October 2012

Stop. Take a moment to think about all of the interruptions that you experience in a day. Phone calls. Text Messages. Emails. And the list goes on.

But what do you do about those interruptions as it pertains to your children? Do you let those interruptions come between you and the time that you have with your kids? I am guilty of it.  As are probably most. Our society has become so dependent on technology, that it is hard to break away from it. We are trained to check our email every 5 minutes. We know that by certain sounds, a new text message has come through or email.

But what is more important, checking your phone or playing with your kids? And it should be an easy answer, right? But is it?

I am challenging both myself and my wife, to put down the phones when we come home and just be with the boys. I am challenging myself, to stop checking email every 5 minutes or responding to text messages, work and friends can wait. Nothing is that life pressing and if it is, they will call back.  I realized last night that I am too connected and yes, I am a Web Developer and I am saying that I am too connected to technology. Funny right? Well, it isn’t and here is why. When I am focused on responding to emails or text messages, those are minutes that I am not playing with my kids, showing them how to throw a ball or play with blocks.  I don’t want to miss a single moment and I feel that I am allowing too many interruptions to do just that.

So starting today. When I get home, my phone goes on the night stand until the boys go to bed.  And the boys get my undivided attention and no more interruptions.

Check out this website – The Quiet Place and just relax for a minute.

Are you allowing interruptions in your life to stand in the way of your kids?

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I am asked all the time, so when the kids do not sleep, what do you do? Luckily for us, this has been a few and far between problem. Usually, one boy will wake up and the other will sleep. Last night, was an odd night. They both woke up at 12:45am and neither wanted to go back to sleep. So what do I do when the kids do not sleep? I took them downstairs, we all had some milk, we had some soft classical music playing and we played. This last for 2 hours, but at the end of the day, even though I had less sleep than I wanted, I got to spend 2 hours with the boys.  We played, we laughed, we rocked, we laughed more, we played more and we had fun. Was it the ideal time? No, but I am grateful that I had 2 hours of uninterrupted time with them. Even if it was at 2am.

So what do you do when the do not sleep?

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White House

The White House
Washington, DC

This statement is said every election, but this is truly how I feel, but I think that this years Presidential Campaign are the worse that I have ever experienced before in my life. And yes, I have been voting for 20 years and have gone through enough Presidential Campaign to make that statement. I just don’t remember this much mud sling and this much dirty politics. And it is coming from both parties, not just one.

I love politics. Seriously, I check the polls every morning. Granted, I take polls with a grain of salt, as most times polls do not disclose the sampling that was chosen to poll, which skews results, but I still love it. For once, I would like to see Presidential Campaign run a clean and factual campaign.  All ads must be cleared by a 3rd party Fact Checking organization to clear all ads and verify information that is coming from speeches, etc. Unrealistic, yes, but hopeful.

As we come down to the final push for this years Presidential Campaign, I still remain hopeful that Mitt Romney will pull it out, however, I am still discouraged by the way that the campaigns are and have handled this election.

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