What made them so cool and exciting (and different from say, a stuffed animal), was that you were getting feedback from the “pet,” and could respond accordingly. However, my friend said that she didn’t like the thought of virtual pets because she didn’t think they taught kids the right things about pet care and responsibility, that because there were no real consequences kids wouldn’t give a second thought to tossing the toy, and eventually a real pet, away when they were tired with it.

With this Christmas’s toy of choice being something similar – a furry, mechanical hamster that can run through tubes (am I the only one tired of hearing about Zhu Zhu Pets?) – I remembered my friend’s take on the toys, and it’s got me thinking about it again.

As a parent now, I can see her point, but I’ve also seen first hand that my kids do know the difference between their real pets that require feeding, grooming and care, as opposed to the virtual pet toys they’ve had (including the aforementioned Tamagotchi).

What do you think? Do you think these virtual toy pets make it too easy for kids to think real pets are just as disposable?

[image: amazon]

Post from: Blisstree

Do Virtual Pets Breed Irresponsibility?

Image credit: sindesign

What if you confiscated these items and allowed your children to retrieve them only on a particular day? Call it your “Monday Turnover Box.” The rule: Any item that isn’t picked up or put away after dinner will be placed in the box. Kids (maybe even Dad) can only retrieve these items only on Monday mornings. Pick a day that works for you.

This can help teach kids to help clean up the house and be more responsible with their belongings. Maybe when they find that they can’t live without their favorite toy or jacket, they’d pick up after themselves more. And a video game’s no fun if there aren’t any controllers to use, is it?

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The Monday Turnover Box

Chores help build their self-confidence. Give them a task to manage all their own. For younger kids, it can be as simple as setting the table. Be there to guide them when needed, and cheer them on when they accomplish their tasks successfully. Once they realize they can manage their chores on their own, they’ll have a boost in self-esteem.

Chores help mold their attitudes towards work. Learning how to be responsible begins at home. As their sense of responsibility sharpens, perhaps their attitude towards work also becomes more positive and proactive.

Chores help children appreciate how a home is maintained. Love and laughter can make a home fun, but a clean and organized home makes it even more comfortable to live in.

Chores teach them the value of helpfulness. Mom isn’t the sole housekeeper at home. Everyone should contribute to maintaining a proper home. Chores that require a team effort can help inspire children to give more of themselves too.

Having them learn the value of responsibility won’t happen overnight, so start them off easy. There’s no need to ask the wee ones to go scrubbing toilets. Give them some socks to wear on their hands to help dust off furniture, for example. As they grow older, adjust the chores they are assigned. Hopefully, the kids eventually take on their chores without being asked to do so.

How involved are your children with household chores? Do they have their own areas of responsibility, or do they help out in bits and pieces?

Image credit: David Reber

Post from: Blisstree

Of Kids and Household Chores

Listening to newcomers at today’s Noon meeting I heard it again. What I sounded like with the same amount of “sober” time. Especially when I attempted to speak about what my father “did” to me to make me drink. That is until an oldtimer asked me if my father poured any booze down my throat.

From today’s Daily Reflections;

I Am Responsible

“For the readiness to take the full consequences of our past acts, and to take responsibility for the well-being of others at the same time, is the very spirit of Step Nine.”

“The very thing I fear is my freedom. It comes from my tendency to recoil from taking responsibility for anything: I deny, I ignore, I blame, I avoid. Then one day, I look, I admit, I accept. The freedom, the healing and the recovery I experience is in the looking, admitting and accepting. I learn to say, ‘Yes, I am responsible.’ When I can speak those words with honesty and sincerity, then I am free.”

FREE!

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I Am Responsible

“The Language of the Heart”

“For to our kind, those who suffer alcoholism, recovery is a matter of life or death. So the Society of Alcoholics Anonymous cannot, it dare not, ever be diverted from its primary purpose.”

Fortunately, for all of us, Bill knew what an undying promoter and glory seeker he was, as are most of us.

