Advice:</i> Start introducing a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, all different types of foods as soon as your child starts eating solid foods. It may make all the difference in how healthy they eat when they grow up.</p><p id="ee49"><b>I never criticized his absent father.</b> Raising a child on your own can certainly be stressful. Money, time, day-to-day help, all of this can become overwhelming. Even though E’s father had a drug problem and spent many years in prison, I resolved to never speak ill of him. I didn’t praise or acknowledge his activities in a positive light to his son. I only spoke the truth. “Your dad cannot see you this weekend” was the most common phrase my son heard growing up about his dad.</p><p id="5852"><i>Fast-forward to our current timeline: </i>My son grew up knowing which parent was always there for him and which one wasn’t. Without me ever having to denounce his father.</p><p id="b312"><i>Takeaway:</i> Actions speak louder than words. Always have, always will.</p><p id="09b6"><i>Advice:</i> It doesn’t matter if you are a single

Options

parent or two parents raising a child together, never speak badly about the child’s other parent. Children are too young and impressionable to be able to discern a negative comment said out of anger or frustration. There is never a need or reason to subject a child to that type of conversation.</p><p id="d9d0"><b>SpongeBob babysat my son quite often.</b> Cartoons and video games become an easy distraction for a busy mom. Attempting to do all of the daily chores after working a full day can get tiresome with a toddler following you around. Plop the child in front of the television and you have a free 25 minutes to get something done. Unfortunately, the time spent in front of the TV instead of sitting down and reading with my son affected his reading ability in school.</p><p id="9269">I was babysitting a friend’s daughter one day, who was the same age as E. They were both in 1st grade at the time. As E was watching cartoons, I noticed the little girl was reading a chapter book. The next day I went to the school and spoke to E’s teacher, and she let me know that he was way behind in his reading skills. She had sent home notes in his backpack, but since E never mentioned the notes, I never saw them. As a first-time parent, it didn’t even dawn on me to look through his backpack except for the homework!</p><p id="b3ed"><i>Fast forward to our current timeline:</i> I was able to get E into an afterschool program that helped him learn how to read, then we had to work on his comprehension. All of this should have been caught while he was in kindergarten. He can read and comprehend just fine now, but he does not enjoy reading as a hobby because it was so much trouble when he was younger.</p><p id="126c"><i>Takeaway:</i> I learned from that huge mistake with E and spent a lot of time with J and A learning how to read.</p><p id="9991"><i>Advice:</i> Spend time with your child as often as possible reading books. Start practicing sound out words and reinforce reading comprehension along the way.</p><p id="d19c" type="7">“Many times what we perceive as an error or failure is actually a gift. And eventually, we find that lessons learned from that discouraging experience prove to be of great worth.” — Richelle E. Goodrich</p><p id="452d">These are but a few of the many mistakes I made with my experiment child. Luckily, none of them were life-threatening or insurmountable!</p><p id="83da">Please do not worry first-time parents! You too shall follow the path the rest of us constructed on first-hand fumbles and come out just fine on the other side.</p><p id="16a3">Know that everything you are doing for your child is out of pure love, and all will be fine in the long run.</p><p id="decf"><a href="https://forms.aweber.com/form/94/1904492394.htm"><b>Tap Here to sign up for Julene’s Musings newsletter and get your FREE PDF of the 500 most commonly misspelled words and their definitions!</b></a></p></article></body>

How a Screaming Goat Perfectly Captured My 2020 Mood

Do you need a screaming goat in your life?

Photo by mana5280 on Unsplash

Every time I see the meme that says 2020 is almost as bad as my first marriage, I laugh and laugh. I’ve been through tough times before, but I look at 2020 and think what the actual fuck was that?

I found it challenging on every level. Suddenly, I was thrust into homeschooling two active small children while working from home. My income took a hit as book signings and book festivals were canceled and platforms changed their pay scale without warning. I lost a close friend — not to the pandemic but to life changes. My long-distance relationship suddenly became a hell of a lot more complicated as travel restrictions reigned supreme. Spoiler alert: it did not survive.

I became more isolated, more overwhelmed, and I watched my mental health drop off a cliff.

It’s not that there weren’t good things. I came out with an extra book this year — a volume of poetry I hadn’t planned to do any time soon. It allowed me to collaborate with an artist I admire. I made a few new friends — a totally unexpected plot twist in the year of social distancing. I read more books. I got the puppy I’ve been wanting for years. I went on social distancing adventures with my children and won a local photography contest for photos I took of the town where I live. Unexpected work opportunities came my way.

It’s not that I’m not grateful for the good things, but the bad things were particularly heavy this year, which is why I gifted myself a screaming goat for Christmas.

No, I didn’t buy any actual raging livestock. I did, however, purchase a small goat on Amazon that screams when you press on it.

If you’re wondering why I needed this, you’re not alone. I’m not sure why it amused me so much when I saw it. I am a Capricorn, and screaming into the void seems to be a peak 2020 mood, so I bought it.

It arrived in a tiny box, and I stuffed it into my own stocking and didn’t give it another thought. After my children ripped open their gifts and shifted into fighting over them, I suddenly found a purpose for my brand-spanking-new screaming goat. I reached over and pressed it. My children froze mid-fight, smiled, and came over to see what was making that noise.

For the past few weeks, every time the volume in my house gets too loud or I find myself frustrated, I let the goat scream it out. It makes me smile. It fixes nothing, but it does perfectly capture my mood and is a little more socially acceptable than if I were to scream my own head off, which admittedly I’ve done on a day so bad I wasn’t sure how else to cope.

Sometimes, the small things aren’t all that small. If a tiny goat I bought for under $10 brings a smile to my face on a challenging day, it’s a worthwhile purchase.

I don’t know what the next year will bring, but I do know that the mood of the last makes this purchase entirely understandable. I don’t know what the hell we’re getting into with 2021 — and I know better than to declare it my year without reading the fine print — but I’m happy to embrace a little whimsy as I embark on this new adventure.

Mental Health
Self
Humor
Coping
Lifestyle
Recommended from ReadMedium