On Children, Parents, and the Use of Force

Parenting With Objectivist Principles

Find The Funny

Good Things, Holiday Edition (Brought to you by Procrastination)
First, before this thought falls out of my head and I forget to mention it, check out the 123rd edition of the Objectivist Round Up, hosted by my friend C. August! Guaranteed to make you THINK! (We really put out some good stuff, we OBloggers, don't we?) I'm hosting the Thanksgiving Edition next week, and I invited all Objectivist Bloggers to submit a post, especially if you've got one on the theme of Giving Justice.We have another exciting weekend brewing. We're

Revelation of the Day
My sweet little daughter is really really smart. She reads and can do all kinds of math and knows everything there is to know about dogs. And yet, she can hardly walk through a room without falling flat on her face, Sandra-Bullock-from-Miss-Congeniality-style. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration. (But only a bit.) She just doesn't pay too much attention to her environment, and that can cause problems for all of us.Today, I asked her to "Please move!" for about the fifth time while I was bringing groceries into the house. She then moved directly into my path--for about the fifth time. Near disaster--for about the fifth time.So I said to her, "Honey. Do you know what

Another Bloggy Milestone
Today, according to Sitemeter, I reached 75,000 hits! Lucky # 75,000 was a visitor from Rangoon, Myanmar. Pretty cool.In honor of this occasion, and partly inspired by some recent Twittering, I thought I'd share with you some of the most amusing search phrases that have brought people to my blog recently.In any given week, I get quite a few hits from people searching phrases you might expect if you've read my blog at all for any length of time. Some of these phrases include:American Community Survey and other Census-related queriesDiscipline without punishmentLeaving Dish Network (or downgrading Dish Netwo

Joke(s) of the Day
Morgan: "Knock knock!"(Okay, see? Here's the thing. My kids do NOT understand the point of knock-knock jokes.)Me: "Who's there?"M: "Banana."(ESPECIALLY this particular knock-kn0ck joke.)Me: "Banana Who?"M: "Knock knock!"Me: "Who's there?"(She says absentmindedly, looking for a parking space.)M: "Banana!" (giggle)Me: "Banana Who?"M: "Knock knock!!!!!"Me: "Who's there?"

Funny Conversation of the Day
The kids and I always have the most interesting conversations in the car. Here's a taste of our conversation on the way to Taekwondo, as faithfully as I can render it. I even wrote down notes about this conversation right after it ended, so I could make sure to capture the nuance. :o)Ryan, out of the blue: I've made up my mind--I'm never going to get married!Me: Why not?R: I'm just not that kind of a guy.Me: Oh. [chuckles inwardly]Morgan: Well you HAVE to get married so you can have kids.R: Well I don't want them