parenting Archives

Andy Rooney: The Following Things Are True About Housework

What does spring cleaning look like in your home?

According to the late Andy Rooney, the following things are true about housework:

Vacuuming a large rug is the easiest housekeeping job. Anyone doing it gets more credit than he or she deserves. This is partly because the vacuum cleaner makes so much noise it gives the illusion that someone’s working hard.

Putting away the vacuum cleaner is harder than vacuuming.

The single easiest thing to do in exchange for the most credit, is mopping the kitchen floor.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: marriage, parenting March 27, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

A Dose of Pouty Magic

I mentioned the other day that my colleague and Tim Tebow fanatic, Sue, was pouting over the arrival of Peyton Manning to the Denver Broncos and the subsequent trade of Tim to the New York Jets.

Thankfully, her poutiness was rare and short-lived. But I’m not so sure I can say the same thing about my son Troy who’s been known to pout to either make a point or get his way.

His brother calls it “pouty magic.”

The act doesn’t usually work, but that hasn’t stopped him from trying!

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, kids, parenting, pop culture March 22, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Are Parents Ruining Youth Sports?

This is taking “March Madness” too far.

Springfield, Massachusetts,father Timothy Lee Forbes was arrested this past Friday night for allegedly assaulting the winning coach in a sixth-grade championship basketball game. His son was on the losing team and apparently managed the loss with a greater degree of self-control than his dad, who actually bit off part of the victorious coach’s ear.

As Dave Barry would say, “No, I’m not making this up.”

Some are suggesting that since all of this took place at the Holy Name School as part of the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) sports program that it’s something of a black eye on the faith-based community.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: kids, news, parenting March 13, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Have Youth Sports Gone Mad?

This is taking “March Madness” too far.

Springfield, Massachusetts, father Timothy Lee Forbes was arrested this past Friday night for allegedly assaulting the winning coach in a sixth-grade championship basketball game. His son was on the losing team and apparently managed the loss with a greater degree of self-control than his dad, who actually bit off part of the victorious coach’s ear.

As Dave Barry would say, “No, I’m not making this up.”

Topics: Family and Home Tags: kids, parenting March 13, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Don’t Let Your Teen Daughter Do This

According to a recent story in the San Francisco Chronicle there is a disturbing trend developing with teenage girls on the internet:

A growing number of tweens and teens, mainly girls, are posting videos on YouTube asking commenters if they’re ugly.

Type ‘Am I ugly?’ or ‘Am I pretty’ into the YouTube search box and dozens of videos pop up, including one of an 11-year-old girl who poses for the camera, twirling her shoulders, smiling big, and pulling her long hair out of a pony tail.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: kids, parenting, pop culture, technology March 12, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Why is This So Offensive?

Since 1963 a mural that contains a very brief school prayer has been hanging in the gymnasium of Rhode Island’s Cranston High School.

Prior to the Supreme Court ruling in 1962 that banned official school prayer, students recited it each day. The next year’s graduating class presented the mural as a gift to the school, and there it has hung for nearly 50 years.

That is until a student complained about it and suggested its presence was unconstitutional.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: parenting January 31, 2012 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Parents Deserve Blame for Flash Mob Teens

It happened again last week, this time at a 7-Eleven in Silver Spring, Maryland.

As many as 50 teens and young adults were caught on camera robbing the store. To look at the video footage is to see modern-day anarchy in full living color. The operators of the business were helpless until police arrived.

Officials in cities where “flash mobs” have wreaked havoc insist they’re investigating the incidents and studying ways to prevent them from happening again.

Topics: Current Events Tags: events, family, news, parenting November 29, 2011 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

The Government as Family

The late Nobel laureate in economics, Milton Friedman, warned many years ago that the more government does for the family, the less those in the family are likely to do for themselves.

Do you agree?

Dr. Friedman was not alone in his concern about the negative impact government subsidies can have on private households. History tells us that unintended consequences often accompany even well-meaning bureaucratic intervention. Over thirty years ago a contemporary of Friedman, Martin S.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, parenting, policy November 15, 2011 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

I Had to Turn it Off

The disturbing video of Texas judge William Adams whipping his then 16-year-old daughter quickly went viral last week, with several million views and climbing. Have you seen it? I had the unfortunate experience of watching an excerpt the other day.

I was sickened at the sight.

My heart breaks for this young woman, Hillary Adams (now 23) who posted the video, allegedly to get back at her father. He is (or was) running for re-election. Naturally people want to know if officials are going to charge Judge Adams with child abuse.

Topics: Current Events Tags: family, kids, news, parenting November 9, 2011 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Is Tattooed Barbie a Sign of the Times?

When the late Ruth Handler conceived and created the first Barbie doll in 1959 (named after her daughter, Barbara), she was trying to come up with a simple toy that would resonate with preteen girls. The wife of Mattel’s co-founder and a savvy business woman, she quickly had a megahit on her hands. Over 350,000 dolls were sold in the first year.

Amidst the fame and fortune, though, controversy has continuously dogged Mattel’s franchise brand. Even in its early years, parents protested the doll’s unrealistic body proportions.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, kids, parenting, pop culture October 26, 2011 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura