On Children, Parents, and the Use of Force

Parenting With Objectivist Principles

Find The Funny

Objectivist Round Up #124
Welcome to the Thanksgiving edition of The Objectivist Round Up!Thanksgiving is a typically American holiday. In spite of its religious form (giving thanks to God for a good harvest), its essential, secular meaning is a celebration of successful production. It is a producers’ holiday. The lavish meal is a symbol of the fact that abundant consumption is the result and reward of production. Abundance is (or was and ought to be) America’s pride—just as it is the pride of American parents that their children need never know starvation. --Ayn Rand,

Saying Justice
Over the last week or so, I've been thinking about all the things I'm happy about in my life: my husband; kids; family; friends; the fact that I am able to be home to raise my kids (and homeschool them, too!); my husband's new job (and the old one!); the thinking and writing I've been doing on the blog; the health of me, my family, and friends. All really wonderful things!Then two things happened nearly simultaneously. First, I read Craig Biddle's piece entitled "Don't Say Grace, Say Justice". (Go read it!) Second, someone I barely know made a snarky comment about a subject that is very clo

Good Things!
1. I've been cleaning cleaning cleaning! My, my. How productive of me. There are surfaces in the kitchen that are showing for the first time in, uh, an embarrassingly long time. :o)2. I finally caught up on Sean's baby book! I was so good about Ryan's baby book (of course, because he was the only one for a while) and pretty good about Morgan's baby book (still pretty easy with just two kids). I've been horrible about updating Sean's. Thankfully, I kept some monthly notes on my iPhone and looking back through my blog helped me get some of Seanie's milestones in the right spots.3. Catching up on Sean's baby book (and throwing a few things each in Ryan's and Morgan's bo

PD Tool Card: Mirror
This week's card is one of my favorite parenting tools! It's easy to do, it's easy to do respectfully, and it is a way for me to remain disentangled from unnecessary battles.Telling children what you observe is often enough to motivate change.

Happy Birthday to Me!
We are back from our lovely weekend at the cabin! Personally, I think birthdays ought to transcend just the special date (yesterday) and should include the day or two before and the day or two after the big day. That way you can carpe all of the diem possible (or at least, pace yourself)!A few highlights:We got the cabin decorated for the holiday season. The tree looks so gorgeous and fancy. The tree we put together at home is fun and sentimental, with colorful silly ornaments that go way back to my childhood (and Brendan's, too). Lots of crazy colors and there's a story behind ev