“Temptations to do otherwise will come aplenty. Seeing fine works afoot in the field of alcohol, we shall be sorely tempted to loan out the name and credit of Alcoholics Anonymous to them; as a movement we shall be beset to finance and endorse other causes. Should our present success continue, people will commence to assert that AA is a brand new way of life, maybe a new religion, capable of saving the world. We shall be told it is our bounden (?) duty to show modern society how it ought to live.”

Putting aside the fact that today’s modern society needs a LOT of help, it somehow feels to me that Bill had had a case of possible wishful thinking.

“Oh, how very attractive these projects and ideas can be! How flattering to imagine that we might be chosen to demonstrate that olden mystic promise: “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.” Fantastic, you say. Yet some of our well-wishers have begun to say such things.”

I have the suspicion that right about here God delivered a reality check to ole’ Bill and Bill became re-centered

“Fortunately, most of us are convinced that these are perilous speculations, alluring ingredients of that new heady wine we are now being offered, each bottle marked Success!

Of this subtle vintage may we never drink too deeply. May we never forget that we live by the grace of God – on borrowed time; that anonymity is better than acclaim; that for us as a movement poverty is better than wealth.

And may we reflect with ever deepening conviction, that we shall never be at our best except when we hew only to the primary spiritual aim of AA. That of carrying its message to the alcoholic who still suffers alcoholism.”

Thank you God for keeping Bill on the right track…

For those of you who think Alcoholics Anonymous is supposed to give you your life back – think again! Do you really want that life back? Or have you been spewing “sound good” in meetings?

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Bill Wilson On The Fifth Tradition

Directly from the pamphlet “The AA Group, Where It All Begins” page 19, comes these wise words;

“Treasurers generally maintain clear records (a ledger is helpful) and keep their groups informed about how much money is taken in and how it is spent. They may make periodic reports to the group and post financial statements quarterly. Problems can be avoided by keeping group funds in a separate group bank account that requires two signatures on each check. The flyer “The A.A. Group Treasurer” offers many other helpful suggestions.

A.A. experience clearly shows that it is not a good idea for a group to accumulate large funds in excess of what is needed for rent and other expenses. It is wise, though, to keep a prudent reserve in case an unforeseen need arises (an amount to be determined by the group conscience). Group troubles also may arise when extra-large donations—in money, goods or services— are accepted from one member.”

Another thought – if you’re having what may be a problem with a treasurer, the first thing to remember is that the group no doubt voted the person in, and, this person is a recovering person and still ought to be considered imperfect. Help them unless they are so far gone attitude wise that they are beyond human aid once again. Then 3rd Step them…

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Your Group Treasury

Give The Girl A Chance

“Today, I can say to the new gals: If you put sobriety first, you can make it. In the Thirteenth Step area, here are a few of the lines I look for.

I run, don’t walk, away from the glib orator who presents a beautiful program of solid sobriety at an AA meeting, but confides to me at the first opportunity, when we are having a cup of coffee, that I’m so understanding and if he had someone around like me, his life would be different (he’s being understood far more than he realizes), or “You’re a beautiful person. I’d like to get to know you better.”

I’m leery of a guy who puts too much emphasis on our wonderful Slogan Live and Let Live. The Slogans have been a lifeline to me, and I respect and use them (or try to) in the right context. But when I hear a member say over and over, “Where I go, what I do, when I do it, and who I do it with is my business — I say, Live and Let Live,” I know this dude’s feeling guilty. He’s doing something he shouldn’t be doing, or he wouldn’t be trying so hard to tell us to mind our own business. He’s paranoid.

Live and Let Live. I buy that 100 percent, but if I have to sneak around, afraid you’ll find out — I want no part of it.

Then there’s the guy who very sweetly says, “I’d like to take you out to dinner or see you outside of AA — but how long have you been sober? I don’t mess around with an AA gal who hasn’t been sober at least a year. I wouldn’t want to be responsible if you started drinking again.” Does a year make it ethical? By whose standards? I’ve been without a drink, a day at a time, for thirty-seven months, and I’m not so sure that I could survive something that was not “good.”

I am not a sanctimonious reformer. I am only saying, there are some guys who are contributing to the delinquency of minors. I don’t care if she does have a beautiful, mature body — emotionally, she’s an infant. I was less than that, and I’m only now learning to crawl.”

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13th Steppers Exposed