How Much Help Do Parents Actually Need?

How much help do parents actually need to raise healthy, loving, happy, and productive children? LOTS.

Fortunately, lots of resources are available to help parents who have questions about raising their children. Here are a few of those resources (and at the end of this blog is a link to an article I came across that offers some great uses for coffee filters – just thought I'd throw that in the mix – after all don't we love hearing about ways to save money?) :

My Family is a web site that allows you to create a network of parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, children, grandchildren, and grandparents who share photos, stories, and news about their own families. You can invite family members of family members to join as well.

Parenting is an online magazine that offers articles on everything from how to get pregnant to how to choose the right preschool for your toddler.

Parenting (ivillage) is a community of parents with several areas devoted to all aspects of parenting and includes videos, customized calendars, mom-to-mom advice, and links to maternity information, as well as articles about your tween and teen.

Parenthood is another great web site that offers parents advice on the parenting process.

Though numerous parenting web sites exist, many of them include most of the information and resources as those found above. Even if they are the caliber of the sites posted above, this next one is worth mentioning. Family Education is a great parenting web site organized in such a way that you can quickly locate information geared to the specific age of your child(ren). It includes printable games and activities for children, games for mom, and a recipe database.

And now for the promised coffee filter article entitled, "20 Uses For Coffee Filters Around The House."

Single by Divorce?

We are single parents for a variety of reasons. Maybe we were never married. Maybe our spouse died. Maybe we made the choice to be single. Or maybe we're divorced.

As we know, the consequences of divorce affect not only us, but also, and sometimes especially, our children. We know first-hand the pain and the anguish divorce causes US, but, because we are so focused on our own grief, we sometimes neglect to pay attention to the devastating effects divorce has on OUR CHILDREN.

Maybe your husband drank too much. Maybe your wife was a crack addict. But no matter what the problem was that led to your divorce, whether it was gambling, affairs, whatever, YOUR CHILDREN BLAME THEMSELVES for the divorce and everything related to the divorce. Your children look upon the dissolution of your marriage as THEIR responsibility. And they blame themselves COMPLETELY.

While we focus on ourselves and our problems, our children have nowhere to go but inside themselves where the blame becomes compounded and the sadness absorbs into every fiber of their being. With one parent gone, the health and safety of our children sits precariously in our hands. Are we capable of handling the problems that arise as a result of our decision to divorce their father or mother?

Fortunately help comes in a variety of forms, and as I discover more help for single parents, I will post what I find here. Today I would like to link you to a new DIVORCE BLOG. Click the link, read the posts, leave comments, and heal yourself and your children.

Commercial You Won't Mind Watching

Take your mind off your troubles for one minute. Yes, that's right. One minute. If you don't find yourself at least smiling during this one minute, you are more stressed than anybody I know. Take a break – sit down, and drink some water. Evian, for instance, has suddenly become good for the soul.

If you haven't seen this video, here's your chance to watch something that is so refreshing and so cute, I can't stop myself from showing it to everybody. It will quench your thirst for funny. You're gonna love it.

Evian Roller Babies US

Makes me wish I had stock in Evian.